Empire Marinas acquisition of Marmong Point Marina, Lake Macquarie

Marmong Point Marina, Lake Macquarie © Andrew Toogood

Empire Marinas is proud to announce the acquisition of Marmong Point Marina on Lake Macquarie in New South Wales. Marmong Point Marina is the largest marina on Lake Macquarie and one of the largest privately owned full service commercial marinas in NSW. It provides 245 floating berths, swing moorings, dry storage, a large hardstand, Chandlery, fuel, pumpout and all key service trades on site. Lake Macquarie is an extraordinary boating destination for paddle, sail and power being the largest saltwater lake in the southern hemisphere and twice the size of Sydney Harbour.

As part of the Empire Marinas Group, Marmong Point Marina also joins the highly awarded Empire Marina Bobbin Head in Sydney, twice winner of the Australian marina of the year, the first marina to be inducted into the Australian Marina Hall of fame and the first marina in Australia to achieve 5 Gold Anchor Platinum status. Empire Marinas is owned by the Richardson and Vaux families.

Darren Vaux, Managing Director of Empire Marinas said "Marmong Point Marina is uniquely positioned to meet the needs of both the growth in recreational boating and the growth in the Newcastle and lake Macquarie communities, all just 90 minutes north of Sydney. With its northerly aspect, in a sheltered cove at the northern end of the Lake, the marina is the perfect protected anchorage."

Darren Vaux is also the president of the Boating Industry Association and Vice President of the International Council of Marine Industry Associations and has a unique insight into the evolving nature of the boating industry. "Recreational Boating has seen extraordinary growth over the past year with Industry turnover up 11% on pre-pandemic levels and over 18,500 new boats registered. 2.5 million people in Australia have boat licences and over 20% of Australians go boating, making it one of Australia's most popular pastimes*. Over the past 18 months many Australians have re-discovered boating and the beauty of regional NSW as Covid restrictions have limited travel and people have sought out covid safe recreation. Coupled with the sense of wellbeing that comes from being in, on or around water, boating and marina life has been the panacea to the Pandemic blues and is set to continue to people adapt to living with Covid and continue to discover and enjoy the beauty of our magnificent waterways." said Vaux

Empire Marinas is excited about the journey ahead with Marmong Point Marina. "Marinas are continuing to evolve from just boat storage and boat maintenance facilities to broader community recreation destinations. They need to cater for permanent and visiting customers and be welcoming to all visitors. They need to evolve and respond to changing community expectations around the built environment, environmental enhancement and climate change resilience and sit comfortably in their environment. They need to cater for the needs of a wide range of people from discerning large boat owners and trailer boat owners, visitors who are looking for small boat hire, visitors from the water including paddlecraft and visitors from the landside who just want to sit and enjoy the marina environment " said Vaux "Marmong Point Marina is the perfect destination to respond to these challenges and opportunities over the coming years and we are looking forward to working with our customers, local community and broader stakeholders in this regard."

With restrictions easing across NSW it is shaping up to be a busy summer on the water.

*source: Boating Industry Association.