On Wednesday, November 27th, British shipyard Sunseeker International pleaded guilty to three charges for the use of 11 imports of illegal Myanmar teak (with evidence of more) and breach of timber laws. Sitting in front of the Bournemouth Crown Court, the luxury boat builder was fined a total of £358,759,64 by Judge Jonathan Fuller. This is recorded as the first prosecution under the UK Timber Regulation, which supplanted the EU Timber Regulation post-Brexit, making it a landmark UK Court Case.
After an investigation by the UK’s national product regulator – the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) -the Court ruling found Sunseeker, as an operator, guilty on multiple accounts, including the failure to exercise due diligence and neglect of record-keeping obligations under article 5(1) of the EU Commission Implementing Regulation No. 607/201. The court uncovered imports of the “blood” teak from Myanmar to the UK, wenge from Africa, and European oak totaling £60,000 in the period between 2021-2022.
Suspicion of illicit trade by Sunseeker dates back to 2018, when then UK-based Environmental Investigators Agency (EIA) flagged the potential use of Myanmar teak in the company’s supply chain. In the same year, the EIA submitted a formal report of Sunseeker’s practices to the US Department of Justice.
Timber Trading
The UK Timber Regulation was established to add an obligation on corporations and businesses against the trading of timber and its related products in an effort to address illegal logging and indelible damage to forests around the world.
Issues surrounding the importation of teak date back to the 1960s in Burma ( the Republic of the Union of Myanmar) and, after a period of stability, resurfaced in 2021 when a military junta created an ethnic cleansing program through a state-controlled timber monopoly, allowing the logging of teak for the financial interests of the government as it became a primary source of revenue.
The installation of Burmese teak in luxury vessels has long been favored by the superyacht industry. Its favorable color, durability, densely grained properties, and resistance to water and rock are only some of the capabilities making old teak a viable option on superyacht decks for owners, despite its perilous environmental effects. The EIA warned that, with the current pace of logging, the country will lose its forest by 2035.
Sunseeker, which was officially acquired by the Italian fund Faro Alternative Investments and the American fund Lionheart Capital in October 2024, commented on the Court Ruling when a spokesperson explained that the ““unintended failure” was a result of the change in legislation.
“Protecting our natural world is a priority for Government. OPSS will continue to take proportionate action to hold businesses to account where we identify non-compliance with environmental obligations, including criminal prosecution.” Said OPSS Chief Executive Graham Russell.