The yachting industry searches for alternatives to teak.

Tech titan Jeff Bezos’s $500 million superyacht, Koru, delivered in 2023, uses teak in its interior and for its decking. This dense, heavy tropical hardwood is highly prized in the luxury yachting world for its exceptional properties, including remarkable resistance to rot and saltwater, its inherent beauty, and its status as a symbol of prestige and affluence. The highest quality teak traditionally originates from old-growth trees, harvested from natural forests, predominantly in Myanmar. However, this timber is often sold by the country’s military-linked sector with little regard for sustainable forestry practices, rendering it illegal to import into the UK, EU, and US due to trade sanctions imposed in 2021 following a coup, though import restrictions were already in place under long-standing laws. Investigations are currently underway in Germany, where the initial importer of the Koru’s deck wood was reportedly based, to determine if the teak used is indeed illegal Myanmar teak or sourced from legal plantations elsewhere.

This issue is not isolated to the Koru. Another prominent luxury yacht maker, UK-based Sunseeker, was fined in late 2024 for its use of Myanmar teak. Both Sunseeker and Oceanco, the builder of the Koru, have attributed these breaches to unintentional oversights, with Sunseeker citing a lapse in due diligence. It is a widely acknowledged problem that Myanmar teak continues to infiltrate supply chains, often being misrepresented as plantation teak from other tropical countries.

Consequently, the yachting industry is increasingly exploring and adopting alternatives to traditional teak. These range from thermally-modified woods and entirely synthetic materials to engineered teak laminates. While these options have been available for some time, recent innovations are reportedly enhancing their performance and appeal. Beyond the legal ramifications of sanctions, a significant driver for this trend is the depletion of pre-sanction stockpiles of old-growth timber. Plantation teak, derived from younger trees, is often considered inferior by high-end shipyards, rarely exhibiting the long, wide, dark-brown boards that signify premium quality. Other natural woods that could potentially substitute teak often struggle to meet the industry’s stringent standards or are limited in supply.

Cork is one alternative occasionally employed. Its proponents highlight its sustainability, as it is harvested from bark that can regrow without felling trees, making it a low-carbon choice. However, its aesthetic appeal is not universally embraced. Walter Kollert, a Portugal-based forestry consultant and member of the steering committee of TEAKNET, a non-profit international teak information network, emphasizes the welcome nature of alternatives to natural teak. He warns that old-growth teak forests, which are part of valuable ecosystems, are at risk of being lost. Kollert notes that while the furniture and housing industries have generally found it easier to substitute plantation teak, the yachting sector faces greater challenges in finding suitable replacements.

A significant shift in approach was announced by Sunreef Yachts, a major luxury yacht maker with operations in Poland and Dubai. In October last year, the company declared its complete transition away from teak decking across its entire range. Nicolas Lapp, co-founder and chief technical officer of Sunreef, stated that teak is no longer an option for them and believes they are the sole company to make such a definitive move. This decision was driven by the escalating difficulty in sourcing high-quality plantation teak and the company’s commitment to enhanced sustainability. Lapp explains that when purchasing plantation teak, a considerable amount of the wood is unusable. After extensive testing of various alternatives, Sunreef now offers two types of thermally-modified woods. These are natural woods that have undergone a heat treatment process to enhance their properties and resemble teak, though the specific types remain undisclosed publicly. For smaller boat models, the company also utilizes recyclable synthetic decking. Lapp highlights that these thermally-modified woods not only match teak’s visual appeal but are also easier to clean and offer superior thermal performance, staying cooler in direct sunlight and insulating cabins below, thereby reducing reliance on air conditioning.

One emerging thermally-modified wood product is Tesumo, launched by a company of the same name in late 2021. Despite its small operational scale, business is reportedly booming, with the company working to increase its output. Arne Petersen, Tesumo’s managing director, acknowledges that past instances of unsuccessful thermally-modified wood treatments may have cast a shadow over newer materials, but he asserts that Tesumo presents a viable alternative. Developed in Germany through a research project involving the University of Göttingen and the prestigious Lürssen shipyard, Tesumo emerged after Lürssen struggled to find a suitable natural alternative to old-growth teak. The product begins with a fast-growing, undisclosed African hardwood, which is then heat-treated and further processed, including resin impregnation. Notable installations of Tesumo include a helipad on the Lürssen-built superyacht Dragonfly, reportedly owned by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and the entire deck of Boardwalk, another Lürssen superyacht linked to US businessman Tilman Fertitta.

Synthetic alternatives, including various plastics, are also undergoing continuous evolution. Flexiteek, a UK-made PVC teak substitute introduced in 2000, is widely recognized as a market leader in its category. In late 2024, the company unveiled its third-generation product. Steve Moore, Flexiteek’s marketing manager, notes that this new iteration is easier to clean than real teak, retains its color as natural teak weathers to a grey hue over time, and offers improved thermal performance compared to earlier versions.

Richard Strauss, CEO of Teakdecking Systems, has firsthand experience with the challenges of sourcing teak. Teakdecking Systems manufactured the decks for the Koru at its facility in Spain, with Strauss confirming that the teak used was purchased through an EU-based wood trader. He asserts that all the company’s teak is procured with third-party validation of its chain of custody paperwork. Teakdecking Systems offers decks using either plantation teak, primarily sourced from India, or a select few alternatives with which they have achieved considerable success. One such alternative is Green Teak, a laminated wood product originating from Thailand. Laminated teak is an engineered material where plantation-grown teak, often deemed unsuitable for high-end decking due to its imperfections, is thinly sliced and bonded together to create a strong and stable material. Strauss explains that this process "tricks the eye" while utilizing a significantly greater portion of the log. Despite these advancements, Strauss observes that plantation teak remains the most popular choice among his customers, indicating that old habits are slow to change.

Lapp of Sunreef emphasizes the need for a broader cultural shift away from teak altogether. He notes that customers often initially request teak, but once they understand the associated issues and the benefits of alternatives, their perspective changes. Lapp states that when presented with alternatives, customers often realize they "can’t tell the difference."

However, the small UK family yacht building business, Jeremy Rogers, is currently sticking with teak. They source their teak from older, government-managed plantations in Java, which they are confident are authentic and harvested sustainably. Jessie Rogers, representing the company, expresses their keenness to adopt a genuinely sustainable substitute that performs exceptionally well, but acknowledges that past experiments with alternatives have largely fallen short. She notes that "the problem for the alternatives is there is nothing quite like real teak."

Correction 4 February: This article was amended to provide further details about Teakdecking Systems’ role in making the teak deck for the Koru which were not included in an earlier version.