State of the industry
The Miami Boat Show which takes place in mid-February is an important show for a number of reasons, not least of which is the State of the US Recreational Boating Industry presentation.
Given by Thom Dammrich, president, National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), as you might imagine, his presentation was a mix of facts and stats about the market at the end of 2010, together with upbeat conjecture on where the market is heading in 2011 and beyond.
A key feature was the report on new boat sales. For the 22 year period of 1969 – 1991 an average of 400,000 new boats were sold a year. From 1992 to 2004 that average dropped to 311,000.
Since 2004 the industry has experienced a steady decline in annual sales from 306,000 in 2005, 267,000 in 2007,154,000 in 2009 to an estimated 137,300 in 2010.
One interesting fact that emerged was that the past two years saw a significant jump in pre-owned boat sales as a proportion of total boat sales. Typically pre-owned sales account for 72% of boats changing hands. That jumped to 77% in 2008 and 82% in 2009.
Mr Dammrich said 2011 retail sales could be up 10 to 15% and gave a number of relevant reasons why he thought this would be the case.
He said that dealer inventories are at one of the lowest levels ever. Used boat inventory is drying up and that their prices are rising making new boats more attractive.
Late model used boats won’t be available in the pre-owned market because so few of them were built in 2008 and 2009.
The most compelling reason he gave was that ‘boat builders are introducing new models with new features and accessories and these are not available in the pre-owned market.’
