MS The World arrives in London
Yachting Boating World: MS The World, the largest residential yacht on the planet, has visited London as part of its 39,000 nautical mile non-stop cruise during 2016.
The 644 foot MS The World is currently in London as part of its non-stop journey to visit all seven continents in 2016.
The vessel sailed up the River Thames on 3 July.
Launched in 2002, it has 165 luxury apartments on board, ranging in price from £660,000 to £8.5 million.
Essentially, The World is a floating city, with a range of amenities and services including restaurants, bars, a deli and grocery, sports centre, medical centre, art gallery, theatre, cinema and a boutique.
Residents spend, on average, around three to four months on board each year, although they can choose to cruise indefinitely.
The ship, which has 12 decks, is scheduled to visit other European ports in July, August and September before it passes through the Suez Canal and tours the Middle East in October.
From there it will sail to India, The Maldives, Malaysia and Borneo before sailing to Western Australia.
The World, which has a maximum speed of 18.5 knots and a draft of 6.7 metres, is managed by the Florida-based management company, ROW Management Ltd.
The Bahamian flagged ship is privately owned by 142 families from 19 countries.
On average, there are around 150-200 residents and guests on board throughout the year.
They are looked after by a long-standing crew of around 280.
The World was the idea of Norwegian shipping magnate, Knut Utstein Kloster. It was designed by Petter Yran and Bjørn Storbraaten.
Construction of the vessel began in May 2000 in Rissa, Norway and in March 2002, it set sail from Oslo on its inaugural journey.
The World is the first ship of its size burning marine diesel oil rather than heavy bunker fuel.
This makes it much more environmentally friendly, and allows it to call in areas where ships burning heavy fuel are banned.
The World is also the first ship to feature the unique Scanship wastewater cleaning system in which waste is filtered by means of a flotation system.
