18/10/2013 00:00
TW
0
By Humphrey Carter PRIVATE yachts are getting bigger and years of tight restrictions on the growth of Balearic marinas and moorings is now crippling the region's nautical sectors, according to industry chiefs. President of the Balearic association of Nautical Businesses, Margarita Dahlberg, said this week that the Balearics can not meet the demand of the 60-metre plus yacht boom and this year paid the price with large yachts, with their big-spending wealthy passengers, being forced to sail elsewhere in search of sufficient mooring and marina space. What is more, in order to compensate for the loss of earning, charter companies are going to have to raise their tariffs next year. Margarita Dahlberg, currently attending the Monaco Boat Show, said that 50 to 60 metre yachts are in big demand, especially with wealthy Russians and Chinese and she knows that many of these yacht owners are very interested in having their yachts based in the Balearics during the summer, if not all year. But unless marinas are allowed to start increasing the number of large moorings and the size of the marinas, the Balearics is going to lose out.



COMPETITORS
“Yachts are growing in size very quickly,” she said, but the nautical infrastructure we have in the Balearics is becoming out-dated.” Over the past few years, the industry has warned the authorities over growing competition from the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. However, now the competition is coming from the mainland, in particular the Cataluña, Valencia and Andalucía regions.
Dahlberg explained that each of the regions is offering industrial land to the nautical industry at rates much lower than here in the Balearics and, in some cases, “they are even giving the land to the large companies,” she added.

Only the ports of Palma and Alcudia pose major expansion potential while in Portals and Pollensa, the room for further growth is restricted hence there are three to four month waiting lists for moorings in the latter two ports in the summer.

The president of the Association of Balearic Port and Marina Installations, Ricardo Ferrer, said this week that the summer season was “very good” with ports and marinas, especially those in the south of Majorca, “100 percent full” during July and August. But he admitted that the lack of moorings means that the Balearics can not meet demand with many marinas offering facilities to moor-off during the summer because they are not allowed to expand.
The Balearics' marinas turn over 400 million euros per year and the industry fails to understand why a business sector which has such a high turn over is not being allowed to expand at a similar rate to other key sectors of the tourist industry.