The machine that lifts 1,000 tonnes: how Palma became a refit capital
Europe's largest travel lift stands in Palma. It is 26 metres long, 25 metres high and picks up sailing yachts of 67 metres.
Palma is a refit port before it is a charter port, and the clearest evidence stands on the quay at STP Shipyard Palma: a travel lift with a hoisting capacity of up to 1,000 tonnes, the largest in Europe by size and lifting capacity. It measures 26 metres long, 12.5 metres wide and 25 metres high, and it lifts motor yachts of up to 57 metres and sailing yachts of up to 67 metres, in both cases with a maximum beam of 12 metres.
The engineering, in numbers
The machine runs on 32 wheels with electronic steering, driven by two Volvo engines of 286 horsepower each, and carries 32 slings across four hoist blocks per side, one fixed and three mobile. Those numbers matter because a hull is not a container: the load has to be distributed across the slings so that a thin skinned composite yacht is not deformed by its own weight the moment it leaves the water.
| Specification | Figure |
|---|---|
| Hoisting capacity | up to 1,000 tonnes |
| Dimensions | 26 m long, 12.5 m wide, 25 m high |
| Motor yachts | up to 57 m |
| Sailing yachts | up to 67 m |
| Maximum beam | 12 m |
| Wheels | 32, electronically steered |
| Engines | 2 x 286 hp |
| Yard capacity | over 140 yachts at once, up to 120 m |
Why capacity decides where a refit happens
A refit is a scheduling problem before it is a craft problem. The yard has to hold the yacht, the trades have to reach it, and the owner has to accept the port for the weeks or months it takes. STP can host over 140 yachts simultaneously, including vessels up to 120 metres, and it sits inside a city with a dense cluster of specialist contractors: paint, rigging, interiors, electronics, upholstery. That combination is what a competing port cannot improvise in a season.
What it means for the island economy
Refit work is the counter cyclical half of Balearic yachting. Charter fills the summer, refit fills the winter, and the crews stay through both. The scale of the wider sector is set out in our piece on the numbers behind the Balearic fleet, where a turnover of 1.106 billion euros in 2024 is put at 3.1 per cent of Balearic GDP.
The season that follows
Winter refit ends where the season begins, at the show on the Moll Vell in late April. Our guide to the Palma International Boat Show 2026 has the dates and the layout.
Sources
What is the largest yacht the lift can handle?
Why is beam the binding limit so often?
How many yachts fit in the yard?
When is refit season in Mallorca?
Does a big lift mean a cheap lift?
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