Marinas
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Industry Structure, How Firms Opertate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Quarterly Insight, Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 3,500 marina companies in the US operate docking and storage facilities for water craft and offer boating-related goods and services. Most companies offer both temporary (overnight, daily) and long-term (annual, seasonal) rentals. Many marinas provide maintenance and repair services for boats. Companies may sell fuel, marine supplies, meals and beverages, and sports and recreational equipment. Some marinas offer boat rentals or sell boats.
Seasonality And Weather
Boating is a seasonal activity, particularly in markets with long winter periods.
Dependent On Boating Industry And Economy
Because boating is a recreational activity, demand for marina services is vulnerable to changes in the economy and the corresponding effect on the boating industry, particularly new boat sales.
Industry size & Structure
The average private marina operates out of a single location, employs 8-9 workers, and generates $1-2 million annually.
- The marina industry consists of about 3,500 companies that employ 31,000 workers and generate $5.1 billion annually.
- Marina may be privately-owned, or associated with municipalities or cooperative entities (home owners associations, condominiums, yacht clubs).
- The industry is highly fragmented; the top 50 firms account for about 19% of industry sales. The vast majority of marinas are independently owned and operated.
- Marina Del Rey, CA has one of the world's largest man-made marinas with over 4,600 boat slips.
Industry Forecast
Marinas Industry Growth
Coronavirus Update
Apr 29, 2022 - Vaccination, Masking, Social Distancing Decisions Being Left To Individuals
- Federal and local health officials are leaving it up to people to assess if they need booster shots, whether to wear a mask, and how long to isolate after a positive test, according to The Wall Street Journal. Businesses, schools, and other entities are scaling back specific guidelines. The lack of effective treatments, vaccines, and widespread testing early in the pandemic resulted in social distancing mandates and lockdowns. The response is becoming more tailored to people’s own health and appetite for risk, as those tools help blunt the worst outcomes as the virus continues to spread, according to public-health experts. “The history of public health has been a constant tension between individual-level and government or community-level intervention,” said Megan Ranney, an emergency-care doctor and academic dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
- Marina use may remain elevated by historic standards if the number of COVID-19 cases continues increasing. New COVID-19 case rates increased in late April, with the seven-day rolling average increasing to roughly 58,000 on May 1, up from 50,000 on April 27, 46,000 on April 22, and 30,000 cases per day on April 8, according to a New York Times COVID-19 case tracker. Experts note that the American population has different vaccination rates, levels of previous exposure to the virus, and degrees of underlying health conditions, so the trajectory of new cases could vary. New cases were increasing in all but six states and Washington, DC on April 28 as the Omicron subvariant continues to spread. Analysts note that the data regarding new cases are getting less reliable as the public testing infrastructure continues to wind down and home test results are less likely to be reported to officials.
- The multibillion-dollar luxury boat industry is rebounding fast after near-paralysis at the onset of the pandemic as the number of billionaires grows and COVID-19 has added to incentives for avoiding crowds by taking to the water. Sales of luxury vessels longer than 30 meters (98 feet) increased more than 8% in the first nine months of 2021 compared to the same period of pre-pandemic 2019, according to industry publication the Superyacht Group. Marinas equipped to handle such vessels are likely to benefit even after the pandemic has subsided.
- The latest CDC documentation still requires mask use in all indoor areas of all transportation hubs in the US and US territories. The city of Boston, MA, imposed a mask mandate for transportation facilities including marinas.
- The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said that employees may be barred from the workplace if they refuse the COVID-19 vaccine. "Requiring a vaccine is a health and safety work rule, and employers can do that," said Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law. There are, however, some exceptions to a blanket requirement. A collective bargaining agreement may require negotiating with a union before mandating a vaccine. The Americans with Disabilities Act allows workers who don't want to be vaccinated for medical reasons to request an exemption.
- Marina developers are facing resentment from middle-class boaters who feel that access to the water is being hijacked by private interests, according to some industry stakeholders. Boaters need more public access to waterways, and additional education is needed for those new to boating. “If you’re an active boater and you’ve been boating since COVID started, you’ve seen a marked increase in the amount of boat traffic that’s on our waterways, and you’ve also seen a pretty marked increase in a lack of etiquette on the waterways,” said Joe Neber, president and owner of Florida boat builder Contender Boats. “It requires a police presence to actually do traffic control. … It’s kind of a restricting factor on people actually wanting to get on the water because the average citizen in the state of Florida doesn’t live on the water and doesn’t have access at will to the water.”
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