EDB boosts local boat industry, enters Genoa Boat Show

Sri Lanka’s Boat and Shipping sector is identified as a focused sector in the National Export Strategy (NES) 20182020. This sector is a leading industry and an emerging export sector offering a wide variety of products and services to international markets.

In order to raise awareness on the potential of the industry, the Export Development Board (EDB) initiated a number of promotional programmes for the Sri Lanka Boat Building industry.

As the first step, EDB organised participation of three boat building companies at the Genoa Boat Show, Italy, from September 19 to 24, 2019, which is considered as one of Europe’s premiere yacht shows held annually.

The 59th edition of the Genoa Boat Show, organised by Fiera di Genova SPA and the Italian Marine Industry Association (UCINA) presented over 1,000 vessels on display including latest products from the national and international nautical industry.

This year’s show hosted 986 exhibitors from 28 countries and five continents providing over 200,000-square-metre of display area on water and land. 188,404 visitors from the boating industry and yachting enthusiasts visited the show marking an eight percent increase over 2018.

This was Sri Lanka’s first ever participation at the Genoa Boat Show and Sri Lankan companies received remarkable responses on the boats displayed at the show. Also, they got ample opportunities to meet buyers from across the globe and explore opportunities to connect to the Italian boat building value chain by manufacturing components and linking Sri Lanka’s excellent technical capabilities to the Italian boat building industry.

Further, SME companies got the opportunity to experience the latest developments, new trends in boat building and yachting industry, from all kinds of boats to boat components and accessories. This was an ideal opportunity for them to gather knowledge to develop their production processes with latest technology.

A leading Sri Lankan boat manufacturer was able to obtain orders for the boats displayed at the show to the value of Euro 6900 (Ex-factory) and other companies are negotiating with the business inquiries they received.

EDB with the boat Building Technology Improvement Institute (BTI), the private sector industry association has commenced the “ICOMIA Asia Project” to profile Sri Lanka’s boat industry to identify and understand obstacles to growth of the recreational marine sector in Asia, thereby unlocking industry potential, gain support of the government authorities and develop a friendly recreational boating environment in the region.

A Grow Boating Campaign is also initiated to promote boating as a lifestyle in Sri Lanka and thereby improve the internal and external market demand for boating related products and services in Sri Lanka including boats manufactured in Sri Lanka.

EDB will continue to support the industry in resolving their issues and creating opportunity to them to grow in the international market.