Vladimir Zinchenko: Defining Quiet Luxury With GX Superyachts

With over than 1000 yachts delivered worldwide in the last fifteen years, Slovenian Greenline Yachts is one of the most experienced builders of the hybrid, diesel-electric powered yachts. Based on the huge experience that expands much wider than solely a propulsion, they are now ready to take a step further. The owner of Greenline, Vladimir Zinchenko, speaks about the future which their new brand GX Superyachts brings on the table, including the build of their first model in size of mere 42 meters in Istanbul, Turkey.

WHAT IS GX SUPERYACHTS?
It is a brand born on the basis of Greenline Yachts' history, during which we have gained huge experience. We know how the customer wants to live on the water, what their interests are, and how to help them be safer, smarter, and more energy-efficient with lower carbon emissions. This is how GX was born, like a compilation of our innovations in the next sector.

WHERE THE FIRST CUSTOMERS CAME FROM, THE GREENLINE FAMILY?
How did it happen? We presented our vision in 2022 at the annual dealer meeting during the Düsseldorf boat show, where we introduced the concept of Greenline’s development at a size of 26 meters. One of the dealers had a contact with a customer, and we started talking about it. It took us a long time to go from 26 up to 42 meters. We evolved with every meeting; the customer said what he wanted, and we calculated what volume he needed. He added something every time, and in the end, we arrived at 42 meters with a volume of 350 gross tons and a displacement of 290 tons. It is important to mention that we try to build the yacht around the lifestyle of the client.

WHEN WILL WE SEE THE FIRST YACHT?
The first yacht is in production. As of today, all the metalwork is completed, all primers and insulation are installed, and we have started installing the bulkheads in the guest and crew cabins. We have also accepted the furniture. From now, it will take one year, she will be in the water in the summer of 2026.

IS GX FULLY CUSTOM YACHT?
The idea is that we present a fleet of superyachts starting from 34 meters, 42, and 56 meters. In between, we can do custom modifications. We present these three models, plus we can be flexible on the length, for example, instead of 34, we can do 29 or 38 meters. The build material is full aluminum, and it is not a big deal to change the length.

WHY TURKEY?
Our story is simple: we inspected twenty shipyards and visited seven of them personally. We found that all the Italian shipyards are good but occupied and can only start in three years. In Turkey, we also visited the Istanbul and Antalya areas. We saw beautiful shipyards, but again, they didn’t have availability. We found, in the Istanbul area, Tuzla, a small family shipyards oriented towards innovation. We felt a good chemistry and started with them.

WHAT IS YOU SALES SITUATION AT THE MOMENT?
We sold one 42-meter yacht. We are discussing another one, and one 34-meter yacht, but it is still not signed. It is a completely different market. In this case, our dealer network, our engineers, and our supply chain are not connected to GX, it is a completely separate project, also because of regulations, class rules, and so on.

YOU MENTIONED THE LIFESTYLE OF THE CUSTOMER, WHAT DO YOU FIND IMPORTANT FOR THEM?
First of all, we try to find out what kind of problems a customer has on board. One of the first problems is energy consumption, because superyacht consume much more energy due to regulations and class rules. The energy consumption on a 42-meter yacht is around 1.4 megawatts per day. It is a huge number, like a 70 to 80 kW generator needs to run 24 hours, powering all the systems. When we started to look into the main sources of consumption, we identified the air-conditioning unit, which runs 24 hours a day. That can be optimized not only by using modern, efficient air-conditioning units, but also with insulation, solar panels, and high-efficiency glass. It is a completely different energy game, and we found that we can save up to 75 percent of energy consumption by going through every small item on board: every relay, every light, every small component. In this respect, we can offer 48 hours of stay without the use of a generator. This experience comes from Greenline Yachts, plus advanced propulsion options.