Determination of the Compensated Gross Tonnage factors for superyachts

Abstract

In order to provide the basis for a fair comparison, an indicator was developed to measure the amount of work that goes into the construction of a vessel. The foundation for this Compensated Gross Tonnage was laid in the 1970s by the OECD to compensate for the differences in work involved in producing a gross ton (GT) of ship in different sizes and types. Since 2007, the CGT of a vessel of a certain type as a function of its size (measured in GT) has been expressed as CGT=A×GT^B. However, no internationally accepted A and B values exist to convert superyachts from GT to CGT. The superyacht building industry believes that this omission results in an under appreciation of the importance of the sector. This paper describes the research carried out into this subject and confirms that the current assignments for superyachts greatly under appreciate the value of the sector. Based on the current data, the most appropriate values for superyachts are 278 for A and 0.58 for B. The spread is quite large and more data would help confirm this finding.