Dubai a success for Australian exporters on show

by AIMEX on 16 Mar 2010 Despite a slow start to the Dubai International Boat Show interest in the Australian Pavilion was high with all exhibitors either making sales or some excellent leads and contacts.

Traffic compared to last year was well down but like many shows in the past 12 months the quality of those who did stop in the pavilion was good. In fact it was felt the business done at the show was for some at least double previous years.

Marine Tuft had strong enquiry from Gulf Craft a leading boat builder in the UAE and interest in the marine tuft carpets was strong with Frank Ireland stating “this is a truly successful international show I will most likely as a result of this show appoint distributors in Dubai, Greece, Turkey, Qatar and Spain.”

Aqualuma once again was busy all day demonstrating their products with Carl Amor stating the show had already produced results. He advised from the show he would appoint a distributor in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Riviera’s Middle East agent David Taylor was exhibiting with Art Marine their Middle East dealer. David stated “the show this year for Riviera has been great with several boats under contract which he said would be finalized after the show. Despite the publicity generated by Riviera’s situation in Australia it had not really affected the brand internationally.” This was a statement corroborated by Art Marine.

Murray Owen from Marine Engineering Consultants was impressed with the interest in his new brand MEC yachts and the refit services his company provides. This is the first time we have exhibited at this show and it certainly has been worthwhile both from a branding point of view and in getting a better feel for this market”

Muir Engineering already well established in the UAE market was catching up with their distributors and looking to grow sales in this area. Jason Page was happy with the outcome and the business he had conducted at the show. Like most shows it is all in the follow up after the show.

Seagyro’s Colin Ayres was exhibiting at the show for the first time and whilst he also commented that visitor numbers seemed low he was confident the show would produce results.

Jason Cooper from Polyflex an established player in the Dubai market announced he had a strong contender for being their representative in the India market, a market many are now trying to tap into.

Tony Russo, MultiPanel exhibiting with his UAE agent Al Massaood felt traffic was certainly well down on previous years but agreed it only takes one quality customer to make the show worthwhile and he was pleased with the leads and support coming from Al Massaood. Gulf Craft are also very interested in the Multi Panel product.

Barry Jenkins from Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show made a fleeting visit to the show. Interest in the UAE regarding the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show has always been high and Barry spent his 2 days at the show consolidating relationships and also meeting with the Yacht & Boat Korea representatives who have engaged the services of Barry Jenkins to help manage this show to be held 14-17 Oct 2010.

Spear Green Design has been asked to quote design and management services for several projects between 65-130 ft. Much interest was taken by major international brands in the 60 m Wave Superyacht style catamaran which compliments their 2 current projects in Oman of 25 & 30 meter vessel. Spear Green have also been responsible for specifying a lot of Australian equipment into their projects i.e. Multipanel Aqualuma, Polyflex and Muir.


AIMEX CEO MaryAnne Edwards made the comment that “the contacts companies make at these shows always prove valuable and even if sales are not made directly at the show they always bear fruit later. It is all about the follow up and having a real understanding of how the companies in the UAE operate. Nothing happens overnight and trust in your company is a critical factor. That is the reason so many of the companies present were now doing well, the fact that they had created a profile in this market by being at the past few Dubai shows proved they were here to stay”.

There was also a significant presence at the show of NSW companies who had been strongly supported by the New South Wales Government, all reported a successful show: Coursemaster Autopilots, Austral Propellers, Pyrotek Noise Control, Central Coast Marine Installation, GME, BVC International.