Yacht Sales Slow Down As Millionaires Scale Back...

There aren't nearly the same amount of boats in the US anymore. For the last two years I have seen 9 out of 10 of the yachts that have sold have been shipped or run out of the country. I personally on average have loaded a minimum of 2 yachts a month on freightors going out of the country for the last two years. US buyers haven't bought new boats to replace them, so the volume of actual yachts in the U.S. has decreased significantly. If you go by the big marina's in Fort Lauderdale such as Bahia Mar, Pier 66, etc. etc....... they're all half empty in the middle of the season. The yards are the same way. It's going to be a few years before everyone starts buying in mass quantities to replace all of the ones that have left the country IMO. If a full service yard does a certain service, they usually don't allow outside contractors to come in and do the same service. From what I've seen, they'll only allow outside contractors to come in that do something outside of their scope such as canvas people in most cases......

Hey Capt J
From what I been told, and have seen in the past, Directors likes to have outside people come in as they rercieve 20% of what ever the bill is. It's like money for nothing and if they cash in more of that, the cost and need of keeping more personel (insurances, taxes, benifiets,) will fall shorter as well.

And just for anyone who might be intrested in the way things are going down island this year.. I just left the Antigua Boat show, New Years in St Barts, and now sitting in Simpson Bay ST Marteen. All 3 events have had far less turn out than expected. All the locals are wondering where the people are compared to previuos seasons... Right now all around in Simpson Bay there are many of open slips available. No problem for finding dockage around here...

It reminds me of the early 90:s when the financial crisis hit the French Riviera. There were slips available, you could get a table on any restaurant, the French staff suddenly understood English (!) and some beach restaurants kept open also in wintertime..! Less traffic on the roads and a slower, healthier lifestyle for as long as it lasted. Maybe this year will be the same, not all bad after all..

A downturn does indeed tend to flush out less qualified Captains, vendors, mechanics, and workers, leaving the better trained people that have enough of a following to weather through it. It also seems to make the better trained people even more meticulous because they have the time and need the repeat business.

Hi,

CaptJ- Any chance you could let me know (by PM if necessary) where you got the info that Lurssens were full of orders from Middle Eastern Owners?

You have written this twice so far in this thread (Post 4 and 13) and I am interested to know where this info originates.

The latest Triton says world wide yacht orders are still growing. I talked with a Allied Marine broker and he said they've sold 8 Bertram SF's in Nov/Dec and he's happy about that. Viking sold 2 boats at FLIBS is the street talk. The Viking Service Center is slower and has less workers- Palm Beach Towers has laid folks off from what I've heard also. I'm hauled out at Seminole boat yard and it is not full.

Thats way down from the 12-14 sales Viking used to do at the FLIB. I remember when Cabo did 24 back in 2004.......they're only going to build 60 boats this year. So they're still way down........I highly doubt Allied Marine sold 8 Bertrams in Nov/Dec, and they were no longer Allied Richard Bertram, they've been taken over by Ferretti for a while now since they couldn't pay their bills.......

Actually the Bertrams were sold in October November and December..

Fair to say we all have strong opinions and concerns about our interconnected industry. From the Broker all the way down to the Chandlers via builders, designers, sub-contractors and suppliers, this is going to sting.
I'm good at generalising I admit, but there are no specifics in this...one yards 100 footer will sell out, another yards 100 footer will stall. One demographic market will balloon, another will dry up. Well maintained and popular second-hand boats will become the fiercest competition to all builders, and selling boats second-hand to fund new purchases will become the biggest hurdle to even those who don't need to borrow.
The best product / service / crew will survive, whatever the price point and relevant market. In the meantime, the best of luck to us all.