Mark Zuckerberg’s yachts traveled tens of thousands of nautical miles

For a long time, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg remained surprisingly reserved despite his billions. This year at the latest that changed drastically. The 40-year-old is apparently in the middle of what is probably the most expensive mid-life crisis in the world. The inconspicuous nerd with the same T-shirt has now become a watch collector, athlete, yacht owner and singer-songwriter (yes, really). All of this would be granted to him from the bottom of his heart if he didn’t show a certain degree of hypocrisy.

Because while his company Meta is setting off a veritable fireworks display on its specially set up website, the company’s founder has one thing in particular on fire: the engines of his two huge yachts. At Meta they say: “We believe that sustainability means more than just acting responsibly. It is an opportunity to support the communities we are part of and have a positive impact on the world.” Mark says: “Ship ahoy”.

As “” reports, both of Zuckerberg’s yachts, the 118 meter long “Launchpad” and the 67 meter long shadow ship “Wingman”, are among the ten “most traveled mega yachts” of the year. Accordingly, the “Launchpad” covered a distance of 29,522 nautical miles (54,674 kilometers), the “Wingman” covered 27,245 nautical miles (50,457 kilometers).

The long routes come together with multiple Atlantic crossings, trips to the Pacific and excessive trips around the hotspots for luxury yachts. The “Launchpad” is currently in French Polynesia, closely followed by the “Wingman” (IMO).

It is complicated to estimate exactly how much fuel the two huge ships with their diesel engines carried through. If you follow the information from “”, the “Launchpad” can travel around 6,000 nautical miles with 423,000 liters at 14 knots. The “Wingman” is assumed to have a capacity of 340,000 liters and a range of 8,700 nautical miles when the ship is traveling at 15 knots. At least that’s what comes from the information in a sales advertisement at the yacht broker “”.

However, consumption and range depend on various factors. While driving, these include speed and weather, for example. The mere number of nautical miles traveled does not provide any information about the exact consumption – because even when yachts are moored, as was the case for weeks in San Diego in October, the engines are running. The consumption is of course lower, but masses of diesel still flow through the pumps hour after hour.

If you calculate the range bluntly against the distance traveled, the “Launchpad” would require 4.9 tank fills, while the “Wingman” would need 3.1. In liters: around two million for the “Launchpad”, around 1.05 million for the “Wingman”. “” also comes to a similar result. It won’t be exactly true – Mark Zuckerberg’s fuel bill probably amounts to more than three million liters of ship diesel. Assuming large 80 liter car tanks, that would be 38,125 tank fillings. The CO₂ footprint could hardly be larger.

And it seems a bit strange that Meta is so aggressively advertising that it is working every day to finally become completely climate neutral.