Pleasure boating in figures
As every year, Maritime Affairs has compiled all the statistical data available to it on recreational boating. A few days before their official publication, the director of the pleasure boating mission was kind enough to share the main elements with BoatIndustry. " It has been a big challenge this year, because as you know, we have reformed all our IT applications with the yachting portal and the modernization of our databases . The challenge was to continue to provide statistics in the same format as the old ones, to allow trends to be established, despite modified databases. "explains Xavier Nicolas.
A fleet dominated by small motorboats
The number of pleasure craft registered in maritime waters stood at 1.041 million on 31/08/2020, up 0.7% on 2019. The fleet continues to be dominated by the 773,333 motor units, accounting for 74%. The smallest units, less than 5 metres in size, account for 56% of the registered pleasure craft fleet. Adding in units between 5 and 7 metres, the percentage rises to 86%.
Two regions account for the majority of registrations. Brittany and the Southern region account for 25% and 24% of the boats respectively.
Decline in new ship registrations in 2020
As the health and economic crisis linked to the Covid-19 could have been foreseen, new registrations, concerning new or second-hand ships arriving in France for the first time, are on the decline. They reached 10913 boats, down 14%. The number of motor boats reached 8380, down 12% and the number of sailing boats was 1711, down 8%. The "other" category, including jetskis in particular, completed the decline.
Size distributions are stable, with boats under 5 metres and between 6 and 7 metres being the most sold. Brittany is ahead of the Southern region, with 2698 and 2531 new registrations respectively.
France largely dominates its domestic market, with 45% of newly registered boats coming from national brands, the origin being determined by the HIN number. The USA and Italy share the other two podium places with 11% of sales each.
The place of residence of the new owners is also studied. The Pays de la Loire region comes first, ahead of Brittany and the southern region. The Ile de France only comes in 4th position, neck and neck with the Nord Pas de Calais.
The growing second-hand boat market
If the sale of new boats suffered in 2020, the opportunity has been well taken advantage of. Ownership changes increase by 30% to 79,677 ships. The increase concerns all types of boats, both sailing and motor, and all size segments. Smaller units, under 7 meters, remain the most represented, accounting for 77% of transactions.
Vessel licensing disrupted by crisis
A comparison of the number of vessel licences issued between 01/01/2020 and 31/08/2020 with the same period in 2019 is of little relevance given the difficulties in conducting examinations during containment. The number of sesames issued is 58 506. The number of certified trainers increased by 100 to 2464.
