The changing face of the boating industry
Boats, their technologies and marinas are the most visible aspects of the boating industry. But there is no boat without a sailor, no shipyard without a shipyard worker, and no harbor master without a harbor agent. The yachting sector remains a human affair, and its transformation and preparation for the challenges of the future depend on these men and women. The round table we attended at Boot Düsseldorf, bringing together the next generation of the yachting industry, underlined the challenges of coping with generational change in the yachting industry this is a challenge for both enthusiasts and industry professionals. Technology alone won't suffice, and the yachting world needs to open up its methods and its management of human resources.
Investment and anticipation
While this change in mentality and in the age pyramid will take time, future technologies need to be anticipated now. Will hydrogen be the future of marine motorization? It's hard to say what the energy mix will be for powering pleasure boats, but it's clear that hydrogen will be the future of marine engines ome are banking on it and investing, like NatPower H in Italy. That's what preparing for the future is all about.
And when it comes to preserving a future, you have to know how to change and adapt quickly. Perhaps that's also the message of this week's other news, with the postponement of Nautic en Seine whose initial dates were likely to spell a potentially fatal failure for the Paris show, instead of a renaissance.
No one knows the future, but to stay afloat, we're all preparing our boats!
