American Superyacht Forum 2011: Day Two
Day Two of the American Superyacht Forum, being held in Fort Lauderdale, was titled ‘The investment & industry plan’. Read an overview of the highlights of Day Two here...…
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Day Two of the American Superyacht Forum was titled ‘The investment & industry plan’. The day began with ‘Keynote Panel 6 – The American Shipyards have their say’ with a panel of Paul Engle of Bradford Marine, William Smith III of Trinity Yachts, Georg Thomas of Derecktor and Todd Roberts of Marine Group Boat Works. The panel participated in a Q&A session, interacting with the audience, first recapping on Monday’s State of the Industry presentation and giving their feedback to Redmayne’s overview of the American market. Discussion then moved towards how yards could collaborate and work together and how this should not just be prompted by difficult times, but should be a long-term drive. All yards agreed on the importance of being able to retain a skilled workforce in times of downturn, particularly the high-skill percentage. Smith spoke about how it was important to only say yes to the right client, and that Trinity were prepared to say no to offers that the yard would not benefit in taking, “We’ve said no more times recently than we’ve said yes.” He referred to situations where yards are prepared to go so low to obtain an order that “the price [of a yacht] was so good they threw in the shipyard.” The panel highlighted that one of the side effects of the economic downturn that still remains is the overflow of yacht inventory: once that inventory is absorbed things will become more normal. Referring to the refit market, Roberts spoke of increasing positivity saying, “the refit dam will break. It’s not all doom and gloom.” Engle too reminded the audience that many positive steps had been taken, particularly with investment in refit facilities across America, citing examples such as Rybovich. The session closed with delegates being urged not to apologise too much for being “big white yacht people”, and that yachts equal man hours and employment, and so should be seen as a good thing.
Following a short break came the ‘Bullet Workshop: Maritime Labour Convention 2006’, led by Peter Southgate from the Cayman Registry. Southgate gave an overview of the impending implementation of the MLC 2006 to delegates, serving as a follow up to the presentation made at Global Superyacht Forum 2010. After examining MLC 2006 came the ‘Bullet Workshop: Finance & Liquidity’, presented by Lisa H. Verbit of the U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management. Verbit told the audience that while 2008/2009 were, by a 20 per cent margin, the best years in history for them, 2010 fell off the cliff. It was not that they turned down more loan enquiries, they just saw less enquiries. Now, in 2011, “I couldn’t call things robust, but they are way better than last year,” said Verbit, who also gave the positive news that they are now reviewing new build draft contracts, which just didn’t happen in 2010. “We didn’t get here in a day, we’re not going to get out of it in a day, but the trends are all positive,” Verbit concluded. The final morning session was the ‘Bullet Workshop: Green Issues’, presented by Chris Dlugokecki of Lloyd's Register North America, Inc. who presented on the latest in the IMO Guidelines. The need to be ‘green’ can come down to a number of drivers: internal values; business benefits and response to external pressure. An 80 per cent reduction in Green House Gases (GHG) is needed by 2050 to maintain a global 2 degree temperature increase and 450ppm CO2 limits – emissions are expected to be capped worldwide to achieve this. Dlugokecki outlined what owners have to comply with, and what the more environmentally conscious owners can achieve.
Lunch was followed
by five short and interactive
Technical/Innovation Presentations (TIPs), each showcasing the latest
technological innovations. On the stage were Thomas Rowe of Megafend, Maurice Smit of MarQuip, Atul
Chawla of Sea Tel, Antony Papageorgiou of PURE Marine
Solutions and John Kermet of Seakeeper. Rowe discussed Megafend's range of
products which include a solid core transom fender, an inflatable fender and
maintenance free leather. Smit presented on MarQuip’s products placing focus on modular exhaust refits, with their product being easily installed onto yachts without
requiring haul out or the dismantling of other equipment. Chawla walked through Sea
Tel’s marine stablised antenna technology, explaining that their products are
tested to the highest marine specifics to ensure the best performance of
product. Papageorgiou extolled the virtues of PURE Marine Solutions air filtration system, which allows guests on yachts to “Breathe Better, Sleep Better, Cruise Better.” Finally, Kermet
talked about Seakeeper’s gyro stabiliser technology, which reduces boat roll at
anchor and sea, reminding the audience that no particular location on board the
yacht is required for installation of this product.
The final session of the day, ‘Keynote Panel 7 Supply Chain Management’ featured a panel of John Allen of Quantum Marine Engineering, Michael Blake of Palladium Technologies and Paul Tufts of Teak Marine. Allen opened by stating that it had been a
difficult time for suppliers the past couple of years, but “there are some great
companies in the US with great products and they have battened down and settled
into a new normal.” His advice to the audience was to 1) bide by contracts 2)
don’t take an at-all-costs job and 3) never take a personal cheque. Blake followed
by reminding the audience that if a supplier fails on their commitments to a
yard, a builder fails on theirs (and vice versa). He suggested that suppliers
should examine the entire process of what they do to determine ways to improve,
with his advice being to increase efficiency and communicate well with all
vendors. Blake ended with the familiar quote ‘what doesn’t kill you, makes you
stronger’. Tufts observations of the past few years were that for suppliers
obtaining payments from vendors has been harder and there have been impacts
that didn’t exist before, like canceled contracts and delays on orders. To
avoid maximum impact from this he cautioned suppliers not to put all their eggs
in one basket. Tufts main wish was a standardised bidding process for
suppliers. Again, the overwhelming message coming from the session was that 'Build America" must be the mantra going forwards, with a focus on reducing inefficiencies and improving performance on every rung of the supply chain.
After the end of the day's sessions a networking dinner for delegates was hosted at the revolving restaurant at the Hyatt Hotel.
Full transcripts will be available to attendees and subscribers to the ‘Business Package’. For programme details and information on how to register for Day Three please visit SuperyachtEvents.com or call Georgina Lucey on +44 (0) 7595 06284845
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