EBI General Assembly at boot Düsseldorf strengthens membership, sets strategic course towards 2028
by European Boating Industry 21 Jan 11:21 UTC
17-25 January 2026
EBI General Assembly at boot Düsseldorf © European Boating Industry
European Boating Industry (EBI) held its General Assembly yesterday during boot Düsseldorf announcing new members to now represent 34 members across 24 European countries and presenting its new strategic framework guiding the organisation's work towards 2028.
The meeting marked an important milestone for EBI with the enlargement of its membership. EBI members welcomed British Marine (BM) as new full member, further strengthening EBI's representation across Europe. This marks an important step and underscores the close trading relationship and increasing regulatory cooperation. The UK is the largest importer of recreational boats into the EU and is the second most important export destination for EU-built boats.
The General Assembly also confirmed the membership of the newly-established Nordic Cluster, bringing together the existing close cooperation between industry associations in the Nordic region. The Nordic Cluster now brings together Danboat (Denmark), Sweboat (Sweden), Norboat (Norway), the Association of Estonian Marine Industries (Estonia), and Finnboat (Finland) into EBI membership. The Nordics are a key boating region and home to a sizeable marine industry, which is now fully represented in EBI.
Volvo Penta joins EBI as sustaining member, as a significant European-based manufacturer of engines and power systems for recreational boats. Volvo Penta is part of the Volvo Group, one of the world's leading manufacturers of heavy trucks, buses and construction equipment.
Jarkko Pajusalo, CEO of Finnboat states: "I am very pleased to see that the Nordic boating industry has now a much stronger representation in EBI. Especially Baltic Sea is a very important boating region with plenty of beautiful coastlines and archipelagos. Promoting sustainable boating is one of our top priorities in the Nordics and together with our colleagues within EBI we can add much more value to the regional boating advocacy."
Chair of Danboat, Dirch Petersen affirms: "Danboat is pleased to have joined EBI and looks forward to the collaboration, especially regarding European legislation that impacts the boating industry."
CEO of the Association of Estonian Marine Industries, Anni Hartikainen, says: "Very few national industry associations have the capacity to maintain a strong presence in Brussels. For MERLI, working together through the Nordic Cluster makes clear sense: our marine industries operate in comparable conditions and share the same environmental and regulatory priorities."
Thomas Nicolai Bjønness, Senior Advisor, Norboat states: "Norboat, the Norwegian Marine Industry Association welcomes with great enthusiasm and anticipation the strengthened role of EBI and its new strategic framework. We look forward with great expectations to close cooperation with EBI in advancing competitiveness, sustainability and effective advocacy at European level for the benefit of our members and the wider boating industry of the Nordic Cluster."
Mats Eriksson, CEO of the Sweboat: "Sweboat is happy to rejoin EBI in a Nordic context. The timing is good, with a stronger EU and regulatory work going on."
Lesley Robinson, CEO of British Marine, commented: "EBI membership enables British Marine to engage more directly in EU-level advocacy on regulatory and market issues that are critical to our members, particularly those with significant European export activity. Through EBI's work in Brussels, we can ensure member perspectives and UK industry expertise contributes to the development of forthcoming legislation, including, for example, the review of the Recreational Craft Directive."
Hanna Ljungqvist, Senior Vice President Marine Business Unit Volvo Penta: "We are excited to join EBI as a sustaining member, and we are looking forward to working together to strengthen the future of the European marine recreational industry."
Members also approved EBI's new strategic framework for the period 2026-2029, focusing on advocacy, services and collaboration. At the core of the strategy is EBI's mission of "advancing a sustainable boating and nautical tourism industry made in Europe". The strategy focuses on building a favourable legislative framework at European level, strengthening recognition of the sector as an important contributor to Europe's economy and tourism and of EBI as a trusted partner for EU institutions, providing valuable services to members and industry, and connecting and engaging the sector across the European value chain.
EBI's advocacy work will be focused on three clusters:
- Industry & Competitiveness
- Decarbonisation, circularity & environment
- Nautical Tourism
Outside of its advocacy work, EBI will add a number of flagship initiatives in the coming years to support the industry, continuing the Blue Boat Horizon project on Life Cycle Assessment together with its international partners NMMA and ICOMIA, ramping up regulatory guidance support and increasing market data to the sector alongside its growing event platforms.
"The growth of our membership and the launch of our new strategy mark an important step forward for EBI," said Robert Marx, President of EBI. "With British Marine, the five Nordic countries within the Nordic Cluster, and Volvo Penta, EBI is strengthening its representation across Europe at a time when coordinated engagement at EU level is more important than ever. We are delighted to be truly representing the vast majority of the boating industry in Europe and we thank all new members for their trust and support.