BUOYANT DAYS AHOY

THE demise of one of the city’s two major marine shows is not being seen as a dark day for the Gold Coast’s thriving boat building sector.

In fact, it’s the opposite. Whilst heavyweight backers of the Gold Coast International Boat Show and Marine Expo are gutted its seven-year run is over, there are plenty of positives stemming from news it will not proceed in 2018.

Afterall, one of the reasons for its demise is the Coomera marina precinct is humming with activity.

Organisers of the event who decided to axe it for 2018 cited lack of space due to increased production activity and wanting to avoid the resulting disruption to the businesses.

The event was started because of a post-GFC depression for the industry and they hoped to give the sector a boost.

While production levels haven’t returned to those pre-GFC days when major Coomera-based boat builder Riviera was pumping out 400 models a year, it is making more than 100 annually.

And the boats are much bigger and more technical nowadays and therefore 100-plus is being seen as a healthy number – and it’s growing.

The other positive is the city’s remaining marine showcase, the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, is being tipped to benefit from its status as the only game in town, potentially in future rivalling the Sydney show for scale.