®
oundtable:
Broward’s marine industry For those selling boats, the pandemic year propelled major gains, but on the cruise side of the industry, it was another story.
Tim Davey
Bob Denison
Founder & Managing Director Global Marine Travel
What challenges have you faced in supporting crews during COVID? The most disappointing thing for me throughout COVID has been the lack of understanding of the contribution that seafarers make, not just to the South Florida economy but to the entire global economy. We needed to convince so many local leaders and governments of the value of seafarers and their importance in the whole supply chain. We had to explain why we needed to get these crew relieved from their vessels, as well as the danger of fatigue for the seafarers. The Neptune Declaration on Seafarer Wellbeing, which we recently signed, really helps bring the importance of seafarers to the spotlight. There’s still a lot more work to be done. If we ever have a situation like this again, there should be no question of exempting seafarers. What are your top priorities for the next 12 to 18 months? We take the approach that we are going to be really busy. Much busier, in fact, than we were with pre-COVID levels. The approach we’re taking now is going back to the basics with colleagues and booking agents to make sure they have all the right tools to help our customers in the most accurate way. We’re spending time educating our team to not rush on to the next booking but to take the time to get the correct information from the customer to make sure they get on their way as fast as possible. There will be a rush of travel coming — that is imminent — so we want to make sure that we are rock solid when that happens. 120
President & Founder Denison Yacht Sales
How would you characterize 2020 for Denison Yacht Sales? It has been a tricky year. After March 11, we were really concerned we might never be able to sell another boat again. We saw the stock market dropping like crazy and we sell a product that people want rather than need. It is one of those ultimate luxury products with which you can experientially have a fantastic time with friends and family in a totally unique, exclusive type of experience. Unless you are a commercial fisherman, you do not need a boat. Many people in our industry were highly nervous about the outlook for the rest of the year. It did get absolutely terrifying for about three or four weeks. By the fifth week, we were into the thick of people quarantining, and isolation and social distancing was going to be a reality for a while and there were no games, no cruise ships. But boating is one of the safe things you can do. It caused a major swell of interest in our industry right around early May and we’ve been riding that wave since. What innovations have stemmed from the pandemic? Even prior to the pandemic, we were a highly digitally minded company. We are younger in our space and we have an in-house team of what we consider to be the best marketing minds in our industry. We’ve been using technology to not only find and reach out to new customers and clients but to take better care of people, especially in 2020. There are a lot of great real estate firms that have done a great job of communicating with somebody selling their asset through a well-established, real-time dashboard. We developed a similar platform for people selling their yachts.
| Invest: Greater Fort Lauderdale 2021 | TRANSPORTATION, INFRASTRUCTURE & LOGISTICS
