Yachting Industry news that are interesting from our point of view and for our readers. At times some news might not be reported in mainstream yachting or general publishers.

All of those who work in the industry of luxury yachts are familiar with the big international boat shows such as Monaco Yacht Show the one in Cannes, Ft Lauderdale, Miami, Dubai and Genova.  However, thanks to hydrofoil technology getting more popular in the recreational boating industry, we recently stumbled upon a new breed of boat show. It’s a mix between a commercial boat show, a technical conference and a sailing sport event and it’s called The Foiling Week  where hydrofoils are for trial.

It’s only at its second edition (Starting on July 1st on Lake Garda) but we are pretty confident that it will grow and take place in many other places around the world. Did you say UAE?

With the push of the Americas Cup featuring a significant deployment of hydrofoil technology by its shameless contenders we believe The Foiling Week is the boat show format to make boat shows really interesting and exciting again.

Have a look at this video of the first edition:

If you are marina manager you might want to consider to host a Foiling Week.

For more information check out www.FoilingWeek.com

We are delighted to announce that our client the new brokerage firm Yacht Nation has been successful in finding a buyer for the super yacht Nena built by Cantieri di Pisa as reported by Boat International in this article.

The sale of 36m  yacht Nena 1 has been the joint effort of Yachtzoo representing the seller and Yacht Nation who found and represented the buyer throughout the whole transaction.  The negotiation started at asking price of 5.9 million euros.

Built in GRP by Cantieri di Pisa  and designed by Carlo Galeazzi, the vessel was launched in 2009. This yacht for sale was the first in Cantieri Di Pisa’s Akhir 118 semi-custom series and was refitted in 2011.

M/Y Nina 1 Cantieri Di Pisa 36m

Rodriquez Consulting has been supporting the entrepreneurs of Yacht Nation since the start. We have delivered a comprehensive market study to support the client in choosing the right size segment to focus his marketing efforts. Furthermore, the Rodriquez Consulting creative team is directly responsible for the creation (name and brand) of the new brand Yacht Nation.

Yacht Nation might also be a new brand, however, it already has a lot of experience in yacht brokerage, management and sales. Thanos Skliris (Principal) came to Rodriquez Consulting with the objective of creating and yacht brokerage, yacht management and yacht charter firm deploying with much more accuracy and planning than the majority of its competitors.

YACHT NATION logo

The Yacht Nation project started where all business should, from in-depth yacht market research and data analysis provided by Rodriquez Consulting. Our team then analysed the historic trends of brokerage boats in the size segment and geographic areas we had selected to determine the lead to sale goal to set. Furthermore, the Yacht Nation team provided the historic record of all brokerage yachts in their careers to enable Rodriquez Consulting to do an ad-hoc analysis of their professional sale performance.  The result was a clear plan to go forward.

The action plan Rodriquez Consulting created for Yacht Nation was clear and well defined providing for a clear guideline for implementation. Our proprietary M.A.P. – I.D.  (Marketing Action Plan Implementation Dashboard) provided Yacht Nation’s team the following

  1. Marketing Actions to be taken
  2. Tools to use
  3. Frequency of actions
  4. Monitoring tools, KPIs and other metrics
  5. Defined Brand guidelines and branded materials

In the future, Rodriquez Consulting will support Yacht Nation in its marketing efforts to generate the company sales and structural growth.

If you would like to know more about what Rodriquez Consulting can do for your firm and book a preliminary consultation contact us 

Mr Roamer Boogaard was previously Executive Director at the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Initiative and had a solid career in the Dutch maritime sector, including the Dutch Royal Navy from 1981-1997.
With expansion plans in mind, and serving for 10 years as Managing Director, Alice Huisman will take the duties of Executive Director alongside Chairman and fellow shareholder Jan Willem Doeksen. Once Mr. Boorgaard’s settles in to handle the daily operations, Alice Huisman will focus on business development, marketing and client relationships.

As many will know I have been serving as Managing Director for the past 10 years,” begins Alice Huisman, “and, together with our new partners at Royal Doeksen, I am of the view that adding this highly talented and capable individual is the next logical step if we are to maintain and expand upon our past successes.

Alice Huisman recognises the value of change and the key role that attracting and retaining the best talent plays in a dynamic organisation. Furthermore, the importance of building a structured organisation will give her the opportunity to focus on key tasks she performs best with a focus on expansion:

“They will provide me with the opportunity to focus more exclusively on our client relationships, while our expanded management team continues to drive forward operational standards and efficiency.”

Royal Huisman welcomes Mr. Boogaard into a business with a significant order book across the full spectrum of our new build and refit activities.

Together with Roemer Boogaard as Managing Director there will be Mr Ronald van Hulst, as Director of Operations. Van Hulst who has 25 years of experience in the business equips the newly appointed Managing Director perfectly in conjunction with the recently appointed Finance Director Harmen Peeters.

For more info go on Royal Huisman website 

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Yacht Technology

Hi-Tech Italian Yacht

One would think that an industry like the yacht industry where clients are Ultra High Net Worth individuals money is no object and that should reflect on pushing technology boundaries forward. Yet if you look at yachts of 2014, there is  a great deal of automation, interior design gimmicks like moving tv and wireless connected devices, but is there truly any game changing technology.

In my view the yacht industry should be what F1 is for the car industry, where new technologies get tested and then translated into widely available technologies. However, as we all know the yachting industry isn’t made of high R&D budgets and mass production of units and therefore this does not happen. On the other hand, one of the greatest business challenges of running a shipyard is securing business that is stable and ongoing which is not easy to do, simply because yachts are probably the ultimate luxury item and therefore marked as a non-urgent expense during periods of economic uncertainty.  As a consequence, some shipyards that can’t afford to rely on new builds alone, go heavily into the service industry extending their areas of operations to Yacht Charters, Yacht refits and after sale services, maintenance and repairs, which are let’s face it all hardly scalable business lines and merely a way to maximise revenue from existing assets and human resources.

What’s the solution then?  Technology is one and more broadly IP is another one.  If you look around you’ll notice that very few big brands in the yacht industry capitalise on their IP or even have any protected IP other than their brand.

Why there is so little valuable innovation and so little game changing technologies coming from the Yacht industry while there is so much coming from the aviation industry.

The initially-criticised Luca Bassani, founder of Wally Yachts who clearly had a background in another industry managed to make a mark in the yacht industry in much less time then most established brands have done, but why? Surely he had enough money to afford it but also had the courage to dare, to re-think things that were traditionally done in a certain way and to challenge and bend the rules enough to give his brand a unique identity in the industry. It’s also noteworthy that almost from the start the Wally brand was on sky equipment and other hi-tech products in different markets.

Yet that of Wally was a slightly different take on the industry but was it really game changing? No it wasn’t. The use of fiberglass is, hydrofoil technology is, as for tubeless tyres on cars and direct fuel ignition.

In brief the role of innovators in the yacht industry is really left to the power units, propulsion systems, electronics manufacturers, and chemical companies; in other words companies like MTU, Caterpiller, ZF, MAN, Raymarine, Akzo Nobel(aka International Yacht Paint) etc.. Whereas companies like Hamilton jet almost prefer not to look at the yacht industry as a whole and focus on commercial marine applications.  Main yacht manufacturing brands seem not to be motivated enough to invest in R&D to develop IP that can be employed in the industry and licensed into other industries providing for a sound and stable scalable economic growth. Why is that?

Leave us a comment we would be glad to take your point of view on the topic of innovation. Why do you think the Yacht Industry is so backward?

We just got back from Monaco Yacht Show 2014 and our first impressions were rather positive considering the general optimism that we noticed while speaking with a number of yacht builders, yacht owners, yacht brokers, designers and component manufacturer. Boero Group export and marketing manager who was attending the show at the Boero Yacht Coatings boot told us Monaco usually doesn’t fall back on expectations and that his first impression was positive. Luciano Bregola CEO of Isa Yachts was confident about future orders and the MTU sales team was very busy with a series of meetings with existing clients and prospective ones. It seems that the Italian builder are getting busier than they were expecting.  As one would expect a few companies that were exhibitors in the previous years were not present at the show, some had reduced their presence however, some others were there ready to do business with the usual enthusiasm and refreshed brands such as that of ISA Yachts that has undertaken a minor re-branding. The first thing we noticed, however, is that the organisers of MYS 2014 have decided to raise the price of tickets to 150 euros per day and 500 for a multi-day pass, which in fairness we believe it is a good move in order to discourage visitors whose pockets and interest are not strong enough to pay this price to visit the show. We all know large yacht owners, brokers and yacht builder don’t quite like their vessels to be too crowded with non-potential customers also due to the extensive time it takes to visit such large vessels so thumbs up for MYS 2014 edition.

On the other hand of the ticket price increase which for the record more than doubled compared to the previous 60 euro price, all exhibitors had plenty of free invitations to invite their prospects, media professionals and other types of interested parties which made it easy for all of us in the industry to invite the right audience to the show.

The show ground was also extended thanks to the the new Yacht Club de Monaco area with its impressive structure in the north part of Port Hercule that also gave much more useful space for exhibitors needing water space and logistic support.

We also noticed a slight reduction in the number of Yacht Magazines which we believe is an appropriate market adjustment considering the lowered marketing budgets most companies say to have this upcoming years.

This 2014 edition of Monaco Yacht Show at first glance seemed to be a positive and optimistic one from a sales point of view, however, we will get back on the specific topic with more updates after exhibitors have settled the show frenzy and will talk to us regarding the real output of the show in terms of business. Don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter to receive updates

From a marketing point of view we were pleasently surprised by a number of interesting techniques to move visitors on the show ground such as Edminston’s Gelato invitations served by the now famous team of red-dressed models, the traditional Feadship panama hats distributed for free to visitors,

Azimut Magellano 43 ADV at Shouthampton Boat Show 2014

Azimut Magellano 43 ADV at Shouthampton Boat Show 2014

“The best boat for british people has been designed in Italy ” this is the daring advertising slogan which displays below the new Magellano 43 exhibited at the PSP Southampton Boat Show  2014. The Azimut-Benetti group is making a move to tackle the british market. Our contacts at Azimut-Benetti group have made it clear that they are here to stay which means that the yacht manufacturing group is not only interested in the city of London foreign and local money but they are targeting the whole of the UK market, which, we believe, is a rather different more established type of marine market.  The choice of bringing the Magellano line here at the Southampton boat show makes it very clear per se, instead of showcasing the faster yachts more suitable for city boys or the young and wealthy London HNWIs, the Magellano is a yacht for a sophisticated mariner that want to enjoy his yacht all year, long range and if need be face the rough seas.

Other than just participating with a the factory team at Southampton boat show 2014, Azimut-Benetti exclusive Monaco and France dealer is in the process of opening a sales office here in London, with a prestigious address as one might expect in Mayfair’s Hannover Square.

We talked with the lovely  Elisabeth Curro, who has been heading the Monaco office of P.B. Yachting Monaco, who will be running the exclusive dealer for Azimut-Benetti in London. Elisabeth sounded confident on the market potential of the city and the country for the Azimut-Benetti brands.  We look forward to attend the opening of this new sales office.

At Rodriquez Consulting we believe there is certainly an interesting market opportunity for this established yacht manufacturer to grow in the UK market and in the growing city market of London which is one of the largest city economies in the world. London is indeed the first or the second home for many  “ultra high net worth individuals” – those with $30m (£21m) or more in assets apart from their main home – number 167,669, according to a report from estate agents Knight Frank – up 59% over the past decade.

Roughly equal to the population of the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea – and many of them do indeed have a place there – they control more than $20 trillion in assets – more than the national output of the US and Germany put together.

London, is, not surprisingly,  home to more UHNWIs (4,224) than any other city in 2013 and this will still be the case a decade later, with nearly 5,000 expected to be living here.

For more information about the city economics and how to penetrate this target niche please contact us. 

Summer 2014 Microsoft founder Bill Gates goes on vacation with his family as a billionaire of his calibre should.

The NY Daily News captured some images of Microsoft tycoon aboard “The Serene,” a $330 million dollar yacht that according to the newspaper Gates and his family are renting for $5 million per week. To us this value sounds like wrong information as the Serene is listed at prices that are well below 2.5$ million per week [2.2 $ to be exact]

M/Y Serene is a Fincantieri built 133 meter yacht designed by Espen Oeino and launched in 2011. With a cruise speed of 15 knots and top speed around 20 knots The Serene has the following interesting interior features which we assume were appealing to Mr Gates as a discerning client

  • Indoor climbing wall
  • Dedicated children’s playroom
  • Two helicopter landing pads
  • Fully-equipped health spa and beach club
  • Multiple swimming pools [saltwater]
  • Underwater viewing room
  • Full conference room

Gates as you might imagine doesn’t own “The Serene.” He’s chartering it from Stolichnaya vodka distributor Yuri Scheffler. The Russia-born Scheffler is an interesting figure himself, who became famous for battling with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Putin’s attempt to nationalize and “redistribute” Stolichnaya’s wealth.

Though he does not own a yacht himself, Gates seems to be a fan of them. In 1994, he was married about a yacht belonging to his fellow Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Allen famous Octopus was built a few years ago with an approximate budget of $200 million by German builder Lurssen Yachts.

Even if Gates doesn’t own his own yacht, although he clearly could, a clear sign of how the most solid representative of the U-HNWI group is often opting for chartering rather than yacht owning.

According to the Daily News, Bill Gates and his family regularly make use of the Serene’s on board helicopter to travel for tennis matches at the “billionaire’s playground” nearby Porto Cervo in Sardenia, while the boat is stationed off the coast. And like Allen’s yacht, the Serene also comes with its own submarine, which in the amenities and toy categories is slowly increasing in popularity.

After Cannes boat show while just approaching from the Monaco Yacht Show 2014 the RC team is matching the Super Yacht Market Study 2014 forecasts with industry experts and shipyard owners and managers opinion together while cross matching Yacht launches with the yacht registries around the world for yachts over 80 feet.

The industry is no longer shy to attack new emerging markets and areas where we have identified the highest growth in wealth in terms of volume and in terms of number of HNWI (high net worth individuals) and billionaires.

In order to give more support to our clients we have added the following elements to our Super Yacht Market Study for 2014 and cross matched our forecasts with a variaty of sources in order to assure maximum reliability.

Furthermore, after several custom requests we have also elaborated specific drill-in on products like antifouling paints and many other specific components that are fundamental in for the life of a vessel.

Here are some elements extracted from the latest version:

Power Super Yacht evolution backlog by length

Power Super Yacht evolution backlog by product type

Power Super Yacht evolution backlog for construction materials

Sail Super Yacht evolution backlog by length

Sail Super Yacht evolution backlog for construction materials

Evolution of the Super Yacht Market Volume

Super Yacht Market Evolution cathergorized by business macro segments

Power Super Yacht Market Evolution by length

Power Super Yacht Market Evolution by product type

Sail Super Yacht Market Evolution by length

Super Yacht Market Evolution for main geographical areas

New Deliveries Evolution vs. Destock and pre-owned Market

Evolution of the Market Value of Super Yachts

Identifying the drivers of the market for Super Yachts

Trend number of HNWI by geographical areas

HNWI population Evolution 2005-14

HNWI wealth Trend by geographical areas

HNWI wealth Evolution 2005-14

Population Ranking HNWI for geographical areas

HNWI wealth Breakdown

HNWI allocation “Investments of Passion”/Vanity Investments

HNWI population age distribution

HNWI Population Sex allocation

Sizing the number of Billionaires by Macro geographical areas (2012-13-14)

Top 10 Countries in terms of number of Billionaires (2012-13-14)

Top 10 Countries in terms of average growth in the number of Billionaires (2013-14)

Market Evolution for Marine and Luxury products vs. No. of HNWI’s And Billionaires

Correlation analysis of the Market with business drivers

Super Yacht Market Forecasts

Power Super Yacht Market Forecast

Sail Super Yacht Market Forecast

Super Yacht Market Forecast classified by geographical areas

A delegation of yacht builders meets with national legislators

A delegation of yacht builders has requested to President Ma Ying-jeou to stop listing yachts as luxury items. The Taipei Times reports that the delegation, headed by Taiwan Yacht Industry Association president John Lu, yesterday visited the Legislative Yuan.

“Yachts should be considered a consumer product rather than a property or a luxury product that can be used for speculative profit. Most importantly, the industry creates jobs and could be an integral part of Taiwan’s development of the recreational marine industry,” Lu said in a written statement.

Furthermore, the delegation met with leaders of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng.

Lu stated that the government’s policy of backing the recreational marine industry was being countered by a 10 percent luxury tax on boats over NT$3m (US$100,000).

Legislators were told that the tax has not only damaged boat manufacturing in Taiwan, but has also lowered overall employment numbers.

Lu said the government has only collected NT$5m in luxury taxes from yacht buyers. “However, every order for a new yacht could create 100 jobs,” he added.

Taxation Agency Deputy Director-General Hsu Tzu-mei told the paper that the Ministry of Finance is reviewing the luxury tax. But Hsu said that the tax does not hurt local business prospects because a majority of Taiwan-made yachts are sold to foreign customers.

According to TYIA, Taiwan is the sixth-largest yacht manufacturer in the world, with annual revenues of US$250m.

For further information on the Yachting Industry and Yacht market in Asia please contact us at Market@RodriquezConsulting.com

Giancarlo Galeone is a Ferretti Group shareholder and director and he has been appointed CEO of the company following the recent death of Salvatore Basile.

Galeone whoe joined Ferretti in 1991, and has covered the CEO position from 1995 thru 2005 then he became vice-chairman in 2006. He has worked closely with Basile on the Board, defining Ferretti’s relaunch plan and reorganisation sharing vision and strategies.

In the words of founder Norberto Ferretti :“At a time of such sorrow for our group sharing the profound grief of Mr Basile’s wife and family, the appointment of Giancarlo Galeone will guarantee strategic continuity for Ferretti Group,”