WORLDNEWS
NEWS12 JANUARY 2016Green shoots at French yard
French boating giant Bénéteau Group
has announced a 19.9% rise in revenue
to €969.5m in its latest financial results.
These figures, which cover the 12
months up to August 31, 2015, were
boosted by the recent acquisition of the
American RecBoat Holdings Group,
which includes the Glastron, Scarab,
Wellcraft and Four Winns brands.
Motor boats made up the largest
proportion of Bénéteau’s revenue at
€452.8m, while sailboats accounted for
€367m and the group’s housing
concern made up the remaining
€149.7m. Meanwhile, operating cash-
flow was up 19% to €73.5m and net
debt remained stable at €51m.
The news comes as Bénéteau
prepares to launch its newest model,
the Swift Trawler 30 (pictured above) at
this month’s Paris Boat Show. For our
full preview, turn to p18.IT COULD ONLY
HAPPEN IN....
USAEQUINE OVERLOAD
Just ask any American boater and
they’ll tell you there’s no such
thing as too much horsepower,
especially when it comes to lining
up the big block outboards along
your transom. Proof, as if it were
needed, comes in the form of this
punchy quad 627hp combo that
deputy editor Jack spotted on his
recent Stateside trip for the 2015
Fort Lauderdale Boat Show.Superyacht emissions limit lowered
The robots are coming
Revenue rise
for Bénéteau
Barcelona’s Marina Vela looks to the future with £27m robotic boat lift project
The International Maritime
Organisation (IMO) is cracking down on
superyacht nitrogen oxide (NOx)
emissions, with a new limit due to be
imposed next year.
The new Tier III limit on NOx
emissions is 74% lower than the
outgoing Tier II and will apply to all
vessels built in the USA and Caribbean
from January 1, 2016 but are likely to
spread to Europe in the coming months.
This is likely to hit the superyacht
industry hardest, as the limit initially
only applies to recreational vessels over
24m and 500GT that have engines with
a total power output in excess of 130kW.
However, the IMO has stipulated that
from 2021 onwards the regulations will
apply to all leisure vessels over 24m and
130kW regardless of gross tonnage.
Peter van der Heijden, managing
director at NPS Diesel, said: “Manytake vessels measuring up to 30ft in
length and weighing up to four tonnes.
Marina Vela would be Europe’s first
robotic boat lift, after a similar concept
was built in Miami.
And although an exact timeframe has
not been revealed for this €37m (£27m)
project, the developers claim that it will
take only 18 months to go from breaking
ground to completion.
Financial backing for the Marina
Vela project comes from concrete
contractor Auxiliar Ibérica, hotel
chain Formentera Mar and boat
maintenance firm Barcelona Nautic
Center, among others.Marina Vela would be Europe’s fi rst robotic boat
lift after a similar concept was built in MiamiNew builds face NOx cap
The future of berthing could be
coming to Barcelona in the shape of a
robotic boat lift, which is due to be
installed at Marina Vela.
At first glance, this marina project
appears like any other, with 136
on-water moorings for vessels
measuring up to 164ft (50m).
However, the futuristic element is
largely hidden, with a robotic boat lift
able to store up to 222 vessels in anunderground dry dock. This system
has been designed to autonomously
take boats from the water, under the
perimeter road and into a secure
storage bay and back again.
It is estimated that the entire
process will take less than ten
minutes; allowing owners to launch
their boats at short notice.
The facility would be accessible 24
hours a day, 365 days a year, and willVessels over 24m will
face new restrictionsRendering showing
a boat entering the
robotic boat liftBénéteau is launching a
new Swift Trawler 30technologies already comply with PM
(soot) and NOx regulations, and the
marine industry has fallen behind, it is
the last in the row.”
He added that such restrictions are
likely to be applied to the
Mediterranean within the next 12months, which could drive up costs for
the big yards. According to Van der
Heijden, potential ways to comply with
the latest NOx emissions will include
using advanced no-soot diesel filters
that have been widespread in the
automotive industry for many years.