Sustainability takes a new tack - Meet AERA - Royal Huisman exact article image

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Sustainability takes a new tack - Meet AERA

Sept. 17, 2025 General Royal Huisman

Royal Huisman published an official announcement about Sustainability takes a new tack - Meet AERA, adding to the Dutch yard’s public record of custom yacht construction, refit, design development and sailing yacht activity.

Royal Huisman published an official announcement about Sustainability takes a new tack - Meet AERA, adding to the Dutch yard’s public record of custom yacht construction, refit, design development and sailing yacht activity.

A wing sail and fuel cell energy answer today’s clean cruising demands, wrapped in a dynamic package fit for tomorrow.

The shipyard celebrated for building the first hybrid superyacht leaps ahead with a concept utilizing an entire toolbox of cutting-edge technologies to boost efficiency and cut emissions. In 2009, Royal Huisman delivered Ethereal, the world’s first hybrid superyacht requiring a fraction of the energy of comparable yachts. Today, the shipyard unveils a 50m / 164ft concept yacht at the confluence of trailblazing technology, stunning design, and sailing excitement. AERA looks at the sustainability question in a new way, blending the latest technology to redefine cruising in comfort for yachts under 500GT.

AERA’s dynamic package is fit for tomorrow : (1) Rondal wing sail - (2) retractable propulsion system (RPS) - (3) Rondal captive mooring winches - (4) energy storage system (ESS): compressed hydrogen + fuel cell + batteries (5) Rondal hydro generators - (6) variable speed generators (7) HVO biodiesel fuel tanks – not presented here: laser exterior lighting

AERA builds on the shipyard's 2024 launch of Project Tidal Shift, an environmental awareness initiative focused on ecological preservation through environmental, social, and governance practices. Seeking partners with similar goals, Royal Huisman and sister company Rondal found kindred spirits in designer Cor D. Rover and Artemis Technologies.

The result of their collaboration is a totally new kind of superyacht. Is it a super-efficient sailing yacht with automated systems that make sailing easier, or a motoryacht that gets a big boost from wind to limit emissions to near zero? AERA is a yacht where one does not have to choose between sail or power; you can enjoy the flexibility and excitement of both.

Read the original Royal Huisman announcement.

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