Charter Business & Investment
Annual Operating Costs of a 10–12 Cabin Liveaboard in Raja Ampat
Published by the Raja Ampat Yacht Broker Desk · Updated 19 August 2026
A 10 to 12 cabin liveaboard in Raja Ampat carries eight recurring cost groups: crew, fuel, provisioning, maintenance, a dry-dock reserve, insurance, permits and park compliance, and distribution commission. A model that omits the dry-dock reserve or the shoulder-season crew cost will overstate returns every year.
The eight lines
| Line | What drives it |
|---|---|
| Crew | Headcount, rotation, and whether you retain key crew through the low season. The largest controllable line, and the one most dangerous to cut. |
| Fuel | Itinerary distance, generator load and how much of the season is spent reaching remote areas. |
| Provisioning | Guest numbers, standard of catering, and the logistics of resupply from the mainland. |
| Routine maintenance | Corrosion or timber management, machinery servicing, dive plant, tenders. |
| Dry-dock reserve | Periodic slipping and survey work. Non-negotiable, and best accrued monthly rather than found in a panic. |
| Insurance | Hull and liability cover appropriate to a remote passenger operation. |
| Permits and park compliance | Certification renewals and guest-related contributions. |
| Distribution | Agent commission and the marketing spend that produces direct bookings. |
The three errors that wreck models
- Costing only the operating season. Crew, insurance and maintenance run all year. Revenue does not.
- Ignoring the dry-dock cycle. Slipping and survey arrive on a schedule that has no interest in your cash flow.
- Assuming peak occupancy. Underwrite from an occupancy you can evidence from the historic record, then treat anything above it as upside.
What good cost control looks like
Planned maintenance rather than reactive repair, a spares inventory sized to remoteness, crew retention that avoids constant retraining, and a booking mix that is not entirely dependent on one agent. None of this is exotic; all of it is what separates a boat that earns from a boat that consumes.
Turning cost into a purchase decision
Cost only means something against revenue and asset price. Build the full picture with the charter business financial model, then test it against real assets on dive liveaboards for sale or, if you would rather inherit a working cost base, on charter businesses for sale. Owners who do not want to run this themselves place it under management.
Next step: send the desk your brief — vessel type, cruising ground, budget band in USD and timing — via the enquiry desk.