While the financing of superyacht ownership may have become tighter than a few years ago due to the chillier economic climate, this business remains a key sector which wealth managers should watch at a time of still-rising affluence in regions such as Asia.

Besides the relatively prosaic issues of how to structure ownership of yachts in a tax-efficient and legally robust way, a more disturbing and possibly more urgent topic is that of security. High-profile attacks on vessels in the Indian Ocean, for instance, have pushed yacht security right up the nautical agenda.

In a London conference on 28 March at Glaziers Hall, the issue of security will be debated by a panel of industry experts. Kicking off the event is the keynote speaker, Captain Phil Haslam, of the European Union Naval Force Somalia. He's been involved in some of the world's most turbulent territories, serving as senior warfare officer in operations off Sierra Leone on HMS Illustrious and in combat operations in the Northern Arabian Gulf on board HMS Marlborough. He is now responsible for UK operations in the Middle East, including counter-piracy contributions to EU/UN missions in the rest of the world.

But although such a speaker points to very prominent issues as flagged by the media, the conference will address other sides of security.

“It is not all about Somalia and the Gulf of Aden; superyachts have other threats that need addressing: cyber crime, petty theft and general guest and crew safety,” according to Superyacht Events, organisers of the event.

The stakes, for the sector as a whole, as well as for individuals, are large. The superyacht sector, defined by those vessels of 30 metres or more in length, contributed €24 billion ($32 billion) to the global economy in 2010; there are more than 6,000 companies operating in the sector, and more than 33,000 crew work on these vessels (source: The Superyacht Report, February 2012). Geographically, the largest country for businesses, in percentage terms, is the US (19.6 per cent), followed by Italy (10.9 per cent) and the UK (8.9 per cent). The average yacht, with a length of 40.3 metres and built in Europe, has a crew of eight people costing €444,000 per year, and the annual cost of running such a vessel, excluding crew and berthage, is €1.65 million. There are currently more yards than ever before building yachts – a record 209 boatyards in construction phase, according to the 2012 Global Order Book published last month by The Superyacht Group.

As an article in The Superyacht Report made clear in light of such data, “the economic impact of superyachts is, undeniably, vast and should not be underestimated”.

Last summer, speaking at the prestigious Monaco Yacht Show, Matteo Belardinelli, sales manager at Italian super- and mega-yacht design and construction firm CRN, told WealthBriefing that “Asia is giving us very strong signals” and his firm would not miss the opportunity to tap the region’s burgeoning appetite for these sumptuous vessels.

This is all the more reason, therefore, why security is such a key issue. Other speakers at the 28 March event include Elinor Dautlich, of Holman Fenwick Willan, the law firm, and Paul Miller, of R&Q Marine Services, an insurance business. Other speakers at the Superyacht Security Summit include Rhys Clift, of law firm Hill Dickinson, Dan Hooton, of Spearfish, the security firm; Oscar O’Connor, of Selex, a technology firm, and Simon Rowland, of Veritas International, the security firm. This publication aims to produce a report on the issues in due course.