Imports 'killing' boat market

Ian Franklin says buyers are wooed by the slick exteriors of cheap boats. Photo / Christchurch Star

Imported mass-produced boats are having a major impact on our recreational marine industry, almost crippling some boat builders and pushing down prices of Kiwi-made vessels.

Over the past few years, a large number of production boats - mass produced off a single mould in Europe, the United States and Australia - have been imported into New Zealand.

This has also put the squeeze on mum-and-dad boaties wanting to sell their vessels, with prices dropping at least 15per cent.

Mass-produced boats are generally cheaper to buy than Kiwi-built vessels, and sell for even less secondhand. This has resulted in a drop in prices and demand for locally built motor boats and yachts.

It is estimated there are between 480,000 to 520,000 vessels in New Zealand.

"As secondhand boats, they are pushing the price of the general secondhand market down ... models from 2003 upwards can be bought at reasonable prices and are giving buyers a lot more options than were previously available with New Zealand-built boats," a boat broker told the Herald on Sunday.

Another broker, who also wanted to remain anonymous for fear of affecting his clients' sales, said imports were "crippling" the secondhand boat market. "Importing a production boat can be 40 per cent cheaper than buying the same one in New Zealand secondhand," he said.

Auckland boat builder Greg Salthouse said production boats were not good for New Zealand. "It's a shame to see them come in. They keep building them and storing them up and then they have a fire sale and get rid of them cheap," he said. "They're building them cheaper than we can down here. But the quality is not the same."

South Island boat builder Ian Franklin said imports had "killed" the new boat industry, especially launches and yachts.

"There used to be lots and lots of boats getting built, lots of local boat builders that made really good, solid boats," he said. "These things they are bringing in, they are just junk. And, unfortunately, buyers don't seem to recognise quality in a boat.

"People see lots of white shiny surface, lots of glitter and chrome and don't look at the engineering of a boat."

While a Kiwi-built boat might be better quality, buyers were going for the cheaper offshore versions.

However, there was an upside to the number of production boats in New Zealand.

"We might be missing out on building new boats but we are gaining on maintenance work because they're not well built," said Franklin.

Vendors trying to sell their boats at unrealistic prices were also having an impact on the secondhand market.

"It appears that most vendors still think their 1980s [boats] are worth what they were selling for 15 years ago. They tend to justify this by the money they have spent on them but fail to research what is available in imported boats for equivalent money," a broker said.

"Vendors have not realised that their boats are not the same value as they paid for them 10years ago. Their expectations are generally too high.

"The fact is, unless there is a significant adjustment across the board, the market is going to stagnate."

Market seems to be all at sea, says unlucky seller

Hugh Murdoch has had barely a nibble for his boat.

His Buccaneer 720 Executive has been on the market for $49,990 and for the past several weeks he's had only two interested punters.

The Papakura farmer says the last couple of years have been tough for those selling their boats, with the recession scaring people off making discretionary purchases.

He agrees the number of overseas-made boats has affected the market.

"It's coming into the third month. I've had two people who have rung me but it hasn't really progressed from there.

"I think it's just the economic climate at the moment - people aren't spending their discretionary funds.

"People are hoping for a real bargain. I'm not desperate to sell. I'm happy to sell if there's a person there but I won't entertain anything that's associated with desperation."

Murdoch said the number of cheap imports was driving down purchase prices.

"I think that would be true. They put a lot of pressure on New Zealand-designed boats.

"They end up being quite cheap and they don't end up holding their value as well as New Zealand brands."

"I've had a lot of boats over the years. I know if I was selling it two or three years ago it would have been gone by now.

"You won't see the market pick up until 12 months from now."

Murdoch will advertise it for another month and if he has no major bites he'll take it off the market until this time next year: "At this stage of life it's time to move on. It's not getting used."

- Kieran Nash

anna.leask@hos.co.nz