Accor Group

Tourism, Orient Express launches the largest sailing yacht for luxury travel

The boat launched yesterday was built by French shipyards in Saint Nazaire

by Paolo Dezza

29 April 2026

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The launching of the Orient Express Corinthian is not only the inauguration of the largest sailing yacht ever built, but is the first step in the Accor group's industrial project to create a luxury travel platform that will include hotels, sea navigation and a historic train.

The operation intertwines advanced shipbuilding, luxury branding and new sustainability strategies in maritime tourism.

The boat, which was launched yesterday in France - inaugurated in the presence of Orient Express sailing yachts president Philippe hetland-Brault - was built at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, one of the global poles of shipbuilding. The production process, which consisted of 14 structural blocks assembled in about four and a half months, reflects the logic typical of large cruise ships rather than traditional yachting.

The project, as mentioned, is part of Orient Express' transformation into a global platform for experiential luxury. The brand is part of the Accor group, which has chosen Lvmh as its strategic partner (according to rumours, the partnership is equal and Bernard Arnault's company would have an option to become the exclusive owner of Orient Express by 2027, ed.) After hotels and trains, the entry into the shipping segment expands the integrated offer that combines hospitality, mobility and entertainment. Indeed, Accor operates in Italia in partnership with Arsenale group in the Dolcevita train segment and with two hotels. In Rome the hotel La Minerva, which opened last summer, and in Laguna Orient Express Venezia tell a story that always draws on the brand's historical heritage. Other hotels are being studied not only in Italia, but these remain rumours.

Designing the Orient Express Corinthian was the brand's artistic director Maxime D'Angeac. Corinthian and Olympian, the two sailing ships - which, according to the Financial Times, will require an investment of more than €800 million - represent a new frontier of travel. 'I have very strong certainties about what Orient Express should be on the sea,' D'Angeac told Sole 24 Ore in an exclusive interview (published on 1 March 2026, ed.). Train and ship are completely different experiences: on the train, everything is horizontal, more closed; on the ship, light, air, the landscape dominate. But we have maintained the same standards of comfort, savoir-faire, technology and innovation. The social structure of the spaces is also similar: cabins as temples of intimacy, protected corridors, alternative routes, and places of sociability - bars and restaurants - designed to never be crowded or empty. The decorative thread runs through all the decks and is fundamental to the coherence of an object like the largest sailing ship of its generation'.

The 220-metre-long boat introduces, from a technological point of view, distinctive elements such as the SolidSail system with three tilting masts over 100 metres and 1,500 square metres of rigid sails, hybrid propulsion geared towards reducing emissions, artificial intelligence systems to avoid collisions with marine mammals, and dynamic positioning that eliminates anchoring, reducing the impact on the seabed.

These solutions are not only engineering but also keep an eye on sustainability, which becomes a competitive lever in a segment - that of luxury cruises - that is increasingly sensitive to environmental reputation.

There are 54 suites between 45 and 230 square metres on board and itineraries will take place in the Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea with iconic ports of call such as Monte Carlo, Portofino and Saint-Tropez, combined with destinations in smaller ports.

As in the case of the historic train, which will return to travel from 2027, for the yachts, lines, decorations and colours are always linked to history, but at the same time profoundly modern. The anchorage to modernity is guaranteed by the choices in terms of wifi, air conditioning, showers, higher ceiling heights, larger windows overlooking the sea, fewer cabins but more space. Attention to the historicity of the brand, on the other hand, is guaranteed by the craftsmen who worked on the project. The design created by Accor involved craftsmen of excellence.