ALFA NERO

In 2002 Oceanco started the "Y Generation". It opened with two hulls: the 80-metre Amevi (Y701) and the 82-metre Alfa Nero (Y702).

The yard was then 15 years old. It was founded in 1987, when a group of South African private investors led by then-CEO Richard Hein began building yachts. Hulls and superstructures were built in Durban and finished at facilities in the Netherlands; today all building takes place at Alblasserdam. In 2000 the yard launched the 95-metre Indian Empress, ex Al Mirqab.

Mohammed Al Barwani, a private investor based in Oman, bought Oceanco in 2010. The 110-metre Kaos arrived in 2017 as Jubilee, at that time the largest superyacht built in the Netherlands. The 106.7-metre DynaRig sailing yacht Black Pearl followed in 2018, and the 125-metre three-masted schooner Koru in 2023.

Oceanco builds only custom yachts. Its Alblasserdam headquarters has direct access to the North Sea with no limits on beam, draft or height. A 28-acre site at Zwijndrecht is being developed for new-build construction, refit and lifetime-extension work, and the sales and design teams are based in Monaco.

Alfa Nero, 82 metres and built in 2007, carries exterior lines by Nuvolari Lenard, with her interior credited to Nuvolari Lenard and Alberto Pinto. She also introduced what the yard calls the first "statement" rear pool, which converts into a helideck and dance floor.

In 1990 Dan Lenard, a stylist and designer, and Carlo Nuvolari, a naval architect and mechanical engineer, opened a studio just outside the old town of Venice. It now works from Scorzè, in the province of Venice, designing exteriors and interiors for yachts, aircraft and real estate. Oceanco, Lürssen, Amels, Palmer Johnson, Perini Navi and CRN have all built its yachts. For Oceanco it drew the 106.7-metre Black Pearl of 2018, with Ken Freivokh. At Lürssen it designed both the exterior and the interior of the 141.6-metre Nord (2021), and it drew the exterior lines of the 122-metre Kismet, delivered in 2024. Alfa Nero, the 82-metre Oceanco of 2007, has exterior lines by Nuvolari Lenard, and the studio shares her interior credit with Alberto Pinto.

Alberto Pinto came to yachts by way of palaces. He was born in Casablanca to Argentine parents in 1945, studied at the École du Louvre in Paris, and worked first in New York, where he ran a photographic agency specialising in decoration and interior design. Over four decades his practice grew from hotels, private residences and palaces into superyachts and private jets. He died in 2012, aged 69, and the Paris house he founded continues as PINTO. Its yacht work includes the 85.6-metre Amore Vero, delivered by Oceanco in 2013 as St. Princess Olga. Two of its interiors are on yachts we list. Axioma, delivered by Dunya Yachts in 2013, has interiors by Alberto Pinto. So does Alfa Nero, the 82-metre Oceanco of 2007, although Fraser shares that credit with Nuvolari Lenard.