We’ve seen our fair share of luxury garages on land, but now Alia Yachts has designed one for the high seas. The Turkish yard has just launched a new support vessel that will carry high-end toys and tenders for her mothership in style.

Billed as a “sleek and muscular new predator,” the custom 118-footer goes by the name PHI Phantom and will support Royal Huisman’s bespoke superyacht PHI. Featuring exterior styling by Cor D Rover and naval architecture by Van Oossanen, the shadow ship is the spit of its 192-foot counterpart, but that was by no means an easy feat.

Designed for an exacting client, the fast displacement aluminum hull was to have no fairing to finish it and so the yard’s metalworking skills were put to the test. The plates had to be very accurately bent in three dimensions, then precisely welded without creating the slightest distortion. Alia said this was “a major challenge,” which, evidently, it managed to overcome to create a sleek hull that echoes that of the mothership. PHI Phantom is also painted in the exact same blue-gray hue as PHI and mirrors the larger vessel’s swooping sheer line and horizontal grille work at the bow.

“As far as we’re aware, this is the first support ship that’s been built with shared aesthetic DNA from the mothership,” the captain of PHI and skipper of PHI Phantom, Guy Booth, said in a statement. “She looks like a mini PHI; a sibling.”

Where the pair do differ, however, is their ability to carry other sea-going vessels: PHI has no space to stow while PHI Phantom doubles as a sophisticated floating garage. She’s fitted with a 30-foot crane that is capable of lifting toys and tenders weighing up to 6 tons from out of the water and onto the expansive, 1,615-square-foot aft deck. At the same time, a hydraulically operated lazarette under the deck stores further vessels away from the elements.

Alia also says all of the systems on board are “over-specced,” with everything from pumps and piping to hydraulics and electrics designed to be “as bombproof as possible.” Power, meanwhile, comes in the form of twin Cat C-32 engines that give the vessel a top speed of 21 knots. She can also cover 4,200 nautical miles when traveling at a cruising speed of 12 knots, which means she’ll always be in tow of the mothership.

While the interior is rooted in functionality, it’s finished to a high standard and features an elegant galley along with an enormous crew mess area. The vessel can accommodate up to six crew, with one of the larger cabins earmarked for guests.

“When PHI Phantom does begin her adventures, she will represent one of the most robust and stylish support vessels ever built,” adds president of Alia Gökhan Çelik.

PHI Phantom is currently undergoing final sea trials and will be delivered in June—at which point we shall see if she lives up to the hype.

robbreport.com