Asia Pacific Superyacht Conference 2018, part deux
by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia 11 Apr 2018 10:02 PDT
Onto Irianto, Director of Marine Services, Indonesia. APSC 2018 © Guy Nowell
It is a recurring notion in APSC discussions that yachting across Asia would benefit greatly if all the regional governments were facing in the same direction, and fully understood the concept of boating as a leisure pursuit. It was, however, very alarming today to discover that the Indonesian government does not understand the difference between a cruise ship and a superyacht. There’s a real problem there.
(For the record, one has ‘commercial vessel’ on its registration papers, and the other says ‘private’ – even when it is chartering in a commercial fashion. We also know that Indonesian officials have difficulty with the difference between ‘marina’ and ‘fish dock’.) So it should not have been a surprise when today’s opening presentation from the Director of Maritime Services assured us, once again, that cruising in Indonesia is a stroll in the park. Regular attendees at the Singapore conference may have thought that today was Groundhog Day. When asked “where would you like to be this time next year?” one superyacht Captain replied, “Not here, discussing the same stuff again, thank you.”
Delegates were advised that Indonesia is considering reducing or abolishing the current punitive and prohibitive Luxury Tax, in anticipation of attracting more big boats to the country – and chartering will be fine as long as a visiting yacht books its business through a locally-incorporated company and re-flags itself as an Indonesian vessel for the duration of its visit; something we suspect is unlikely to happen. However, purchase of a Charter Licence would make a chartering superyacht contribute to the national economy, but that might be altogether too simple a concept. Who knows?
And then the conversation moved on…
A panel discussion on Building a Marina Network of Marinas in Asia got rather side-tracked into describing the merits of some of the existing installations in Asia, although it was proposed that “Asia could really boom if regulations were straightened out regionally.” Listen: if anyone simultaneously has the private ear of the Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese, Hong Kong and Philippine governments, please stand up. This has become such a dominant cry over recent years that Conference Chairman Martin Redmayne practically demanded that “someone do something about it.” Good news: an Asia Boating Dialogue is slated to take place tomorrow, involving boating industry associations of different stripes from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, India, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Japan and Australia. You have to start somewhere.
A further panel discussion about ‘Building Confidence for Cruising and Chartering in Asia’ became a plea for transparency and free exchange of information, and an estimate of how much economic impact a chartering superyacht really has on the places it visits (answer: a lot). We also learned that there is no problem with physical security (ie pirates) in Asia, but most of us know that already.
After the coffee break, delegates heard from Angela Pennefather and Justin Hofman of EYOS Expeditions, concerning ‘The Rise of Expedition Yachting.’ Those who thought that ‘expedition yachts’ were merely a fashionable blip on the superyacht design line akin to the curious demand for Range Rovers in Surrey should have been delighted to hear that this is not the case. Expedition yachting is what some might call a ‘proper’ use of a superyacht – to enable access to otherwise inaccessible places. Antarctica, for example. Or Melanesia and the less-travelled parts of PNG. “Asia offers almost too many options,” said Hofman. “You can cruise parts of Asia where there are so many islands and so few boats that an expedition really is an adventure.” Adventurous clients are coming to Asia to see what’s here before it disappears. Superyachts clients leave a very small cultural footprint (unlike cruise ships), are highly environmentally aware, and the ‘toys’ they bring with them – especially submersibles – are often deployed in the name of exploration and scientific research.
Pete Ceglinski, CEO of the Seabin Project, reminded the conference that 95% of the world’s ocean-borne plastic originates in Asia, and that a single Seabin in Porto Montenegro recently captured 876kg of plastic waste in only six months. These things really work. But “the Seabin is not the answer to ocean pollution – it is no more than an effective contribution to a clean-up effort. The actual answer is education.” And what do Seabins collect more than anything else? Cigarette butts. Now you know.
Richie Blake of Döhle Yachts spoke briefly, comprehensively, and very fast about the new Red Ensign Group Yacht Code. Some of us kept up. Paul Miller (Hiscox MGA) presented an Insurance Perspective on the superyacht market. Boats are expensive – please don’t skimp on the insurance.
And then the Conference Chairman invited yacht designer Espen Øino and yacht builder Michael Breman (Lürssen) to consider the immediate future of the superyacht and megayacht market. “The best thing you can do with a yacht is go places that you couldn’t otherwise go without taking your house with you. Or a small hotel,” proposed Breman. Some boats have been doing this for many years, such as Octopus (owned by Paul Allen of Microsoft). Harking back to the earlier comments from EYOS Expeditions, Øino suggested that very large yachts will increasingly find a real role for themselves as contributors to research. Yachts designed not so much as an expression of an aesthetic and gadgetty perfection, but yachts with a purpose.
And that was it. Chairman Redmayne reminded everyone once more (in case a reminder was required) that “Asia has so much to offer. The superyacht industry needs to capitalise on what is already here, not reinvent the wheel. Get the house in order – and go yachting.”