Will world economic uncertainty affect our industry? - Australian MarineBusinessWorld.com newsletter
by Peter Rendle 12 Mar 15:00 PDT
Aurora City Reach Brisbane River © Rivergate Marina & Shipyard
The effects of the Covid-19 virus continue to rock the world and the Australian Government has extended a ban on non-citizens arriving from overseas countries, to include Italy. How these measures will affect the industry is still being debated although at this stage no organisation, including the Boating Industry of Australia, has indicated any cancellation or postponement of boat shows.
Anxious to give the economy a kick start, the Morrison government has unveiled a range of stimulus packages aimed at increasing spending and injecting more dollars into the economy. There are also some incentives for small to medium sized businesses to spend money on equipment ahead of June 30th and gain 100% tax deductions. Over the years the industry has been fairly resilient to economic stress and the recent announcement from Queensland provides a welcome forecast from that part of the world.
Rivergate Marina & Shipyard, the premier facility in south-east Queensland, has congratulated the Queensland state government for its foresight and investment in the Australian superyacht infrastructure. The state government has announced a 12-month trial commencing by mid-year to attract superyachts to Brisbane, predicting "a billion-dollar coup for the city's economy". Minister for State Development, Cameron Dick, said as part of a state-wide strategy to grow Queensland's marine industries, the trial will see a dedicated superyacht mooring buoy below the Kangaroo Point Cliffs.
Further success recently was enjoyed in Tasmania by the MyState Bank Australian Wooden Boat Festival took out gold at the national Qantas Australian Tourism Awards in Canberra last night for Major Festivals and Events. Festival General Manager, Paul Stephanus, said the festival had taken on "titans" of the Australian tourism industry - and thanked the 400-strong volunteers for its success. "The festival was up against the likes of Vivid Sydney, Darwin Festival and the National Museum of Australia - titans of the tourism industry," he said. "Festival Chairman Steve Knight and I dedicate our big win to the 400 enthusiastic and committed volunteers that bring this festival to life every second year."
In Sydney the Marina Industries Association (MIA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Suzanne Davies as the next CEO. After a thorough recruitment process Suzanne was selected based on her high-level business and club marina management track record and her clear vision for the MIA. She will commence in a project role with MIA July 1 and then commence in the CEO role October 1 with current CEO Colin Bransgrove concluding at year's end what will have been a thirteen-year stint in the MIA leadership role.
Distributor appointments this week includes Propspeed who announced it will be represented by two well-known and respected distributors in Australia - Sam Allen Wholesale and All Marine Spares. These strategic partnerships will increase accessibility for Propspeed's award-winning product line to this vital market. Both companies will be displaying Propspeed products at Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show on May 21-24, 2020 and Sydney International Boat Show on July 30-August 3, 2020.
New products this week include Oceanic Systems (UK) Ltd who are releasing the latest feature of Poseidon, the Network Data Analyser (NDA). This feature allows you to troubleshoot the entire network and display all of the data from the entire NMEA2000 system. Browse by Device, Message or Raw Data - with simple intuitive controls to access all of the decoded information.
And finally, we thought that this update of dangerous marine fauna, a subject that anyone involved in the marine industry should know about, was important. The safety alert aims to raise awareness on the risks posed by dangerous marine fauna in Australian waters which contain a range of dangerous fauna that secrete toxins, inject venom, release or contain poison, harbour dangerous bacteria, give electric shocks or just have sharp teeth. Some can become aggressive once disturbed. An unwanted encounter with any of these dangerous fauna can happen without warning, so it is essential that you, your crew and passengers are prepared.
Aveagooden,
Peter Rendle peter.rendle@marinebusinessworld.com