From the magazine – How much more “Hollands” could you get? A flat polder landscape, complete with cows. And entirely fitting for SWZ|Maritime. Before the indignant letters and e-mails start arriving, let me say straight away that I know the scene on our cover is not actually in Holland. The yacht being transported from Zwartsluis to Harlingen earlier this year gives that part of the Netherlands a wide berth.
So be it. More interesting is the perhaps less obvious contrast between the superyacht Zero, seen here on its way from builder Vitters Shipyard to Harlingen for technical outfitting, and the cows in the foreground. This ketch was not given its name for nothing.
That a 69-metre sailing yacht relies on the wind for propulsion is hardly a revelation. But wind, together with solar power, also supplies its meticulously optimised onboard energy systems. The propulsion system with controllable pitch propellers it does indeed have is therefore intended primarily to generate electricity while the yacht is under sail. Another novel feature is Zero’s hollow, 70-metre main mast, which acts as a chimney to provide natural ventilation and reduce the energy needed on board.
Zero has been described as a “fossil-free” sailing yacht. Personally, I find that a dreadful label, but let it pass. In this case, it means the yacht can make its voyages without emitting harmful greenhouse gases. The same certainly cannot be said of those cows. They reportedly account for ten per cent of the global warming caused by greenhouse gases. No zero there.
Of course, the yacht has to be built. That alone requires raw materials that must be extracted, processed and transported. But the same applies to the resources needed to raise cattle, whether they are destined to produce milk or end up on your plate. So which, exactly, is the luxury product?
Anyway, I already have my candidate for the 2027 KNVTS Ship of the Year Award. Without absolutely any say in the matter, of course. But look at the contenders for this year’s award. All three have already been covered extensively in this magazine. All right, all right, in one case it was a sister ship. By the way, our yachting editor Bas Lenferink would dearly love to sit down with the team at Vitters. And although I know he hardly dares to ask, he is a blue-water sailor too…
This is editor-in-chief Robin Zander’s editorial accompanying the October 2026 issue.
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s September 2026 issue: Counting the cost
SWZ app and archive
Our digital archive is available to subscribers both online and in our new app (available for Android and Iphone) and they can read the digitial version of our October issue there. Not yet a subscriber? Visit our subscription page.
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s July-August 2026 issue: Three roads to the same destination
The articles in SWZ|Maritime’s October issue
Our October issue features a Maritime Awards and yachts special. We discuss the Maritime Awards nominees in detail and provide a concise overview of the yacht building sector in the Netherlands. In addition, SWZ|Maritime visited the Polish yacht building industry and Engel-Jan de Boer of Lloyd’s Register explains how yachts could become an early testing ground for nuclear propulsion.
In addition, we have the regular sections such as Dutch news, Global news, Markets, book reviews, KNVTS news and Mars Report. The articles in the October issue are:
- Gas carrier, dredger and CSOV up for Ship of the Year
- Innovations finding their way into practice
- Towards a future-proof maritime sector
- Readying the navy for new threats
- Maritime talent delivers time and environmental savings
- An overall increase for Dutch yacht building
- Behind the scenes of Polish yacht building
- Nuclear propulsion: Shipping’s next great leap?
- Human and autonomy teaming
- CEDA – Closing the survey specification gap
- CEDA – Giving new dredging ideas a platform
Picture: The renewables-powered 69-metre Vitters sailing yacht Zero on its way from Zwartsluis to Harlingen in early July 2026 for its technical launch (photo Tom van Oossanen/Vitters Shipyard, cover picture of SWZ|Maritime’s October 2026 issue).
