Lürssen brings up 150 years of yacht building
Lürssen launched the 122m Kismet in 2024.
German superyacht shipyard Lürssen celebrates its 150th anniversary this year having been founded on 27 June 1875.
The company was founded by 24-year-old Friedrich Lürssen who built bespoke rowing boats before pioneering the world’s first motorboat with a combustion engine with Gottlieb Daimler in 1886.
Now, Lürssen is renowned for building some of the world’s largest superyachts including the 180m Azzam, the 150m Dilbar and the recent 122m Kismet.
My dream is to build the first yacht without a combustion engine – Peter Lürssen.
“It is with great pride that I reflect on how Lürssen has evolved into the company it is today,” said CEO Peter Lürssen, the great grandson of Friedrich.
“However, this journey has not been without its challenges. We have had 150 years marked by trials, challenges and jubilations. There have been storms and successes. However, these success stories do not belong solely to Lürssen as a company.
“They belong to their people. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all our employees – past and present – without whom we would not be here, celebrating 150 years.”
Lurssen’s Azzam is the world’s longest superyacht at 180m.
New era
Lürssen spent much of the 20th century building naval and commercial boats until Peter Lürssen launched the superyacht division in 1988.
Since then it has built 70 bespoke yachts with a total length exceeding 6,500 metres, says the company.
Amongst these are Azzam, Dilbar and the 126m Octopus – respectively, the world’s longest yacht, the largest yacht by volume, and the world’s first explorer yacht.
“We don’t set out to build the biggest yachts; we set out to build the best yacht for each client,” added Peter Lürssen.
“Clients choose us for our engineering excellence, our ability to think outside the box, and our determination to fulfil their wishes – no matter how unreachable they may seem.”
Lurssen has always been at the forefront of innovation, and since fitting the world’s first energy-efficient hybrid propulsion system on the 96m Limitless in 1997 it has strived to push for a sustainable, carbon-neutral future with a series of pioneering technologies.
Its new 114m Cosmos, “born from a pioneering and technologically driven client”, will carry a methanol-powered fuel cell system.
This will produce enough power to cruise about 100 nautical miles at slow speed or stay 15 days at anchor, says the company.
“We have made tremendous progress towards achieving an important goal of mine,” said Peter Lürssen. “It was my great-grandfather who built the first motorboat in 1886, paving the way for yachting as we know it today. My dream is to ultimately build the first yacht without a combustion engine, marking the beginning of a new era for the industry.”
