29-04-2006 19:45

Hayden

Actually 'Dubai is now the biggest private yacht in the world.  
Golden Star (now Dubai) was commissioned by Prince Jefri Bolkiah, younger brother of the Sultan of Brunei. Prince Jefri was already known to the yachting community as the owner of the 1996 Feadship “Titsâ€?. 
 
The order to Lürssen and Blohm & Voss was passed in 1996 by a company named Amedeo Development Corporation, a private company controlled by Prince Jefri and already at the time of the contract allegedly in financial difficulties. 
 
Unfortunately the German yards took for granted that Prince Jefri had the full financial support of his brother the Sultan, "the richest man in the world", so they started constructing the 525-foot yacht which was to cost some USD 226 M with a year 2000 delivery. 
 
What then happened has mostly to do with local Brunei politics but the result for Blohm & Voss was that work was suspended at the beginning of 1998 because of insufficient financial arrangements with the client. 
The unfinished yacht was placed in a dock at the yard and kept at the disposal of the customer as it was.  
 
In 2001 Dubai's Crown Prince took an interest in the project and came to an arrangement with Blohm & Voss. In June 2001 Golden Star left Germany on board the heavy-lift ship Blue Marlin and arrived in Dubai in July. 
 
The new owner, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Ruler of Dubai, is now having Golden Star now renamed "Dubai" completed at Jebel Ali Port in Dubai. 

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