Without the Melbourne or Sydney Boat Show going ahead this year, it has been a bit of relief for us, as not only did we not have any new boat stock left to sell this year, but everything that was ordered and shipped for these shows, has been arriving many weeks late due to a number of reasons including:
- a big increase in demand from manufacturers, retailers and end customers
- production delays due to staff unable to work due to COVID or government restrictions
- factories being ordered to close by governments
- corporate IT system getting hacked
- a major international production facility of semi-conductors was destroyed by fire in China
- trucking delays due increased demand and travel restirctions
- the Ever Given ship blockage in the Suez Canel
- the lack of available of ships and shipping containers
- shipping delays at ports because they have staff sick or unable to work due to COVID restrictions
- unloading delays at ports as the wharfs are full of cars and containers
Fortunately we are told by Jeanneau that most of our orders for the next 6 months are still on schedule, however they did say that there maybe some delays of up to 5 weeks with some of their outboard power boats.
Aventura Catamarans have also been battling supply issues with materials and parts, but a recent COVID outbreak in Tunisia, meant that they have just been ordered by the government to close their factory for at least a week. We have been told that the new A37 and A14 have been finished, so we willl have to wait a bit longer before we see any photos or videos.
With regards to outboard engine deliveries, we place our orders at least 6 months in advance and we are told by Mercury that anything we have coming in over the next 6 months is still on track, on the other hand Yamaha’s deliveries seem to be at least 4 weeks behind at the moment and can only assume this is due to the outbreaks of COVID in Japan recently.
Consequently we are actively seeking information every week on all of the 26 new boat and engine orders that we have being delivered over the next 6 months, but it seems as though some of our suppliers are simply overwhelmed at the moment and we are not getting the responses we would normally get.
So we ask all of our clients that if there is a problem or a delay, please avoid expressing any dissapointment as there is nothing we can do about it, but we will try and find a solution where possible.
On a more positive note, Jeanneau have announced some new models at their annual dealer conference the other week, including a completely new power boat range, along with discontinuing some models to allow for production of the more popular models. More details to be announced soon.
In the meantime, please stay safe and be happy 🙂
Rohan Veal
Managing Director