As usual, I contacted a number of leading industry figures for their verdicts on last week’s Monaco Yacht Show and this year the opinions are all favourable.
Says Northrop & Johnson’s Kevin Merrigan, ‘I found the show to be very exciting with a great buzz of activity. Our clients attended the show with focused enthusiasm. Our 64m sailing yacht Felicita West had several qualified clients onboard interested in both purchase and charter and I’m looking forward to closing a few deals by the end of the year.’
Fabio Ermetto and Mark Cavendish at Heesen comment: ‘The show was much better than expected; we met many new and serious clients which gives us confidence for the future. We were delighted with the exceptional response to Satori from clients and brokers alike, culminating in the Prix du Design award from HSH Prince Albert.’
Over now to Jonathan Beckett, CEO of Burgess: ‘With one out of the two largest yachts in the show and several very recent deliveries as exhibits, we were primed for a very busy show. We were not disappointed and fortunately we had a team of 80 Burgess staff on site to service clients. We can qualify this year as our most successful Monaco Show ever, bearing in mind that trading conditions remain challenging. Activity levels continue to be encouraging and the Monaco Show is usually a good barometer of the general market demeanour.’
Bertrand Vogele at Yachting Partners International echoes the general sentiment: ‘As a company we had a lot going on at the Show – there seemed to be a lot of positive activity all around. We had a number of owners present, and a number of potential buyers interested in newbuild projects which was interesting. There also seemed to be a lot of charter related activity and we had good feedback from some of our Chinese clients who are considering purchasing. If there were less brokerage yachts in the Show as a result of what seemed to be an increased presence from the shipyards, the number of yachts at anchor was phenomenal. I’m not sure that is a good thing - it is never ideal showing yachts at anchor. Overall – an active show with quality attendance, some great product and good intent. The next three months will tell us whether it all leads to concrete sales and charter contracts or not.’