Abandoned Superyacht Alfa Nero Sit Idle in Antigua Yacht Club Amid Sanctions and Crew Turns to Playstation to Pass Time

Remaining crew have gone to purchase Playstation to pass the time on the sanctioned superyacht Alfa Nero.

It was in March 2022 that the luxury yacht Alfa Nero was abandoned on the Caribbean island of Antigua as a result of the sanctions against Russia.

The US named Russian fertilizer billionaire Andrey Guryev as the boat’s owner, and thus the superyacht fell under US sanctions rules.

In April this year, Antigua formally seized the boat.

However, it has come at a high cost: According to Bloomberg diesel costs a small fortune, the bills are pouring in and the boat’s crew alone costs 112,000 dollars a month – the equivalent of 1.2 million kroner.

The yacht’s crew was previously 44 people, but has now been reduced to six people.

The remaining crew have now taken the yacht’s suite and furnished it with Playstations and the game “Call of Duty” to pass the time, as there are no more passengers to assist.

– Pose a risk

Now the local authorities want the US to lift the sanctions on the yacht so that they can auction it off to the highest bidder. According to the authorities, they have already received around 20 bids for the Alfa Nero.

Until then, the yacht must remain docked at the Antigua Yacht Club, and local authorities worry that potential proceeds from a sale could end up being frozen as banks comply with sanctions rules.

– No one has claimed it, no one has paid the bills. The money is flowing out in all directions, and it has started to pose a risk to the entire port, says Sir Ronalds Sanderes, Antigua’s ambassador to the US Bloomberg.

Now Antigua is considering publicizing the identities of potential bidders with the United States to ensure that any sale complies with Treasury Department rules.

Want to pay

Antigua Yacht Club harbormaster Tom Paterson says such a yacht guzzles diesel even when not in use.

– You can’t even open the doors on the Alfa Nero without using diesel, says Paterson to Bloomberg.

He has more worries: hurricane season is approaching and other yachts have already started preparing.

– Now the marina wants to have paid, says Paterson.

The world’s largest yacht

It is far from the only luxury yacht that has been seized since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Just over a year ago, the superyacht “Tango” was seized by Spain on behalf of the United States. By seizing the oligarch Viktor Vekselberg’s superyacht, the US had to shell out: According to Bloomberg’s calculations, the annual price tag for maintaining the yacht was NOK 84 million.

The world’s largest yacht, Alisher Usmanov’s “Dilbar”, has also been seized.

According to the magazine Forbes, the 156 meter long yacht Dilbar is said to be worth close to NOK 5.3 billion and has been at a shipyard in Hamburg for repairs since October.