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That the Norwegian marine leisure market continues to thrive was clearly evident at this year’s Norwegian International Boat Show, which was held in March at the Norway Trade Fair in Lillestrøm, a smart new venue just outside Oslo that has been home to Norway’s premier boating showcase for the past three years. Walking into its show halls one could feel the buzz. People were shopping. Exhibitors were smiling.
However, the raw figures don’t tell the story quite that way. The visitor tally for the event only registered 56,895 — much the same level as in 2003, but down on the 65,029 of last year. But then, when the boats and equipment are selling, no one in the industry, save of course for those with a vested interest in the gate receipts, which in this case is the marine industry body Norboat, is really too bothered. Such statistics only really seem to matter to exhibitors when things are going badly.
Indeed, in the past the numbers at the Oslo show have been much higher, regardless of whether the market was doing well or not. The current figures are a long way from the glory days recalled by industry stalwarts. Years ago the Oslo show, which dates back to 1956, regularly attracted gates approaching 115,000, which suggests that boating showcases have lost appeal over the years in Norway. The bottom line now is that the Norwegian market is currently riding high, very high. And, if it is not at the top of its particular cycle, it must be pretty close.
In all, Sjoen for Alle 2005, the name for the event locally, had 600 boats on display and 260 exhibitors occupying some 20,500m2 of show space. As usual the motorboat fraternity dominated. Most boats on display were typical of the region — small to medium-size runabouts, sportsboats, launches and cruisers, which are all very popular in Scandinavia, but there were also a good number of imported products from the rest of Europe and from the US.
One very positive sign in the power sector seems to be the resurgence of interest in small and medium-size boats, which bodes well for the market as a whole. That trend is discernible in the number of new outboard engines sold into Norway at the moment — 26,000 units a year with an average rating of 32hp. Demand for motorboats is believed to be between 12,000-15,000 units. Imports possibly account for 40-50 per cent of it.
Norwegian motorboats are typically well built with good sea-keeping characteristics. Owing to the local geography, boatbuilding has always been particularly active in Norway. In better days there were scores of motorboat builders in the country. But those that did not actively seek export markets died off after the last boom of the late 1980s. So nowadays, there are perhaps fewer yards in Norway than there once was and probably the yards that are active are building fewer boats, although the average sizes and values of the ones that are built today are certainly much higher — but then that is much the case everywhere.
Even when the markets are going well, boatbuilding can be tough in a high-cost country like Norway. So an increasing number of Norwegian companies have been prompted to have their boats built outside the country, generally in the low labour cost regions — notably Poland and Lithuania. Indeed, a few of Norway’s established boatbuilding brands are now sourcing their product from abroad, although such things are not necessarily shouted about openly.
Sailing cruisers are certainly more in evidence these days. For example, eight or nine years ago when IBI visited there were just six or so sailboats over 6m (20ft) at the Oslo show and they were from just two foreign builders. This year there were over 40 — including plenty of models from just about all the major players. Nevertheless, sailing is said to account for less than 5 per cent of all pleasureboating activity in Norway. And suffice to say that there are no significant Norwegian sailboat-building yards any more, save for the odd one-off project or racing-dinghy builder. But for such a small country the sailboat import figures are quite surprising, proving just how good demand levels are in the country. At the moment it is estimated that around 850 sailboats a year are imported, a substantial number for a country with a population of just 4.6 million.
Norwegian industry body Norboat has its finger on the pulse. Managing director Erlend Prytz says that he sees continuing growth in the industry. “We expect 2005 to show yet more growth,” he says, “although it will probably not be as strong a year as last year. But generally I am very optimistic for the combined membership, which is currently at 300 and is on the way up again."
To read Key Market Facts on Norway Click
here
Summarised from the Norwegian Business Report in IBI's June/July
2005 issue. The full report can be purchased from International Boat Industry
- Back Issues Department, PO Box 772, Peterborough PE2 6WJ, UK Tel: +44 (0)
1733 385 170. Fax: +44 (0) 1733 239 356 mailto:backissues@johndentonservices.com Copies are £15 each plus postage (£1 UK; £2 airmail Europe; £4 airmail elsewhere)
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