24 JUNE–JULY 2019 | International Boat Industry ibinews.com
Markets & Regions
OVERVIEW | USA
from July to December, were clearly softer.”
Most US boatbuilders worked with their
Canadian dealers in a variety of ways to try and
mitigate the tariff impact and keep their product
competitive in the market, offering everything from
expanded terms to price concessions. “Our business
in Canada took a step back with the 10% duty,”
notes Scott Porter, president of Decatur, Indiana-
based Formula Boats. “That was a setback for
not only US boatbuilders wanting to export into
Canada, but also just for the Canadian boat business
in general. A lot of Canadian dealers lost a lot of
revenue because of that.”
Although those tariffs were lifted on May 3 of
this year, many Canadian boat dealers feel the move
has come too late to salvage the 2019 season. Others
are hopeful that a cool, wet spring may have pushed
some purchases back to the early summer, offering
an opportunity to recoup what would otherwise be
lost revenues.
Even so, it seems unlikely that Canadians dealers
will rush to order significant volumes of 2019
product now, especially with 2020 product about to
be introduced at summer dealer meetings over the
next several weeks. “So now those dealers have the
issue of what to do with boats they already have in
stock that they paid the tariff on,” says Van Wagoner.
“They’re not going to jump up and down and say
great, ship me a whole bunch more boats. But
more than likely, they’re going to cost-average the
inventory and try to move through it. There won’t be
a huge drop in price, but it will take a year, and it’ll
get back on track.”The sail category has typically lagged far behind
powerboat sales in North America, but a strong 2018
season offers encouragementONE OF THE most interesting elements in the National
Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) 2018
Recreational Boating Statistical Abstract is the revelation
that sailboat sales rebounded during the year to mark a
four-year high.
Although sail remains a small portion of the total North
American boat market, Vicky Yu, NMMA director, industry
statistics and research, notes that US sailboat production
was up by 6.8% in 2018 to a level of 3,826 units – still not
quite matching the highs of the early 2000s, but a gain
nonetheless. Unit sales of larger sailing cruisers and yachts
above 20ft in length were up by 16%, she says. Although
they reflect just 6.5% of the total unit sales, these larger
boats account for 85% of total dollar sales.
“2018 also saw a record-high number of imported
sailboats added to the market, largely driven by a surge in
14ft-21ft sailboats imported from China,” notes Yu. A total
of 3,140 sailboats sold in the US in 2018 were imported,
compared to just 2,346 vessels in 2017. That means
about half of all new sailboats sold in the US in 2018 were
imports, compared to 10% only 15 years ago.
Yu notes that the export market for sailboats also
continued to perform strongly, enjoying its second
consecutive year of growth with a YOY gain of 13.9%. The
top export trading partners in 2018 were the European
Union, Canada and Australia/Pacific Islands, which tend
to rank consistently at the top of the overall recreational
boating export sector.NEW WIND IN ITS SAILS
Scott Porter,
president, Formula Boats Sales of larger sailboats have rebounded by 16%Complete Climate Solutions: Heating, Cooling & Roofs