Viareggio

Viareggio is a building town. The Tuscan coast hosts Benetti, Sanlorenzo, Perini Navi, Mangusta, Rossinavi, and Codecasa within a 20-minute drive of each other, and the local tender market is shaped by new builds rather than transient yachts. Tenders here are typically delivered as part of a mothership package, with semi-custom tenders and custom tenders commissioned alongside the parent vessel and built to fit a specific garage, davit, or side-launch system. That makes the work here specification-led: tender choices are locked at the build contract, not bought at a show.

The brokerage market is thinner than Palma or Antibes, but used inventory from completed builds turns over quickly and in strong condition because most boats are barely run before delivery. A garage-fit limousine tender that is superseded by a spec change, or a sister-ship boat freed up by a cancelled order, will reach the market in near-new condition. Those pre-owned units are usually placed through the Antibes or Palma brokers rather than sold locally, since the demand is on the charter coast, not in the build yards. New-build delivery activity runs heaviest into the autumn show season.

For a project manager fitting out a hull here, the tender decision is a garage and launch-system problem before it is a boat-buying one. Beam, deadrise, and dry weight have to suit the designed garage door, the side-launch arms, or the davit's safe working load, and a tender ordered after the structure is set will usually have to be tailored to the opening rather than chosen freely. This is why so much of the local order book is for built-to-fit boats, and why a captain inheriting a new build should confirm the tender's launch and recovery sequence on sea trial, not on the brochure.

Lusben (a division of Azimut|Benetti) is the regional refit anchor, with 70 years of operating history and capacity for projects up to 90 metres. The Viareggio site historically focused on yachts to 30 metres; combined with the Livorno facility 30 km south, Lusben handles around 80 projects per year. Codecasa, Benetti, Perini, and the smaller yards along the Viareggio canal each run their own refit work for in-warranty and brand-loyal customers, so a yard-built tender usually returns to its own builder for service. For very large yachts, projects route south to Livorno or north to La Spezia (Cantiere del Porto, Sanlorenzo La Spezia).

For tender-only refit work, the cluster of subcontractors around the Viareggio canal covers paint, electronics, hydraulics, and joinery to a high standard, which is why many owners send a tender here for finishing even when the mothership refits elsewhere.

Italy applies EU VAT at 22% on private yacht purchases. Charter operations from Italian-flagged commercial vessels qualify for VAT relief under the Italian leasing scheme; structures should be set up through an Italian fiscal representative. Non-EU flags use temporary admission (18 months). New deliveries from Viareggio yards typically transit under shipyard trial flags before formal handover and registration, so a tender delivered with a new hull will not carry its final papers until handover. See our tender import VAT note for the underlying mechanics.