Luhrs Marine Group 'short shut' in production

by Jeni Bone on 13 Feb 2012 In the US, Luhrs Marine Group, builder of Silverton, Luhrs, Mainship and Ovation boats, went into shutdown mode last week.

The company, based in New Jersey, told dealers it would shut down production for 60 to 90 days to allow boat orders to accumulate in its pipeline.

'As everyone will agree, we have all been affected in some way or another by these hard economic times the past three years,' the company said. 'We have fought hard to avoid this decision, but it is the best solution to the current state of affairs.'

The message to dealers continued: 'We hope you will continue to promote our products and keep in touch with our sales team so that with your help we can again start producing the excellent products of the Luhrs Marine Group.'
According to local dealer, Tony Poole of Bluewater Power Yachts, the 'short shut' is the consequence of the drop in sales volumes of recent years.

'The growth in the emerging markets of Asia, South America, and South Africa has not covered the drop off in mature markets such as America, Europe, and of course domestic USA . Many manufacturers have taken this ‘short shut’ option over the past few years to be able to continue to trade in the long run.'

In Australia, Poole has observed a substantial drop in new boat sales, which he attributes to the financial climate, no confidence in the current government and a lack of legislation concerning 'grey imports'.

'It’s easy to blame our poor current Federal Government, but the marine industry must also shoulder some of the blame because there are virtually no controls over grey market imports. We’re seeing a lot of ‘cheap’ boats (not only Luhrs) arriving here via mostly private buyers that we looked at two years ago and rejected them as bad then.

These poor quality, perceived ‘cheap’ boats will have major ramifications for the marine industry and resale values for decades to come. The grey market doesn’t seem to be an issue with the automotive Industry for some reason.'
But there is some good news, Poole adds. 'There seems to be a growing number of horror stories circulating about the self-import bargains and the flow seems to have slowed despite the high Australian dollar.'