RINA Services has announced a new certification system for yacht marinas called MaRINA Excellence, which focuses on the quality and sustainability of the facility.
In order for a marina to receive the MaRINA Excellence certification, specialised auditors will perform an audit and score the facility on a scale of one to five. These results are subject to validation by a committee that is dedicated to issuing MaRINA Excellence certificates.
Certification judgements are based on the average scores in the evaluation of three areas: port services, which evaluates the quality level and diversity of facilities and amenities available in the marina, including berthing, fuel, accommodations, provisioning, storage and repair yards; tourist services, which aptly examines the tourism-related opportunities that the marina and its surrounding area offers - as RINA states, 'the marina's capacity to put its clients in contact with hotel and restaurants, sports and leisure facilities, archaeological sites and natural parks'; and sustainability, which audits the sustainable approach of the marina's activities and its commitment to environmental protection and safety.
'RINA has been in contact with a number of significant marinas while developing this new certification scheme. We wanted to focus on the real value of yacht harbours and for this reason we listened to the opinions and suggestions of the operators and users of marina services,' says Fiorenzo Spadoni, RINA Pleasure Vessel Sector Manager. 'We can reveal that already two north Italy marinas have been assessed and at least one got the maximum score.' RINA plans to unveil the name of the first marina to earn a certificate during an upcoming official award ceremony.
As far as criteria for what types and size of marinas can be eligible for certification, Spadoni says, 'One of the criteria evaluated in the certification is the capacity of the marina to harbour different sizes of yachts. A marina with a range of berth sizes will score higher. We also look at how many permanent berths there are, and how many there are for transit yachts, as, of course, that is important for the tourist element.'
RINA posits that in addition to marinas who receive its MaRINA Excellence certification being able to advertise the quality of its services with the new certification, internally the quality assessment could also reveal areas for improvement. Spadoni says, 'That’s part of RINA’s mission: to help to raise the level of the services provided by its client.'