Yacht sales to mirror UK economy

by Ma Jianguo

SOUTHAMPTON (UK), Sept. 13 (Chinese media) -- Yacht sales,

seen by many as one of the major barometers for the western economy, is heading

down among the credit crunch, which is hitting the world, with the United

Kingdom as one of most serious victims.

"The yacht sales with his company is at least

experiencing a 10percent drop this year," said Roger Bailey, Sales

Marketing Director of Boatshed.com, the world's largest yacht brokerage group,

on Saturday.

The Florida-based salesman said that situation is

actually worse considering that his company is mainly dealing with second-hand

yacht sale, which might not be hit hard by the present credit situation

worldwide.

Bailey said that yacht sale in general, which target

mainly comparatively higher-income class, is naturally going down with the

economies around the world experiencing a down turn.

The yacht seller said that "in the current economic

climate, used boats represent great value for money.

While Boatshed.com, with 231,000 registered customers

using its website, and over 2,500 boats for sale, feels the shock of the market,

Lombard Marine Finance, which claims to be the leading marine Finance, said it

has chalked a 30 percent turnover rise in the past 12 months.

As part of The Royal Bank of Scotland, Lombard Marine

Finance, which has been offering marine finance for 45 years, said, however,

that its turnover rise does not mean anything encouraging for the industry as a

whole.

Lomabard's turnover rise has been based on the cost

of some major players' withdrawal from the field, Ian Braham, head of Lombard

Marine Finance said.

Braham said "there has been some rationalization of

the marine finance market recently, with some banks either withdrawing from the

sector or reducing their activities, but at Lombard, we continue to invest in

the business and turnover year to date is up30 percent on the same period in

2007."

He said that although Lombard noticed sales at the

lower end of the market slowing, with the sub-50,000-pound sector hardest hit,

larger transactions, the multi-million-dollar deals, are producing far higher

volumes of business.

While yacht sales in general see a decline in the

past 12 months, The yacht Report's annual reports said that the number of orders

for super yachts has increased by over 500 percent.

Yacht is seen as another luxury after big houses and

big-brand cars, with new words even coined for the City of London - the

"have-yacht" and "have-nots."

With the UK predicted to be the only major economy in

recession, the 2008 Southampton Boat Show is believed by many as merely a

showcase of new models and technology - the sales might be quite another story.