The Middle East Yachting Conference
Over 100 delegates from the industry recently attended the Middle East Yachting Conference held at the St Regis Hotel on Dubai’s Palm Island with the theme ‘Embracing Change and Transformation with Breakthrough Innovation and Creativity’.
The Middle East Yachting Conference, traditionally held the day before the opening of the Dubai International Boat Show (DIBS), takes place each year in different parts of the region. “This year we see its return to Dubai, and after four years it is an acknowledgement of the innovation and progression we have seen in this city” said Riju George - Group Director - Portfolio Management, Dubai World Trade Centre.
His Excellency Saeed Harib, the father of the leisure boating industry in Dubai, and now the Secretary General of the Dubai Sports Council, opened the event. His Excellency reflected on how the marine industry has grown in Dubai over the last 30 years from one marina to nearly twenty, with some of the world’s state-of-the-art marinas in terms of design and berthing capacity acting as a base for a sizable superyacht fleet.
To celebrate International Women’s Day (8 March), the keynote speaker was Captain Sahar Rasti, the UAE’s first female Captain, who related her story on how she succeeded against all the odds to achieve her ambitions. The subsequent session focused on ‘Empowering Women in Yachting’. The panel discussion was moderated by Abeer Alshaali, the Deputy Managing Director of local yacht and boat builder Gulf Craft. The four panellists represented a cross section of the marine industry; Captain Rasti was joined by Claire Ferandier Sicard, CEO and founder of Environmental Training for Yacht Crew, Dasha Moranova, interior designer, and Chloe Zaied, CEO of Hynova boat builders. Panellists recounted their experiences and their success in a predominately male dominated profession. Alshaali summed up their common secret of success - “Never give up!”
‘Blue Oceans, Green Planet – when Yachts becomes Conscious’, was next on the agenda. Francis Lapp, CEO of Polish based yacht builder Sunreef Yachts, and Luis Marinho Falcao from Faro Boats, joined Claire Sicard and Chloe Zaied to discuss the topic with the moderator Nawfal Al Jourani, Regional CEO of Canadian company ACEL Power. The conclusions of the panel debate were that the business model is going to change, not only due to pressures from consumers demanding more environmentally sustainable products, but also driven by a trend for younger generation ‘users’ who want to enjoy experiences rather than purchasing products.
‘Crypto for Yachts’ was presented by Saqr Ereiqat of Crypto Oasis Sentio, who outlined the future for crypto currencies and how block chains work, are secure, and can speed up yacht purchasing. Crypto transactions look set to become a new direction for brokerage sales.
‘Art plus Engineering’ and ‘Pushing the Boundaries of Design’ followed the lunch break, with discussions covering a wide range of topics on the latest trends in design and innovation by expert designers, Kevin Rice from Pininfarina, James Roy of Lateral Naval Architects, and Cristiano Gatto Design accompanied Dasha Moranova.
“Are cyber attackers the new high seas pirates?” was the question posed to Alexandre Bayeux of Xperys and Naveen Hemanna of Sec Trio. It would seem that superyacht owners are vulnerable because of the high level of technology on board. In addition, the human aspect – ever-changing guest lists that include a very high level of HNWI and UHNWI owners and guests - present opportunities and targets for cyber criminals. So plan ahead and take preventive action!
The final session of the day was a line-up of four heavyweight speakers from the Superyacht Industry: Michael Breman, Sales Director of Lürssen and President of SYBAss, Farouk Nefzi, CMO of Feadship, Paris Baloumis, Marketing Director of Oceanco, and Jimmy Carol, founder of PelorusX. With current events in Eastern Europe and sanctions on Russia hanging over the industry, the moderator asked a direct question of the panellists, is the market now facing a head wind?
Michael Breman responded; “Talking about current events taking place in the world, superyacht builders have proved to be very nimble in the past, and good at tackling challenges. I expect the industry to pull through this issue as we have done before”. Fellow panelist Paris Baloumis was more direct in his comments: “Yes, there is now a head wind against the market… some challenges that will bring opportunities too”. Other issues discussed were, ‘just in time’ supply for components which is much more difficult, world-wide supply issues for commodities, and an increasing trend for builders to source parts substantially in advance of requirement. “There are also considerable inflationary pressures, with volatility of material prices in the region of 10 to 30%. There are also issues of finding and retaining skilled workers,” added Farouk Nefzi. “To address this issue, we have had our own training school for some time”. On the positive side, “there has been a 30% increase in new clients in the past two years, and the age profile of charter customers has come down,” said Jimmy Carol. Clearly, the present reality of the industry provides both opportunities and challenges for the superyacht sector in the Middle East.
Original report by Mike Derrett/IBI