Journalists say Roman Abramovich has a new super-yacht.

The Russian billionaire and Regional governor Roman Abramovich has acquired a new super-yacht, it seems. For a week the mysterious Sigma has been moored in the Bay of Kiel (Schleswig-Holstein) at the wharves of the HDW shipbuilding firm. The boat resembles a secret military vessel or a super cruisier from among James Bond’s playthings. There is no official confirmation of the boat’s ownership but few doubt, says the Russiches Deutschland newspaper, that this is Abramovich’s latest toy.

The famous Blohm & Voss shipbuilders began construction of the boat, which goes under the provisional name of Sigma, in 2004, according to the newspaper. The vessel is only described in the most general terms on the Blohm & Voss website. The level of confidentiality concerning its construction is greater than for any defence project and work on such vessels is usually confined to docks without any public access. The boat owes its flamboyant appearance to the well-known French designer Philippe Starck.

Originally, the yacht was to be 118 metres long. Then, however, it was decided to make the Sigma 130 metres long and, rumour has it, the boat was moved to the HDW wharves in Kiel. (Both HDW and Blohm & Voss are part of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.) Today the Sigma is on sea trials and due to be handed over to its owner in April 2008. There are various rumours about the cost of the project; on average each additional metre adds a further million US dollars to the overall price of building such a super-yacht.

Abramovich first caught yacht fever in 1999 when he bought Stream and Sophie’s Choice from Boris Berezovsky. These two boats were his first modest acquisitions of the kind. In Abramovich’s present collection the largest and most costly vessel is Pelorus, the ninth largest such floating palace in the world today. The Pelorus is 114.8 metres long and cost him roughly one hundred million US dollars. Built in 2003, the boat was intended, according to rumour, for Saudi sheikh Modhasan. The vessel is equipped with bullet-proof glass, a rocket-detection system, two helipads, an indoor swimming pool and floors of rare wood. There are cabins for 22 guests and the 42-person crew.

The yacht was bought a few weeks after its completion. Currently, it is regarded as one of the world’s most stylish yachts de luxe. The Pelorus is equipped with anti-paparazzi searchlights and numbers among its crew former SAS men, i.e. those who have served in the British special army service.

Abramovich often invites his Russian business colleagues aboard the Pelorus where they mix with British financiers and players from Chelsea football club. The yacht has been sighted in Monaco, Portofino and Cannes, as well as in certain parts of South America and the Caribbean. Not all its passengers receive the full VIP treatment. In 2005, when Abramovich moored his yacht in New Zealand, his pet parrot was confined to a cage in the hold because of fears he might contract avian flu.

Apart from the Russians who adore such vessels, other fans are Paul Allen, one the founders of Microsoft, who owns the Octopus, a yacht worth 125 million pounds sterling. Mohammed al-Fayed, the proprietor of Harrods in London, owns Sokar, a yacht that by today’s standards is not very expensive, being worth around 17 million pounds sterling.

(Newsru.com, 3 March 2008)