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Humongous $200M superyacht arrives in Vancouver

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A 95-metre superyacht priced at $200 million was spotted cruising through False Creek before docking in North Vancouver. 

Attessa V Yacht was built in 2010 by Blohm and Voss, a German shipbuilding and engineering company. It arrived in Vancouver on Tuesday and moved over to a dock in North Vancouver on Wednesday morning.

AV can entertain 24 guests in 12 rooms and has a crew of 33 people. It features a large swimming pool on the deck, a private movie theatre and a jet pool jacuzzi. 

The superyacht was designed by Michael Leach Design and soars in ’speed and style.’

It costs $10 to $20 million per year to run the yacht.

Website SuperYacht.com lists the owner of the AV as Dennis Washington, an 88-year-old American billionaire whose net worth is listed at US$6.4 billion and is ranked number 397 in Forbes' richest people in the world . 

Washington, from Montana, claims to be ‘self-made’ and owns a copper mining, marine transportation and heavy equipment business, according to Forbes. He is married with two children. In an interview with Forbes.com, Washington said his passion is boats. 

Washington’s network of companies includes Washington Marine Group and Seaspan Shipyards in North Vancouver, where Kyle Washington, Dennis Washington’s son, is executive chairman.

The AV Yacht was previously known as Palladium and is listed as an award-winning superyacht.  It was previously owned by Mikhail Prokhorov, a Russian oligarch and previous owner of the Brooklyn Nets. The yacht drew attention when The Late Show host Stephen Colbert visited Prokhorov on the yacht. 

Superyachts flocking to Vancouver Island

Superyachts flock to B.C. every year. One recently drew attention in B.C.’s capital when a Brazilian billionaire docked in Victoria. 

The 62-metre-long vessel called the Anawa was docked at Ship Point on May 30, clad with its own helicopter on deck. 

Billionaire Jorge Paulo Lemann owns the yacht, according to Superfanyacht.com. Forbes.com says the investor-philanthropist lives in Switzerland and is worth $14.8 billion.

Anawa was custom-designed and built in 2020 by Damen Yachting. It’s one of the company’s SeaXplorer class of vessels, billed as “long-range, luxury expedition” yachts.

It can carry 12 guests and 15 crew plus a captain, Damen said.

Back in 2020, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones's yacht was spotted in the  waters off Vancouver Island . The "Bravo Eugenia" is worth an estimated quarter-billion dollars.

The superyacht is designed to use 30 per cent less fuel than other vessels of its size and class but it doesn't skimp on amenities. The "Bravo Eugenia" can accommodate 14 guests and 30 crew members and features six guest suites, a beach lounge, spa and gym.

On Tuesday, the AV Yacht wasn’t the only yacht drawing attention. A 32-metre vessel called the Snowbored was passing through False Creek  with the final destination of Galiano Island. 

The Snowbored, built by Westport in 2003, is a 32-metre vessel with a satin cherry wood interior, and a sundeck sporting a hot tub, wet bar, and lounge pads. It also has a fighting chair and rocket launcher for sport fishing, and can launch a Novurania tender and Yamaha waverunners.

In a statement to Glacier Media, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority says anyone wishing to view the Attessa V in Vancouver's inner harbour area by boat "is urged to ensure they do so from a safe distance." "We love seeing boaters and paddlers out enjoying the waters that make up the Port of Vancouver," says Jason Krott, manager of marine operations and fleet. "Our focus is working with all users to build the awareness and understanding needed to support a safe shared space for recreational and commercial traffic."

To see the inside of the AV superyacht, visit the designer's website .  

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Alison Bate

Writer, editor and journalist, kyle washington: the prince of tides.

Kyle Washington, eldest son in Dennis Washington's family empire, pictured in 2003

He dines with Muhammad Ali, has a James Bond-pad, and oh yeah, runs a $400-million shipping empire.

By Alison Bate, BC Business magazine, Cover story, June 2003 (updated Sept. 2022)

Kyle Washington is just back from Dallas, where he’s been checking out the price of helicopters.

The 33-year-old bachelor got his helicopter pilot’s licence in December and is eager to put his skills to the test.

He has all the trappings of a wealthy playboy: luxurious pad in Vancouver’s West End, use of the family’s private fishing lodge on Stuart Island, windsurfing shack in Maui, and the disposable cash to flit around North America with enviable ease.

Washington is unashamedly rich, but even he balks at the million-dollar price tag of new machines and is leaning toward leasing one for now.

He’s the eldest son in the Washington family empire, controlled by  Dennis Washington , the Montana-based construction, real estate and transportation magnate who started the business in 1964.  The Washington Companies  now employ 40,000 people in 38 countries, placing him 236 on Forbes Magazine’s 2003 list of the world’s richest people, with an estimated fortune of US$1.7 billion. Kyle’s kingdom, or Washington Marine Group, is part of that pie.

UPDATES (as of May 2022): There have been many changes since I wrote this article, but the core businesses remain. Kyle Washington is currently executive chair of   Seaspan Marine, the Canadian-based maritime company formerly Washington Marine Group. Seaspan Corp. , formerly Seaspan Container Lines, is the separate publicly-traded containership division, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Atlas Corp., headquartered in Hong Kong and listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Locally, Kyle Washington is known as the guy who bought the three PacifiCat fast ferries for the rock bottom price of $19 million at auction in March 2003. They’ve since been sold and moved out of the country.

The Washington empire has already pumped at least half-a-billion dollars into B.C. in the last nine years, set up an international container shipping company, and is still looking to expand. It may bid for Vancouver Wharves, the North Shore bulk terminal put up for sale by BCR Group last year (Now owned and operated by  Pembina Pipeline Corporation ).

If it does acquire the Wharves, don’t look for too many announcements to be made. When its subsidiary Seaspan Container Lines signed the order in 2003 for five of the world’s biggest container ships, barely a word was uttered. Why the low profile? To Washington, the answer is simple; it’s not a public entity, it doesn’t need the hype. But that doesn’t mean Washington doesn’t have a very demanding stakeholder.

“We still have one shareholder to impress, trust me,” he says. How easy is it to impress Dennis Washington? “It’s not,” his son says firmly.

Conversations with Washington are more likely to veer toward his passions for snowmobiling and flying than his marine companies. “Everyone expects a business person to be very serious, and Kyle’s not like that. He’s the opposite of arrogant,” says Graham Porter, vice president of Seaspan Container Lines (He left Seaspan in 2017 ).

Washington’s a charismatic guy. He’ll talk openly about making a disastrous deal in a non existent gold mine, and he’s quick to call the Americans “a bunch of babies” when discussing the softwood lumber dispute, but ask him about the love life of a rich, handsome bachelor with a ritzy West End penthouse, and all you’ll get is a wink.

Certainly, his pad overlooking Coal Harbour shows no signs of a regular female companion. The lair is worthy of James Bond. A classy pool table, hidden TV screen that pops out at the press of a button, hammered-metal ceiling, zebra-striped carpet in his bedroom, and a giant painting by Montana artist  Lane Timothy  of one of his all-time idols, boxer Muhammad Ali. He flew down to Phoenix recently to have dinner with the former heavyweight champ, and had him sign the painting. Washington moved in here about two years ago, after living in an apartment on Beach Avenue for several years.

“We spent two years building this thing. It’s pretty cool,” he says. The apartment includes several other Lane Timothy paintings, such as a collage of the Canadian and U.S. flags that expresses Washington’s love of both countries.

It’s designed for entertaining, with an informal conference area, unusual glass table inlaid with a nautical map of the Stuart Island region, outside patio with panoramic views, and his favorite room: a huge steam bath and shower capable of accommodating a crowd.

Apart from hosting parties for his buddies, Washington signs deals here and entertains marine executives, politicians and the International Olympic Committee. Carrying the Washington name means he is always working, always an ambassador, he says, although he’s very comfortable in the role. Asked what it’s like not to have to worry about money, Washington replies: “There’s no question it’s a benefit, but it does come with responsibilities. I’d take it over not.”

Passion for winter sports

A former professional ski-jumper, Washington was one of the first to jump the new Olympic ski-jump facility in Salt Lake City, which opened up three years before the main event last year. He chairs the organizing committee of the 2003 World Weightlifting Championships, being held at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre in November, and he’s heavily involved in promoting the Vancouver Whistler Olympics 2010 successful bid.

Outside his window, one of the company barges has been adorned with a huge placard supporting the Vancouver Whistler bid. Washington works closely with former Olympic silver medallist Charmaine Crooks, a member of the IOC, and co-chair of his organizing committee for the weightlifting championships. They have been friends for more than four years and often work out in the gym together. “He’s a Montana guy – very down-to-earth and grass roots orientated, and he keeps that humble spirit,” she says of her friend.

His passion for winter sports is a holdover from his youth in Missoula, a town tucked in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana. There he played football and skied, moving into professional ski jumping when he was 14. “I goofed around with that for a little while, until I was 28,” Washington says. “I was fair. I was real middle-of-the-pack. It was kind of a weekend thing, you know, while you are going to school. Bust out there on a Thursday and come back Sunday night or Monday.”

Washington bounced around various U.S. colleges, looking for the best ski conditions. His search eventually took him to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Asked if he ever stepped foot in the library, he laughs. “My dad said: ‘I don’t care what you study, I don’t care where you go, just get out in five years.’ ”

Tiring of the powder in Utah, Washington switched schools, returned to his hometown, got help studying, and finished up with a B.A. in finance from the University of Montana in 1994.

He’s still very close to his parents, who live in Palm Springs, California in the winter, and split their time between Montana and B.C.’s Stuart Island in the summer. Brother Kevin, two years younger than Kyle, is also active in the family business.

Started out at Cates

When Washington graduated, his dad owned just one company in B.C., the tugboat firm of C.H. Cates & Sons. Cates’s tugs are best seen from Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver, sitting outside the market café. These are the sturdy little harbor tugs that help ships to dock, a David and Goliath affair. They scurry out to greet new ships arriving in port, nudging and pushing the big vessels safely into their berths.

Kyle was sent up to Cates at the age of 24, and spent the next 18 months learning the ropes, more on land than water. The tug guys were great, says Washington. While the marine scene was new to him, he grew up around construction workers and found them much of a kind. “They’re all the same kind of guy, and I hope I am. Work hard, play hard. They’re guy’s guys.”

However, in 1996 the prospect of investing in a potential gold mine in Utah lured him to the financial hubs of London, Paris, Zurich and Geneva. He laughs today, but admits the memory still makes him nauseous. “I got involved in the typical Vancouver thing. Got into a mining deal, thought there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. So I ran around Europe raising money for this mining deal that was a total disaster. Basically, I blew my brains out on that.”

Dennis Washington’s reaction to this investing escapade? “Now you’ve got your master’s degree.”

Expanding empire

Washington says his dad gave him an opportunity to redeem himself in 1997 by finding a role for him in his rapidly expanding B.C. empire. Having bought Norsk Pacific in 1995, Dennis Washington added Seaspan International a year later. The acquisition included the Seaspan subsidiaries now called Vancouver Shipyards, Vancouver Drydock and Victoria Shipyards.

Seaspan International (now Seaspan ULC) could more accurately be called Seaspan B.C., for it includes the tugs, barges, log booms and logships familiar to anyone traveling in our coastal waters. From a distance, the barges look like floating houses, drifting quietly across the water. In fact, they are full of wood chips or sawdust being carried from sawmills to pulp and paper mills.

Washington’s role at Seaspan International began as executive assistant to then-president Allen Fowlis, who ran the company for more than 20 years. The following year, Washington took over Fowlis’s job, becoming both president and CEO. The same year, the umbrella name of Washington Marine Group was introduced.

Since then, Washington says he has brought in a new team and integrated five significant marine companies: Seaspan International, Cates, Norsk Pacific, Kingcome Navigation and Delta-based Seaspan Seaspan Ferries Corp. (formerly CPR Coastal Marine Operations). In the process, 36 per cent of combined overheads were eliminated, getting rid of duplicate facilities and staff, including early retirements.

Brent Geen, the company’s chief financial officer, was promoted to president in 2001 to help manage the umbrella company, while Washington added chairman to his list of responsibilities. Geen handles the gritty details, Washington the big picture. “I am definitely a broad strokes kind of guy,” Washington says. (Geen is now CFO of Shearwater Resort & Marina)

In October 2002, Marine Group won a controversial bidding process conducted by B.C. Ferry Corp. (now B.C. Ferry Services) that allowed international tenders for the first time. Washington says the company’s bid to refit the Queen of Coquitlam at Vancouver Drydock was substantially lower than any of the other competitors. “The worst thing that could have happened was to have one of these contracts go offshore,” he says.

Those who do business with Washington say privately that his light-hearted banter masks a good brain and strong entrepreneurial spirit. His main rival, John Cosulich, Canadian area manager for Vancouver-based Rivtow Marine, says: “I find Kyle to be a very charming individual, very clever and very competitive.” ( Rivtow is now part of SAAM Towage Canada )

Birth of Seaspan’s containership company

While the biggest chunk of Kyle’s kingdom is scattered along the North Shore, another hub is growing in downtown Vancouver, involving the three deep-sea shipping companies (Seaspan Container Lines, Seaspan Shipbrokers and Seaspan (Cyprus) Ltd.) that are colloquially known as Seaspan Offshore. At its current pace of acquisitions, it will be one of the world’s top 10 container shipping companies by 2005, owning between 12 and 15 vessels.

The birth of  Seaspan Container Lines (now Seaspan Corp. ) changes the status of the marine group from a largely regional outfit to that of a big league international player. The company is a logical extension to work carried out by two key players at Seaspan Shipbrokers and Seaspan (Cyprus) Ltd., Graham Porter and Gerry Wang, who turned it into the world’s largest independent lessor of containerships. They oversee most of the deals, yet when a good prospect comes their way and passes their smell test, they send it along to Washington ( Update: they’ve since resigned from Seaspan Corp. ).

Drawing from his European barnstorming adventure, Washington’s job has been largely financial, finding the money, and using his charisma and connections to help cement the deals.  

The first deal came in 1999, when Seaspan got together with Israel’s Ofer Brothers Group to place a bulk order for seventeen 4,250-TEU ships with Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea. (Container ships are usually described by how many containers or boxes they can carry, measured in TEUs or 20-foot equivalent units.)

Seaspan kept five of the vessels and chartered them to China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) for 10 years. All five are now in service and performing well, says Washington, and some have already called at Vancouver. Under the deal, Seaspan owns the vessels, designs them, gets them built, operates and maintains them. It also arranges for the vessels to show up at whatever port CSCL needs them, while the Chinese company handles the cargo side.

Washington talks to his dad at least every other day, but says he’s left to run things pretty hands-free in B.C. Has he redeemed himself after his initial investing misadventure?

“Yes, I would hope so,” he says. “On the shipyard side, we have had three years in a row of record numbers. And the deep-sea shipping is just going outstanding.” He concedes, though, “We’re battling on the tug and barge side the toughest market that B.C. has ever seen. We’re trying to do our best with costs and stuff.”

The softwood lumber dispute has hit the company hard, causing hundreds of job losses in Seaspan International alone. Washington has harsh words for both U.S. and Canadian governments, saying they’ve handled it abysmally in not reaching a solution, and have cost the province tens of thousands of jobs.

He doesn’t buy into the argument the U.S. government makes, that B.C.’s stumpage system subsidizes our forest industry. “Of course they dislike our system, but are we subsidizing? No. I think they’re a bunch of babies down there, big, tough babies.”

Interesting comments from an American businessman, whose family empire is based largely in the U.S. Asked where his loyalties lie, Washington insists he feels pretty Canadian, having lived up here for nine years. “I look at us as North American, and I understand the differences. There are some great things about the U.S. and there are some great things about Canada, and I just think I’d like to have them both. All the good on both sides – including both holidays.” He laughs.

Vancouver’s my home, he says

Although Washington is a U.S. citizen, he’s almost through the process of getting a Canadian passport. “Vancouver’s my home, and I will be here as long as the good Lord says I’m alive,” he explains. “I just love it. It’s home, looks like home, feels like home. My business is here, my friends are here, it’s got everything that I could ever need.”

One of his best friends, personal trainer Mike Talic, describes watching the Olympic gold medal hockey game with Washington at Salt Lake City last year. The two friends traveled to Utah together and met up with Charmaine Crooks to watch the Olympics. “He was so for Canada, it was unbelievable,” says Talic.

Last year, Washington worked with Talic to build a first-class gym free for his employees. The 3,200-square-foot fitness centre opened in October and already has 300 members. Talic says it’s by far the best gym in town, and he regularly brings his celebrity athletes to train alongside shipyard workers.

Washington, who works out four times a week, says the rehab and training programs have improved the company’s safety record dramatically, and it’s also a good way for people to mix.

When asked what accomplishments he’s most proud of, Washington cites the container shipping deals, adding, in typical fashion, that he’s also pretty pumped about getting his helicopter’s licence.

Washington appears to waltz through life, on his cell phone a lot, difficult to pin down, but totally engaging when he does arrive. On this day, he’s on his way to meet Alistair MacLennan, chairman of  Helijet International, to discuss leasing a helicopter. He knows he’s going to be late. He’ll probably get away with it.

© Alison Bate, 2003 (revised Sept. 2022).

RELATED LINKS: * My post about sailing across the Pacific on a Seaspan containership leased to China Shipping . * Pix of Kyle and wife Janelle at Vancouver Olympics parties (Feb.22, 2010) * Dennis Washington’s super-yacht, the Attessa IV (July 2020) * Profile of Dennis Washington (Forbes magazine) * Seaspan Shipyards names new CEO (Sept. 2022) * Seaspan ferries’ terminals and fleet * Seaspan Corp.’s containership fleet summary * BCBusiness online

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2 thoughts on “ Kyle Washington: The Prince of Tides ”

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• Pingback: Seaspan wins second prize in massive shipbuilding deal | Alison Bate

Looking for Dennis Washington re new business for Seaspan and financing opportunities

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From the archives: Inside Attessa IV's 2010 rebuild

In this 2012 deep dive, Marilyn Mower takes a look at the enormous rebuild of the 101.2-metre Attessa IV , which is now on the market asking  €119,500,000... 

People who don’t know Dennis Washington wonder why he rebuilds yachts instead of building new custom ones. For Washington, who made his mark in heavy industry, a good hull is his version of a clean sheet of paper; on it he builds his dream along the principles of what he perceives as the best of Dutch boat building. Redoing yachts is his passion, pleasure and relaxation.

His projects combine the talents of Seattle-based designer Glade Johnson , Washington’s wife Phyllis, and his captain Ted McCumber, who joined the band as captain of the first Attessa .

Yacht broker Merle Wood set this particular rebuild of  Attessa IV in motion in the spring of 2007, by telling him that Chang Yung-fa, chairman of the Taiwanese Evergreen Group was ready to sell his 91-metre yacht Evergreen . Chang had the yacht designed by Diana and built at a commercial yard in Japan. It was a conservative yacht for a different type of cruising and culture, but Wood saw it had something in common with all the previous Attessas – good bones and a challenge. A month later Evergreen steamed into Vancouver via Hawaii.

Vancouver Shipyards has a corner devoted to Washington Yachting Group. It was here that a 30 x 90 metre floating shipyard was constructed on a barge, while engineering drawings were being made for Evergreen ’s revival. Diana was retained to survey the hull and condition of the systems against the original documentation, while Gregory K. Marshall was hired as the naval architect for the new decks and superstructure.

Washington’s concept for  Attessa IV  was ambitious: new bow, new stern, new foredeck tender garage , new spa, new superstructure shape, all new helipad, and totally new interior layout, including crew areas. The yacht originally had a large karaoke bar, 15 owner and guest cabins and room for 21 crew in rather packed conditions.

The main deck and above were gutted to the shell, the mains and generators overhauled, virtually every bolt and wire was replaced, engines re-bedded, fuel tanks moved, flume tanks removed and the space stripped, soundproofed and painted. That and reconfiguring the crew areas, extending and widening the bow section, adding the folding mast, a forward tender garage with gull-wing doors, bulwarks that slide down and aft simultaneously to allow the large tenders — an 11.5-metre Novurania Chase and a 10-metre Riva — to be launched over the side, and the huge aluminium stern door that disappears completely from view down and under the aft deck sole.

Washington, as noted, liked the yacht’s size and overall structure, but thought it looked entirely too commercial, like a cruise ship. The puzzle he worked on was how to keep such a large vessel intimate, both inside and out. To control the vastness of the space, he envisioned  Attessa IV  having a waist at the area of the central ventilation and exhaust trunks amidships, and flares to widen the side decks fore and aft.

Indeed, the space is a vast canvas with 2,322.5 square metres of interior, including 1,672.25 square metres in owner and guest areas. From day one,  Attessa IV  was going to have a grand entrance area and stunning central circulation. The stairs, spiralling through five decks, are split into pairs of semi-circles divided by a fore and aft passageway, making a landing and foyer at each deck.

The show-stopper on  Attessa IV , however, is on the deck above main, called the guest deck, where this lobby becomes an athwartships passage, as well as offering access to the walk-around side decks and side terraces. If the view itself, through the floor-to-ceiling windows and doors port and starboard, isn’t arresting enough, this lobby features three Botero sculptures.

Attessa IV' s side terraces incorporate what Washington calls ‘flare-outs’, a series of graceful curves on each deck to eliminate the slab-sidedness of the original profile and remedy the straight deck sightlines.

There are four large, elegantly decorated guest suites on the guest deck and with the dining room/library forward and a saloon aft, followed by an alfresco dining space and sun pads, it is a deck with enough varied spaces and activities for an entire day. The forward dining saloon is worthy of particular note, as it is one of the cosiest spots aboard.

The master suite aboard  Attessa IV  is one deck above. Here the stair column on port is the backdrop for Washington’s desk, which is adjacent to large windows. There are entrances port and starboard to the master stateroom, which is an homage to the glamour of Hollywood in the 1930s.

The fireplace is an ultra romantic 19th-century English piece with statuary marble. A large bath and dressing area separates the stateroom from its sitting room, which features sapele joinery, leather chairs and another fireplace, this one a 19th-century French, Louis XV-style in verde marble. The colour scheme of the sitting room is primarily green as a bridge to their private aft deck lounge was done in navy blue and green tones.

Originally, the deck above was going to be a sundeck, then the Washingtons’ son bought a Chihuly chandelier at a charity fundraiser. It is a famous piece, more than 2.2 metres tall, and was part of a Chihuly exhibition in Venice in 1996. Searching for a way to incorporate the piece in  Attessa IV , Washington and Johnson hit upon the idea of enclosing the sundeck with a composite superstructure and bumping up the centre with a dome five metres above floor level. The space and the piece seem made for each other and in fact this multi-function room, called the Chihuly Lounge, is one of Washington’s favourite spaces in the yacht.

Another favourite is the spa on the lower deck of  Attessa IV , where numerous treatment rooms and a sauna lead to a gym and out onto the swim platform. Just forward of the spa are two more guest suites with king-size beds, and a pair of twin cabins Phyllis decorated for her grandchildren. And then there is the main deck cinema with its 3D capability and lighthearted adjacent lounge and bar.

Attessa IV is now for sale with Merle Wood.  

Originally published in the January 2012 edition of BOAT International. Subscribe now and never miss an issue. 

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