Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
A SEA OF GREEN
Strong sales expected at Palm Beach boat show.
WEST PALM BEACH — As the Palm Beach International Boat Show opened its gates, boat builders and brokers had little to complain about as gorgeous weather welcomed thousands of showgoers, many of whom are flexing newfound buying power thanks to tax reform and a surging economy.
If brokers could be granted a single wish, however, it would be for more listings, several said during interviews this week. A perceived shortage may likely be the result of strong sales in Fort Lauderdale and Miami during the current South Florida boat show season.
Another factor: “People are holding on to what they have,” said yacht broker Chris Saumsiegle of Bradford Marine in Fort Lauderdale.
“The inventory is definitely light right now,” he said. “We need listings.”
Builders of new vessels are eager to add to the supply, according to the CEOs of two prominent manufacturers, Ferretti Group of Italy and the resurgent Bertram Yachts of Tampa.
Ferretti Group banks on the Navetta 33
Hardly a vessel for the masses, the 108-foot, four-deck yacht had quite a journey to reach its berth in West Palm Beach. For the trip from the Mediterranean and across the Atlantic, it was loaded aboard a ship and delivered to PortMiami. Then, after an appearance at the Miami International Yacht Show, it motored up the South Florida coast to its berth in West Palm Beach.
“This is mine,” said Alberto Galassi, CEO of the Ferretti Group. “It’s here on display.” The sticker price: $12.5 million. Ferretti, which is controlled by a Chinese company, maintains sales offices in South Florida.
“The U.S. market is still the best,” Galassi said, with 28 percent of the company’s worldwide sales generated from North and South America.
Unveiled during a private Monte Carlo preview in September 2017, the very chic Navetta has twin engines with 1,400 horses, sound dampening technology and noise insulation equipment, a bulbous forward section to ensure stability, and a range of up to 1,850 nautical miles. An integrated helm station boasts five digital monitors, of which two are touch screen, as well as a virtual keyboard.
A master cabin sits forward on the main deck, and four guest cabins are on the lower deck.
“We sold 10 boats in one year,” Galassi said. “This is a super-seller.”
Five were sold before the Monte Carlo debut.
Some eager buyers may have to wait. Each vessel takes 14 to 16 months to build.
The company has taken care to design the boat’s interiors according to customer tastes by region. Thus, “party people” and members of the younger generations are buyers in Latin America and the Middle East. In the United States and Europe, the buyers tend to be couples with families who prefer more conservative designs.
From time to time, the company has received unusual offers from buyers who, instead of paying in cash, have sought to trade seaside villas or diamonds for a boat.
The company isn’t trading boats for real estate or gems, and isn’t accepting cryptocurrencies, either. Galassi agrees with investment guru Warren Buffett, whom he closely follows, that the craze over cryptocurrencies will end badly.
“We like dollars,” he said.
Bertram Yachts on the rebound
Most Florida boat enthusiasts recall iconic builder Bertram Yachts from its start in Miami-Dade County.
Founder Richard Bertram started building boats on the Miami River in 1960, naming his first 31-foot yacht after his wife, Pauline “Moppie” Bertram — and boaters everywhere fell hard for the Moppie 31.
Bertram sold the company, which went through multiple owners and even stopped building boats until the Italian builder Gavio Group bought the name in 2015. But Bertram’s boats do not and will not have an Italian look.
Gavio pledged to stay true to the Bertram legacy, making sure the new models reflect everything American, said CEO Peter Truslow, as a new Bertram 35 bobbed nearby.
The 35, which retails at $750,000, has a hard top and fly bridge and is powered by Caterpillar diesels.
“We’ve sold quite a few of them,” Truslow said.
The company has relocated to Tampa and now employs 90 people. Besides building boats, the company also services them.
“It’s a startup,” Truslow said of the company. But Gavio, whose founder Beniamino Gavio bought his own Bertram in 1999, has “made a huge commitment to Bertram — getting into the market.”
In May, the company is scheduled to launch a 61-foot sport fisherman with a large salon, fly bridge and three state rooms. The suggested retail price for the Bertram 61 is $3.45 million, and buyers seem to eager to snap them up. Bertram is already taking deposits, Truslow said.
Replacement market hard to measure
When Hurricanes Irma and Maria savaged much of the Caribbean Basin and portions of Florida last year, countless private vessels were heavily damaged or sent to the ocean bottom, where many remain today.
Although insurance checks have been written and owners have acquired new vessels, builders and brokers are uncertain of how much the post-storm replacement business has contributed to this season’s buying binge.
Broker Rick Obey of Rick Obey and Associates, which operates in Fort Lauderdale, New York, California and Panama, said his firm sold six or seven boats to owners seeking replacements.
“Is that a lot? I don’t know,” he said. “There’s no doubt that business is going to be around.”
Truslow, of Bertram Yachts, said that while his company has seen an “uptick” in service and repair requests from owners, “my sense is they’re not all replacing.”
During a promotional tour that Bertram conducted in the Keys, he saw a lot of damaged boats, he said. But at the same time, he saw large numbers of damaged homes and businesses.
It was a sight, he suggested, that made him reticent about asking whether he could help owners with their boats, “because you have bigger problems to worry about.”