Dear Islander,

We are well and truly in the midst of the European Boatshow season, with London just having closed its doors on January 17^th. Dusseldorf , the largest show in Europe, is next on the calendar opening its doors on the 23^rd January for 9 days.

London reported a slight drop of 2% in attendance from last year but an optimistic level of sales. Sunseeker were quoting sales of over £30m. Sean Robertson Sales Director of Sunseeker claims that despite London Boat Show having shrunk in size over the years, it is still a very important show for them as they always sell boats, and each year they have had a large yacht on show in the water, they have sold at least one of that model. This year is was the debut of their new 131 ft MY Zozo.

These figures should always be taken with a large pinch of salt as one never knows how much was already pre sold. However the fact that they were upbeat is encouraging, and to back up their success generally, they have just taken on an extra 300 staff, unlike Fairline Yachts who pulled out of this year’s show due to recently being placed into administration. This was their first time out of the show for many years. There are however rumours today as we go to print of new buyers for the brand, two Russian businessmen based in the UK. They say they will continue production at their UK facility, and a full announcement will be made at Dusseldorf Boat Show.

This midsized UK based motor boat market is having it tough at the moment, with Princess also announcing around 300 redundancies recently. The strong pound has hit their export market hard, although they may gain solace from today’s exchange rate being just 1.30 eu , a drop of over 10% from the highs of last summer and autumn.

Palma is a hive of activity at present, with STP being packed out despite their extended working space this year, surely a good sign of things to come for 2016. Other yards on the island are also reporting a good refit season. I’m told that charter bookings are also looking good for the season, another positive aspect for the Superyacht service industry here in Mallorca, which both employs and has a beneficial financial effect on a great deal of people on the island, many of whom are not directly involved in the nautical sector, such as provisioning companies in the local markets. One food supplier in Santa Catalina market tells me that over 80% of her business is from the yachting sector. Our local government should be constantly reminded of the trickledown effect that our industry has on the local economy, being a major player in providing jobs and revenue.

Fair Winds.