Meet the New World’s Largest Yacht: Superyacht ‘Fulk Al Salamah’

By Oliver Pearson 29 July 2016

The brand new 164m/538ft motor yacht ‘Fulk Al Salama’ delivered by Italian shipyard Mariotti Yachts appears to have triumphantly taken the title of the ‘World’s Largest Yacht’ by sheer volume.

Having departed Genoa earlier today, the highly secretive superyacht Fulk Al Salama is currently making her way to Muscat where she is believed to be joining the 155m/508ft superyacht ‘Al Said’ as part of the Omani Royal fleet.

Although not the longest yacht, a crown currently held by superyacht AZZAM, which measures 180 metres (591ft), Fulk Al Salama is the biggest in terms of volume measured by a gross tonnage of 22,000 GT. For this reason, the superyacht eclipses AZZAM, which comes in at 13,136 GT.

It must be noted that a yacht’s size is measured in gross tonnage rather than length. Gross tonnage (often abbreviated as GT) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume.

Calculated by measuring a superyacht’s volume (from keel to funnel, to the outside of the hull framing) and applying a mathematical formula, it is then possible to produce an accurate reading which can be used for comparing its size to other yachts.

An aerial image of superyacht Fulk Al Salamah

Fulk Al Salama has not yet officially been confirmed by her shipyard as the world’s largest yacht by volume, but several sources point to her taking the title from the current holder, the 156m/512ft superyacht DILBAR launched earlier this year by Lurssen.

With a beam of 22m, DILBAR possesses a gross tonnage of 15,917 GT. This makes Fulk Al Salama larger by over 6,000 GT.

Sure to generate a considerable amount of enthusiasm across the industry, superyacht ‘Fulk Al Salamah is a true masterpiece in both concept and build

Pictured above, superyacht AL SAID- which was the world’s largest yacht for eight years at 15850 GT, until a few months ago when superyacht DILBAR took the crown with 15917 GT- the photos below reveal the significant aesthetic similarities between Fulk Al Salamah, which is below, with AL SAID.

What's more, the aerial photos above show Fulk Al Salamah sporting the same distinctive cream colour, blue accents, commercial grade finish, aft-swept masts, and royal crown as the 2008 Lurssen built superyacht AL SAID.

Images captured so far show what could be an expansive beach club similar to that of a sistership built by Mariotti. The sistership seen in photos above has had a swim platform added to her beach club opening.

Meaning ‘Ship of Peace’, luxury yacht Fulk Al Salamah was first discovered in 2014 as project Saffron and is believed to have inherited the name from a 136 metre support vessel, which has since been renamed Aldhaferah.