This year’s Monaco Yacht Show had all the glitz and glamour that you would expect, with the big news on the opening day being Lurssen’s acquisition of the Bloom & Voss business, along with their 5 shipyards. Certainly, a major deal within the industry. Was the show busy ? Well ,depending on which broker you spoke to ,there was certainly business being done at the show , some reporting more than others !

Other than this, there was the usual rounds of media “press release parties and early breakfast meetings”, where in our experience they served more as networking opportunities rather than having anything major to say, with the odd exception. We definitely felt that this year’s show was more of a B2B show than in previous years, but maybe that was because of the location of our base this year. Certainly the entrance fee of 180 eu per day will serve to keep out the majority of the public except the very serious or the very wealthy .

We used ACREW’s Rascasse as our base this year, which proved to be a great location between the two tents, Darse Nord & Sud, for seeing most of the people we needed to speak to. The connections around the show by tender was excellent this year with very pleasant personnel operating them, which is more than can be said of some of the security staff.

The full story of business done will become evident over the coming months, but there was certainly the usual “ buzz” around the show, and the majority of companies we spoke to were happy enough at the end of the week.

Some of our local businesses who were exhibiting at the show commented :

“My impressions of this year’s Monaco Yacht Show are mainly limited to what I could see, between visits, from the aft deck of the brand new MetalSHIPS 59 metre MAYBE, the largest yacht ever designed and built in Spain (Vigo) which I represented as central agent. For the first time ever I did not manage to get around the show or any of the halls but it certainly did seem from my comfortable perspective like business as usual. We had many encouraging visits from brokers, other shipyards, designers and potential clients so that was all very positive. Hopefully, quality yacht construction in Spain has a brighter future again.”

Jonathan Syrett

Camper & Nicholsons Spain S.A.

Now that the show is over, comments start to emerge with feedback about the 4 days of Monaco. It was fascinating to read some of the international yachting journalists write that this year was one of the quietest and most non-event shows in recent memory. Bluewater must have been at a different Monaco Yachtshow, as we had the best turn-out of clients and the number of vessels we exhibited on display in 10 years. With over 60 Bluewater staff present at the show, they were all flat-out selling our core services and networking like crazy. If MYS 2016 was quiet, we hope 2017 is silent!!

Jim Acher
Sales & Charter Broker

Bluewater yachting

As in previous years it met the “wow” accolade it has developed of being the biggest, busiest, international super yacht show with huge investments made by the exhibitors both ashore and afloat.

In my opinion the scale is now too big with the extensions out to sea on both sides of Port Hercule that it’s not easy to cover the whole Show.

The change in circulation due to the building site has made a mess of the original flow and has split the Show into separate areas.

Footfall was good but with less captains and crew but more b2b.  It was excellent for us.

Roger Horner Group Managing Director ( e3 Systems)

Medical Support OffShore –

With a stand in the British Marine Pavilion, we experienced a steady flow of traffic and inquiries.  The Show was busy as ever and the sun shone throughout. Apart from our busy stand, many meetings around the show gave us an insight into the myriad of newbuild projects underway, in particular the new generation of explorer & support vessels designed to explore the 4 corners of the globe.  There certainly is a lot of activity underway which bodes well for the superyacht industry future.

Nicholas Stael von Holstein

Sales & Newbuilds, Europe

So there you have it for another year of Monaco madness. It is always a spectacle, it’s unique, it’s an amazing exhibition of opulence, it’s expensive and it’s an integral part of the Superyacht Industry ! Love it or loathe it, it’s probably the highlight of the year for the industry, here’s looking forward to 2017 !