How much does a yacht delivery cost in 2026? Prices by route, day rates and what's included

Short answer: for a 40 ft cruising yacht, a yacht delivery costs about €700 to €2,500 for a short coastal hop, €1,500 to €2,500 from Palma de Mallorca to Gibraltar (500 NM, 4 to 6 days), €5,000 to €9,000 from the Solent to Gibraltar (1,300 NM) and €11,000 to €20,000 for an Atlantic crossing from the Canaries to the Caribbean. That is the all-in figure: the captain's fee, fuel, marina fees, provisioning and the crew's travel home. Captains charge €250 to €500 a day or €3 to €8 per nautical mile; boats under 40 ft come in about 15 percent lower, boats of 50 ft and up about 25 percent higher. The bands below come from the routes owners actually post on Boat Gigs. To get a firm price, share your route and boat and captains who sail it reply with their own offers, free.

Every owner asks the same first question: what will it cost to get my boat from A to B? The honest answer has two parts. The number depends on six things, all of which you can know before you ask anyone. And once you know them, you can place most deliveries within a couple of thousand euros. This guide gives you the price bands by route, the day rates behind them, what is and isn't included, and an estimator for your own distance.

Yacht delivery prices by route#

All figures are indicative all-in bands for a 40 ft cruising yacht, sail or power, mono or cat: captain's fee, crew, fuel, marina fees, provisioning and travel home. Distances are the passage as sailed, not the straight line.

Mediterranean#

The cheapest kind of delivery per mile: predictable weather, ports every few hours, easy crew changes. July and August cost more because captains are scarce; spring and autumn are the value months. Moving a boat to or from Mallorca? See yacht delivery from Palma de Mallorca.

UK, Channel and North Sea#

Coastal hops are usually one skipper, sometimes with a mate. The UK to the Med is the signature autumn delivery: a captain plus one or two crew across Biscay, best done before late October. UK skippers tend to quote in pounds; the structure is the same. What UK skippers charge, and why: delivery skipper rates in the UK and Europe.

Caribbean#

Island hops between charter bases. December and April are the busy months, when the charter fleets move.

Atlantic crossings#

Captain plus two or three crew, booked months ahead. Westbound with the trade winds from November to early January, eastbound via the Azores from May to July. When each direction is open: transatlantic delivery windows. Every route we track, thirty-plus of them: yacht delivery routes and prices.

Estimate your own route#

Move the slider to your distance and pick the boat size. You get a band, not a quote: captains who sail the route give you the real number.

What a delivery skipper charges#

Experienced delivery skippers charge €250 to €500 a day, or €3 to €8 per nautical mile for monohulls under 50 ft, and quote a fixed fee when an owner wants certainty up front. Paid crew earn €150 to €300 a day. A fair quote counts every day the job takes, not only the days at sea: a day or two of preparation, a day for handover, and travel days either side, so a "five-day passage" is often an eight-day job. The full picture, by ticket, boat and region: delivery skipper rates.

What's included, and what you pay on top#

The captain's fee covers their time and responsibility. The running costs of the delivery are the owner's, usually settled against receipts:

• Fuel, the biggest variable on a motor yacht or a windless passage
• Marina, mooring and lock fees along the route
• Provisioning for the crew
• Crew travel to the boat and home again: flights, trains, a hotel night
• Repairs and spares needed underway

A fair quote lists these separately rather than burying them in one number. If a quote is just "€8,000 to deliver the boat", ask for the breakdown. What stays with you regardless: hull insurance, and anything the boat needed before she was fit to sail.

The six things that move the price#

• Distance, the biggest driver, roughly €3 to €8 per nautical mile
• Boat size and type: under 40 ft takes about 15 percent off the bands above, 50 ft and up adds about 25 percent; catamarans and motor yachts need more crew or more fuel
• Route difficulty: a coastal hop, an open-ocean passage, or a canal transit with the mast down are different jobs
• Season: high-season captain rates run 20 to 30 percent above the shoulder months
• How flexible your dates are: a five-day weather window beats a fixed date, and the biggest saving of all is a captain already sailing your way on a return leg or a linked trip
• The experience the passage needs: Yachtmaster Offshore for most European work, Yachtmaster Ocean for an Atlantic crossing

Sailing it, shipping it or trucking it#

The bands above are for a delivery on her own keel: a captain and crew sail the boat to you. There are two other ways to move a yacht, and the right one depends on the boat, the distance and how much time you have.

• Delivery by sea. The boat arrives ready to use, and the cost is the captain's fee plus the running costs listed above. The trade-offs are engine hours and wear, weather risk, and two to four weeks at sea for an ocean crossing. For a seaworthy yacht under about 60 ft this is usually the cheapest of the three over any real distance.
• Shipping as deck cargo. A yacht transporter lifts the boat onto a ship on its own schedule and quotes per foot of length or per mile, with loading, cradles, insurance and the ports at either end on top. For a 40 ft yacht across an ocean the total is usually a multiple of a sailed delivery. It makes sense for a boat that cannot make the passage, for very large yachts, and when a fixed arrival date matters more than the money.
• Road transport. Quoted per mile, with permits and escorts once the beam passes roughly three metres, and the mast comes down and goes back up. Cheaper than sailing for small boats over short inland distances; rarely for a 40 ft yacht between two coasts.

If you are weighing sailing against shipping, ask a transporter for an itemised quote and set it next to the band for your route above. Most owners of cruising yachts end up sailing her.

How to get a firm price#

Bands are for orientation. A firm price comes from a captain who has looked at your boat, your route and your dates. On Boat Gigs you share those once, and captains who sail the route reply with their own offers; Tim, delivery captain and founder, replies first with an indicative all-in price. Requesting offers is free, there is no fee on either side, and your email and phone number stay off the public post. Before you accept anyone, read what owners need to know about insurance and contracts and how a yacht delivery works from first offer to handover.