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May June 2019 Marina World

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MARINA CHAINS & NETWORKS Yacht Haven Grande in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands, is a leading, award-winning megayacht marina that is one of 17 facilities in IGY Marinas’ global portfolio. Growing and changing: “We plan to become a global superyacht marina operator and influencer over the next five years and create a ‘gold route’ linking the Mediterranean and Asia through Dubai, attracting yachts to P&O Marinas destinations, including berths, hotels, yacht clubs, luxury destinations, refit and maintenance yards.” TransEurope Marinas [Jean-Michel Gaigné, president] TransEurope Marinas started in 1997 as Transmanche; a cross-channel association with members in the UK, France, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands. The group now includes 87 marinas in 12 countries (Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, UK, France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Italy, Croatia and Greece). Customer benefits: “The benefits are two-fold. We assist marina members as both a competitive advantage in the marketplace but also in terms of wealth, as a vast group of managers for cross-culture knowledge sharing. Berth holders with a minimum sixmonth contract in member marinas benefit automatically from the right to cruise amongst the network with a 50% berthing discount for up to five days in each of the other 86 marinas.” Biggest focus: “Good practice is probably the main one. As marinas seek to consolidate their identity and widen their focus both within the boating industry and the wider locality, we have looked at various topics such as environmental management, encouraging younger sailors to take up boating, celebrating cultural heritage, education for marina staff, and women in the industry.” New demands: “There is certainly a shift towards the marina becoming more of a lifestyle attraction to retain the interest of berth holders and attract more visitors and, as a consequence, marinas have responded with the incorporation of a better class of customer facilities, quality bars and restaurants, open days, social events, boating events, interaction with charities and conservation groups and better preparation for promoting points of interest in the nearby surroundings. The ageing demographic means that marinas need to be better equipped for people with certain mobility restrictions. The decline in interest in owning and maintaining a boat has created an interest in promoting charter and related shorter-term commitments. [There is also an interest in fostering] improved sailing skills and related activities in conjunction with local sailing schools and clubs.” Growing and changing: “We are planning a new online system with an app for our members and will continue to work together in the interest of encouraging boating and quality marina facilities. We are also seeking to widen the scope of our primary objective, by promoting the destination of each member marina so that boating enthusiasts can enjoy the facilities even without their own boat: via yacht charter, floating holiday homes or sailing courses.” Westrec Marinas [Gary Groenewold, vice president, southern region] Westrec Marina Management, commonly known as Westrec Marinas, is one of the largest marina operators in the USA with over 30 years of experience in marina operations and privatisation efforts. It currently operates a portfolio of over 25 marina facilities comprising some 12,000 wet and dry slips serviced by over 400 employees. Westrec has been extremely successful in its relationships with government authorities and creating public-private partnership marine facilities and currently manages ten municipal marinas for the Chicago Park District, one for the Port of Los Angeles in southern California, three City properties in Florida and two county leases in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Customer benefits: “We understand that every marina has its own character as well as site-specific landside facilities and services. Our expertise is in tailoring operating and marketing plans to meet the needs of the community. Our customers benefit from our local knowledge and the experience of our team. We understand our customer’s needs and anticipate what will help them best enjoy their time on the water.” Biggest focus: “Our biggest focus in the southern region has been the development, construction and opening of the Haulover Marine Center in North Miami Beach, Florida. Years in the making, the project required numerous municipal governmental and agency approvals as the project was located in a County Park. The new dry storage building saw its soft opening in September 2016 and its official completion and grand opening in March of 2017.” New demands: “The trend has been for your 40 to 60ft [12-18m] sport fishing boats to be replaced by 40 to 50ft [12-15m] centre console boats with three to four outboard engines on the transom that boat owners can handle on their own. These vessels are able to be dry stored, eliminating the expense of dockage, a captain to run the boat, and the expense of routine bottom jobs. These centre consoles are larger and wider than those of yesteryear and, in today’s busy times, get boat owners to where they want to be in less than half the time their sportfish vessel did.” www.marinaworld.com - May/June 2019 27

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