Somers Point boat businesses join together to sell more vessels

[LuckyLady]

Somers Point boat businesses join together to sell more vessels

Posted: Tuesday, March 8, 2011 12:19 am | Updated: 12:40 am, Tue Mar 8, 2011.

Andy Eget mamger of Jersey Marine Yacht Sales and Harbour Cove Marina have formed a joint venture to sell brokerage yachts at the marina, providing one-stop shopping for a variety of sizes and brands Friday, March 4, 2011. Jersey Marine will also arrange service and additions to boats.

A large marina and a boat brokerage in Somers Point have formed a joint venture to position themselves in the rebounding boat market for spring.

Harbour Cove Marina, a 410-slip facility on Bay Avenue, and Jersey Marine Yacht Sales are creating a sales and service space that will be like an ongoing boat show.

Andy Eget, who has two decades in boat brokerage and owns Jersey Marine, said in the current market buyers and sellers are looking for a single facility that takes care of everything — showing, sea trialing, maintenance, improvements and insurance.

“Buyers might know the difference between Hatteras, Bertram and Viking, but a lot of the smaller boat brands they may not know as well,” said Eget, of the Seaville section of Upper Township. “Here, they’ll be able to see a range of boats at one location instead of having to drive around the country.”

Jersey Marine’s inventory averages 125 to 150 listings, he said, with boats ranging from 15 to 70 feet.

Todd Scarborough, a principal in Harbour Cove Marina and its owner, Scarborough Properties, said the joint venture reflects where the industry is headed and the proximity of the neighboring businesses.

“When somebody buys a boat now, it’s more than a simple transaction. Yacht brokers manage the whole experience,” said Scarbor-ough, of Ocean City. “If we can splash the boat, show them how it runs through the inlet and all, that’s a big advantage.”

Eget said the inventory of boats is changing as the four-year marine industry slump ends.

“Most of the repossessions and liquidations, the bank sales, are all dried up pretty much. What’s left is the guy who’s been trying to sell for the past two or three seasons and had to endure all the boats being liquidated,” he said.

Overall boat sales declined an estimated 15 percent in 2010.

The National Marine Manufact-urers Association said marine sales in New Jersey were worth $225 million in 2009, down $72 million from the prior year.

But sales of preowned boats comprised 82 percent of boat purchases nationwide in 2009, far above the normal 72 percent, the NMMA said.

Marinas in the region have persevered through the recession, although with substantial reductions in staffing like most other businesses.

The 22 marinas in Atlantic County in 2009 was the same number as in 2004 and 2005, and down just two from the peak in 2006, federal Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show. Cape May County’s 33 marinas were the high for the decade, while Ocean County’s 77 are slightly fewer than the 2006 peak of 82.

Marina employees in Atlantic County, however, fell to 153 in 2009 from a high of 265 in 2003. In Ocean County, workers declined from 453 in 2005 to 333 in 2009.

Even with more marinas in Cape May County, marina employees there dropped to 222 from 250 in 2008.

As the industry rebounds, the focus will remain on brokerage boats for a while, since relatively few new boats were built from 2008 to 2010, Eget said.

“People will either buy something existing, where there are some great deals, or wait for the 2011 models,” he said. “You can buy something for 20 (percent) to 30 percent off what a new boat would sell for right now.”




Courtesy of the Atlantic City Press