Boot Dusseldorf: extravaganza of sail

ACCORDING to various experts at the Boot Dusseldorf show this year the maritime economy in Europe is now on course for growth in its seventh year.

The maritime economy in Europe has benefitted from this long period of growth. The market-leading shipyards have been back in the profit zone for a long time after a long dry spell and are investing heavily in new models.

Larger motor and sailing yachts are still in trend. In the category of boats over twelve metres in length, 91% of sailboat and 90% of motorboat dealers report consistently good business. The financial service providers and insurers also confirm this.

It is the volume of deals that are increasing, the number of deals are reducing.

There is one exception to the generally good demand in the boat sector: pleasure boats up to 7.5m in length. Here, almost a third of the companies report a drop in sales.

Catamarans remain in high demand, most probably due to the interest from charter boat companies. Delivery times of one year and more are no longer uncommon.

Catamarans are no longer exclusively based in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean, but are increasingly also found in the Baltic Sea.

France, with a turnover of EU€1.23 billion for the production of pleasure boats, remains the clear global leader of monohull and multihull sailboats showing an increase of 15 per cent and 80 per cent respectively in the export market share, which represents 75% of the global production of sailboats.

AWARDS NIGHT

Boot Dusseldorf assembles a collection of yachting journalists from various magazines to pick certain winning designs for each year’s Boot.

This year’s winner in the family cruiser category was the Beneteau Oceanis 30.1.