Singapore puts Asia-Pacific yacht market in the spotlight

With the holding of 10th Asia Pacific Superyacht Conference (APSC) and the 9th Singapore Yacht Show (SYS) on Sentosa Island this week, the Asia Pacific market will be in the spotlight as both events are held at ONE15 Marina.

APSC, which runs from April 10-13, is changing its format this year from the usual two-day conference to a single day followed by a series of workshops. The first day will cover a range of regional topics including Asian yacht ownership, the next generation of owners and charterers, improving yacht ownership and management in Asia Pacific, integrating the yacht club and marina, and a keynote on the China market.

This will be followed over the next three days by the workshop programme, which covers developing a master plan for the Asian yachting market and how to create growth opportunities, the brand-dealer relationship, shipyards and marinas, and managing refits.

APSC is generally attended by well over 120 delegates from across Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. This year the conference chairman will be Simon Turner, who is making a comeback to this role as he was involved in the founding of the event a decade ago.

The 2019 Singapore Yacht Show, from April 11-14, will include over 120 exhibitors and brands and some 80 yachts of all sizes. The show offers visitors, which normally number around 15,000, a full range of boats and yachts from RIBs up to superyachts. The largest vessel in the show is the 58m (194ft) Seawolf and there are several yachts in the 20m-40m range.

As usual, SYS includes many international brands working in association with the local dealer networks such as Asiamarine, Boat Lagoon Yachting, Hong Seh Marine and Simpson Marine to name a few. The brands exhibiting include Azimut-Benetti, Sanlorenzo, Ferretti, Princess, Sunseeker, Fairline, Lurssen, Gulf Craft, Groupe Beneteau brands such as Jeanneau, MCY and Lagoon, Aquila, Grand Banks/Palm Beach and Leopard Catamarans.

As a yacht event promoting the marine lifestyle, other luxury areas such as cars, property, fashion and others are also part of the four-day programme.