On the occasion of Boot Düsseldorf 2024, the organization, in association with EBI - European Boating Industry - held a breakfast conference on the theme of transmission and new generations in the boating industry. An opportunity to hear from some of the yachting industry's new faces.
Transfer of nautical businesses
The first major speaker, Giovanna Vitelli, CEO of the Azimut Benetti Group since February 2023, bore witness to the sometimes delicate position of "daughter of". Succeeding her father Paolo Vitelli, who founded Azimut in 1969 as a charter company, she finally handed over to him the reins of a heavyweight that has become number 1 in the megayacht industry. Trained in law and now a lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions, she gave up a professional project in the USA to return and take charge of the shipyard. She explains her vision of the transmission and evolution of family businesses: "I'm glad I had a life before, because it's hard to be the 'daughter of'. It helps to have something to fall back on. You also need a good relationship with your father. The challenge for a family business today is to remain family-oriented and connected to the business. You have to be a private company with the vision of a listed company, combining the family's long-term vision with long-term strategic partnerships.
Ana Calic, who took over her mother's equipment distribution company, Navela, agrees: "The difficulty is the expectations you have for yourself and from your employees."
New organizations
Each of the speakers emphasized the need to rethink the way companies operate, by importing external management methods to the yachting world. Giovanna Vitelli explains: "We need a mixed organization, with experts from the industry and professionals from outside with a wealth of experience. This also involves in-house training. We provided 144,000 hours of it across the Group this year. We also get our employees to navigate."
Furkan Carkci, head of Turkish shipyard Curkci Deizcilik, stresses the importance of sharing developments : "Initially, I wanted to change everything, but it was a bad idea. You have to do things slowly. When you change the store's stock management software, you have to show the benefit, not impose it."
For Maarten Desloovere, head of the Vlaamse Yachtaven Nieuwpoort marina, the challenge is also to attract new employees: "We need to be able to attract new employees We have one advantage: our jobs are sexy, by the sea. Of course, they have to be paid properly, but the difficulty is also that they are on leisure time, and the younger generation finds it hard to give that leisure time."
Convincing a new generation of customers
The transition must also be one of customer generation. To achieve this, the yachting industry needs to adapt its offer and approach, as all the speakers emphasized. At Azimut, the average customer age has dropped by 10 years in 10 years, to 35. These are regular luxury customers. The change is also coming from pre-owned boats, says Markus Boesch of the family-owned Swiss shipyard Boesch Boats : "This allows us to attract customers other than the usual WASP".
Care for the environment is important," stresses Giovanna Vitelli: "Whether it's a fad or not with our customers, we have a duty to push solutions. Like fuel consumption for cars, we need a transparent method for boats, which is why we pushed the Sea Index launched with the Yacht Club de Monaco. This will bring credibility to the sector."
Furkan Carkci explains: "We have to adapt the offer according to customer generations. Our challenge as young leaders is also to understand the older generation of customers who are still around."
Maarten Desloovere concludes by stressing the need for flexibility: "As our parents did when they switched from fax to internet, we have to remain flexible. We're changing models with customers who won't stay in a marina all their lives, but young people we need to attract for a week so they come back later."
