Buoyant mood at Southampton Boat Show

There was a buzz in the air at the 47th Southampton Boat Show which took place from 11th – 20th September. Poole based marine specialists, Coleman Insurance Brokers enjoyed catching up with many of their clients and reported that there was definitely a feeling of buoyancy and positivity in the air amongst exhibitors and visitors.

The 10 day Boat Show is a spectacular world class annual event which attracts visitors, exhibitors and investors from all over the world and offers a complete shop window for the boating industry.

Tony Pauffley, Yacht & Commercial Craft Development Executive at Coleman enthused, “It’s been a busy boat show and as always it has been great to connect and catch up with our clients and prospective clients. It has been heartening to have so many upbeat conversations with exhibitors and to hear that confidence is returning to the sector. As an insurance broker our sales are up year on year and our footprint in the marine market is growing steadily. Just a shame about the weather but hopefully the sun will shine during the final few days of the Boat Show!”

Christopher Head, Sales Director at Sunseeker London commented, “We have just finished Cannes Boat Show and will be moving on to Monaco next week. In Cannes we found confidence and sales at an all-time high and had our best Cannes boat show ever for new boats. Particularly noticeable and significant was the long awaited return of Italian purchasers who were very confident in the 50/60 feet sector. At Southampton Boat Show, even with the inclement weather so far, we have made sales every day. With an improvement in the weather we expect to be very busy over the next 3 days. Confidence has returned to the market. The hot boats of the moment are the new 57 Predator as well as the ’86 Yacht.”

Rod Brown, Managing Director of Poole based, Quay Sails advised, “Business is really brisk for us with 2014 year being one of our best years for many years and this has continued through in to 2015. People are certainly feeling more confident. Visitor numbers to the Boat Show have been down because of the weather but we are still taking orders.”

Nick Smith from Salterns Marina in Poole said, “This boat show feels better than last year. There is more weight to enquiries being made which will ultimately lead to more sales. Last year visitors were thinking about buying and this year people are making decisions and spending money.”

James Dickens, MD of Southampton based James Dickens Marine Ltd, a Brokerage Company of power and sail boats and an agent for Broom added, “Green shoots are visible on the horizon. Conversations that I am having with customers are a lot more substantive and we are starting to get back to reasonable offers on asking prices. As a broker it has been a tough few years but it is improving. I believe that the marine sector lags a couple of years behind the performance of the economy and that during the next year boat sales will pick up even more. At Southampton Boat Show we are showcasing the Broom 35 Coupe, 370 and 395.”

Southampton based worldwide boat transport and marine logistics experts, Peters & May, hosted a charity reception on the Thursday of the Boat Show at which they presented a cheque for an incredible £25,000 to the Breast Cancer Clinical Trials charity. The funds were raised through the ‘Pink Lashings’ initiative in which clients of Peters & May donated £5 for every lashing purchased and each donation was matched by the Company. Additional funds were raised from a charitable clay pigeon shooting day.

The Company’s fundraising initiative came about after CEO, Dave Holley's mother passed away from breast cancer and he wanted to help raise awareness and funds for the charity.

Peters and May Sales & Marketing Manager, Joshua Flavell, presented the cheque to Amanda Barr and Jill Gammage who were representing the charity and said, “We are delighted that Amanda and Jill could come along to the Boat Show to accept the cheque and share their positive experiences on the outstanding work that the charity carries out.”