Boat Builders Fleeing Florida?

Yes, Carl, interesting and depressing, but certainly not surprising.

The inexorable market forces that shape the marine industry in South Florida are not unlike the plate tectonics that shape the planet--wishful thinking ain't gonna change a thing.
The automobile manufacturers like BMW and Mercedes located plants to the Carolinas and Alabama years ago to take advantage of cheap labor and tax incentives to set up their operations.
Our local/in-state boat builders just took a little longer to figure this out and are just going down the same path.

Does anyone think Broward Marine will last for too much longer--- even though they are cheek-by-jowl next to FLL? Some enterprising soul will probably build a huge condo for the hearing-impaired!

Then, like dominos, will follow Derector's and Playboy Marine and Scott Miser's old place.

Wonder what the yachtsman/yachtswoman of 2016 will find enticing about this previous garden of eden, our 'Venice of America'?

Maybe they will queue up at the floating drydocks that park here and there on the ICW for their service work. Anybody interested in setting up a business?

No surprise here, and also maybe a godsend for many yards. Florida being a prime destination for the millions of retiring Baby Boomers who are putting pressure on all available waterfront land whether there or any warm climate destination.
Assuming that most of the yards own their land, this could be interpreted as a “jack pot” win for many as the land sale profit could easily exceed years (decades) of manufacturing profit.
This combined with other States incentives for relocation is not a hard pill to swallow for most. It’s just a sign of the times.
Now, how long before the yacht builders take a larger incentive leap to China or Taiwan?.

I think the Sun-Sentinel article says it all.

The high cost of living, high insurance costs, little or no incentives from the local/state governments for business as well as plain old red tape are some of the main reasons boat/marine-related businesses are leaving FL.

FL is no match for the lower cost of living, lower insurance costs, tons of move-in and tax incentives for businesses offered by other states. Add to this their TRUE Business-Friendly Attitude.

This is Business Management 101. The only way for businesses to survive is to CONTROL COSTS. And FL's state and local governments have to recognize that or risk the further exodus of boat builders and related companies out of FL to other more business-friendly states.

well

No surprises there.

Very narrow minded of the state to assume that the yards and thus the yachts won't just go north.

Lets hope the yards manage to get better staff and then produce better results than I see down here in Ft Lauderdale.

Hold the presses

The link is for an article in today's Ft. Laud. Sun Sentinel; Jackson Marine is getting a huge cash infusion and makeover to handle yachts up to 170 feet.

Maybe the fat lady is not yet onstage.




http://www.sun-sentinel.com/busines...ul18,0,3805943.story?coll=sfla-business-front

erm not clever

Slips for 170ft yachts west of the 95??????????

Tow Boat US must be rubbing there hands together at this stage.

Hi,

I understand that Merrill Stevens is undergoing a huge refit program of it's own facilities.

They are the oldest continually operating business inn Dade County so I don't see them running North anytime soon.

The buyout of Jackson Marine Center by a Naples, FL marina developer doesn't do any good for the other marine-related businesses in the area.
It's the State and Local Government that should make the right moves: provide the right business/tax incentives and a more Business-Friendly Attitude.
This might well be some good reasons for businesses to STAY in FL.

In Broward County, Florida, one need look no further than the proposed Boat Facility Sitting Plan ordinance, which seeks to arbitrarily limit future allowable boat slips, on a county wide basis. Government is either for or against the boating industry, and in this case it is very clear where Broward County stands. Unfortunately, their attitude in not condusive to supporting the marine industry, and that type of attitude is already driving away business. At the state level, there are very generous programs to help new businesses, as long as you are biotech. Basic industry, such as yacht manufacturing does not even make the "B" list.

The Sun-Sentinel article speaks volumes to the misconception many yacht owners have of the boat yard reaping huge profits while servicing or modifying yachts. In truth it is very often a hand-to-mouth exisitence to keep the doors open. Property taxes and insurance costs are only two of many variables which create for large overhead costs.

We in Palm Beach feel very fortunate to have a facility owner who realizes first and foremost that it is important to maintain the yacht facilities we have in South Florida and to upgrade them in all fashion in order to provide added-value to our customers.

While there is no doubt it takes financial backing to improve upon current facilities, we are supportive in an across the board effort for all service yards and builders to initiate capital improvements, build better business systems and train the workforce in order to keep the marine industry here in South Florida.

Carl,
Thanks for the update.
It's a mixture of good news and bad news.
Bad news because the expansion is taking place out-of-state, i.e., in NC.
Which means FL's state and local governments did not do enough to keep the business (expansion) within the state.
Good news because this expansion is indicative of the continued robust business that Chris-Craft expects in the Boating Industry.
Arnie

Huge tax hikes threaten Florida marinas...

Source: Boating Industry
Friday September 8, 2006

PALM BEACH, Fla. - A group of marina and boatyard owners in Palm Beach County, Fla., facing another year of triple-digit tax increases, have teamed up to challenge the way their properties are appraised, pooling tens of thousands of dollars to hire a team of experts and taking their pleas to county and state officials, the Palm Beach Post reported in a story yesterday.

The effort comes in response to the 2006 property assessments sent out last month. Several marinas saw their tax bills double, even triple, for the second year in a row, frustrating an industry already threatened by climbing insurance costs, hurricane repairs and development pressures.

"These guys are just putting us out of business," Ray Graziotto, president of Jupiter-based Seven Kings Holdings, which owns four marinas in Palm Beach County, told the newspaper. "This is really self-preservation. Any profit that any of us were making is gone if these assessments stand.

"None of us is expecting a free ride, but how can you endure 400 and 500 percent tax increases over the course of a few years?"

Eight marine business owners formed the group, calling themselves the Save the Working Waterfront in Palm Beach County Committee. Graziotto is its chairman, the Post reported.

Working with the Marine Industries Association of Palm Beach County, they're asking other marine businesses to join the effort. The initial members have committed $10,000 each, and are hoping to raise more money from others.

According to the marine group, total taxes for county commercial slips that are open to the public were about $1.38 million last year, up from $914,000 in 2004. That jumped to $4.37 million for 2006.

Several marine businesses plan to file appeals next week, the newspaper reported.

If property values make it impossible for marinas and boatyards to be profitable, they'll sell their prized land to condo builders, said John Sprague, co-owner of Everglades Adventures marina and legislative chief for the Marine Industries Association of Florida.

"There isn't a single small business in Palm Beach County that can take that kind of hit. You can't budget for it," Sprague told the Post. "Unless something's done, you're going to lose every public marina."

Seems to be a slam-dunk that the areas in which real estate becomes ever more expensive translates out to higher taxes, insurance and the rest of the freight that spells impending doom for marinas and boat builders.
Given the current impasse over immigration foisted on us by those who slobber at the public trough, is it possible that those areas of high density new-immigration ( given the belief that they will come here to the U.S. to stay ) become potential sites for the newest yards in which to build boats?

This occurred, BTW, in the 1960 exodus from Cuba that led to the cheap labor supplying such South Florida builders as Bertram Yacht, Phoenix, Norseman, et al, plus supplying the repair yards as well.

I suspect that some Condo Developers/Builders are actually behind this trend of increasing taxes on marinas in Palm Beach County ... with the purpose of driving the marina owners/operators out of business, forcing them to sell their properties to the Developers.
This is a potential windfall for the Condo Developers/Builders, as waterfront property is selling at a Premium.