A turnkey operation for the deconstruction of sailing club fleets
APER, Association pour la Plaisance Eco-Responsable, an eco-organization created by the Fédération des Industries Nautiques (FIN) for the management of end-of-life boats, and the Fédération Française de Voile (FFVoile) have announced the establishment of a partnership. This will allow sailing clubs to dispose of their end-of-life boats free of charge via the recycling channel set up by APER. "Unlike private boaters, clubs will not have to make a request boat by boat, with an individual treatment of each. They will only have to send an excel file with the list of their boats. Another difference is that APER takes care of the transport, its organization and its financing. The goal is to provide clubs with a turnkey service," said Guillaume Arnauld des Lions, who is in charge of the FIN's deconstruction project.
500 vessels to be deconstructed by November 2020
The first deconstruction operation with sailing clubs will take place in November 2020. "We are at the stage of identifying the needs thanks to the FFVoile, which is asking the clubs to find out how many boats there are to be treated and where. Our ambition is to deconstruct 500 boats this year. This seems credible to us and we can do more if necessary. We had tested with 25 clubs in Brittany in 2019 and collected 110 boats. This is a long-term partnership, every year until 2023. The goal is to get clubs in the habit of asking themselves every year if they have boats to dispose of," explains Guillaume Arnauld of the Lions.
For 2019, the boat dismantling centers approved by APER cover the entire French coastline. The organization plans to be able to also cover inland waterways from 2021 to reach 100% of sailing clubs.
Slower than expected start to deconstruction
Launched in September 2019, APER's recreational boat deconstruction pipeline has not yet reached the hoped-for pace of operation with individual boaters and professionals. "We are approaching the 1,000th boat deconstructed. The number of boats processed per month is increasing, but more slowly than expected. The administrative constraints, in particular the administrative verifications with the Maritime Affairs and Customs for registered boats and the organization of transport are heavier than we had imagined. The requests expressed online are lower than we expected," said Guillaume Arnauld of Les Lions. Perhaps the example of the sailing clubs will help boost the movement.
