In October BAVARIA opened its new office in the USA at Fort Lauderdale in Florida. This is the second direct representation from the German Shipyard and follows the Bavaria Shanghai office opened recently. Under the name of BAVARIA YACHTS AMERICA, this office based in Florida will supervise the US market, Canada and the entire South American region. The BAVARIA YACHTS AMERICA operation is represented by Vincent Guiot, Sales Director at BAVARIA.
Mercury Marine dealers in North America claimed the top 11 positions on Boating Industry magazine’s 2014 Top 100 Dealerships list, and accounted for more than 80 percent of the dealerships on the list. Mercury dealerships earned 83 of the Top 100 positions on the list, which was published in the November issue of Boating Industry, and 18 of the top 20 positions in the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, seven of the eight dealers that received special “Best in Class” recognition awards were Mercury Marine dealers. Dealerships are chosen and ranked based on customer service, overall business operations, marketing and professionalism.
Ensuring a safe fuel supply for America’s 12 million registered boat owners may have to wait, said Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that the agency will further delay the final rule on how much ethanol refiners must blend into the nation’s gasoline supply under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). After almost a year of review, the 2014 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs), which dictate ethanol levels, are now not set to be released until 2015.
Furuno USA, Inc. has been a leader in the U.S. marine electronics marketplace since it was formed in 1978, as a subsidiary of Japan-based Furuno Electric Company. In 1992, Jim Atteridge was appointed President and began setting the vision and direction for the company. Fast forward 22 years, and Furuno USA has become a brand known across every market in the industry, from commercial to recreational boating. After 30 years of dedicated service to the company, Atteridge is retiring as President and assuming a new role, as Director and Corporate Advisor.
This year, GSW and Associates celebrates its 25th anniversary with Orion Safety Products. While attending a factory visit, Jay McLaughlin, Bob DeFonte and Kerry Stark of Orion presented GSW and Associates an award for “25 Years of Excellent Service”. GSW attendees included Jeff Gueterman, Rick French, Mike McCachren, Rob Gueterman, Craig Cochran, Bob Schreiner, Paul Perry, Chris Byal and Ron Gueterman.
Carla Demaria, President of Monte Carlo Yachts, Board member of Italian Yachting Federation (UCINA) and the Board of Bénéteau Group and General Manager of Bénéteau Brand, has given a fascinating keynote speech at the opening ceremony of METS 2014. Maritime industry leaders from around the world gathered in one of the lecture halls in the Amsterdam RAI congress centre during the METS 2014 Breakfast Briefing to hear Demaria describe how the philosophy of adaptive evolution has paid dividends for her company.
In addition to its first hybrid drive system, Torqeedo displayed a compelling array of new products for the 2015 season at the Marine Equipment Trade Show (METS) in Amsterdam. The company is launching even more powerful drive systems to coincide with its 10th anniversary and bringing new innovations in service, convenience and power generation.
Volvo Penta has announced the introduction of the first two models of its next-generation sterndrive marine gasoline engines. The new 4.3-liter catalyzed V6 engines, rated at 200 and 240 horsepower, will supplement Volvo Penta’s current V6 product line. They debuted at the Marine Dealers Conference & Expo (MDCE) in Orlando, Fla., Nov. 16-19.
Margaret Podlich, president of the Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS), the nation’s largest boat owners’ association with more than 500,000 members, was named the 2014 Darlene Briggs Woman of the Year. Podlich was honoured Wednesday Nov. 19, during the Marine Dealer Conference & Expo Awards Breakfast at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Fla. The Darlene Briggs Woman of the Year Award is presented annually to an outstanding woman in the marine industry.
Bill Dixon, Chairman of the Jury, presented the prestigious DAME Award 2014 at the commencement of METS this morning to the Steering Traveller from Jefa Steering ApS of Denmark. The jury praised the product for the way it offers a genuine solution to chain/wiresteering. In addition to this overall winner, six category winners of the DAME were also announced during the Breakfast Briefing, the official start of METS 2014 which will be held until Thursday 20 November in Amsterdam RAI.
CMC had better than expected attendance at its office to celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary representing Raymarine in Canada. The many dealers who took the opportunity to visit the CMC office to meet the CMC staff that work with them every day also had an opportunity to see all the latest products that will be available for 2015.
At Boating Industry Canada we often ask our readers to share their experiences out on Canada’s waterways. Recently in our Newsweek e-newsletter we asked for your experiences and suggestions for making the Trent Severn and Rideau Canals vibrant and sustainable moving forward in light of the changes to the system in the recent past. As both boaters and business owners on the Trent Severn and Rideau waterways, many of our readers had valuable feedback on their personal take on how the system has changed and needs to change further.
This year CMC Electronics is celebrating its 20th year representing Raymarine in Canada. The occasion will be celebrated at the company’s annual dealer trade shows. This fall, two dealer shows are scheduled for BC on November 5-6 and Ontario on November 12-13. The events will offer attendees information on the strong product represented in CMC’s lines. Raymarine and other vendor personnel will join with CMC support staff to provide detailed product information and to review the 2015 CMC Booking Program.