May June 2020 Marina World

CRISIS MANAGEMENT
our priorities go to the social groups we
belong to: nationality, job, associations
and affinities.
And this is where I have the
impression that the marina industry
is not reacting as the closely bonded
guild it should be. For some years
we have said that the marina industry
needs more communication, more
cooperation and coordination to be able
to lobby with more chance of success
and to build a database enabling us
to study trends, boat mooring/storing
spaces and seasonal occupation.
Some progress has been done on
the matter, mainly with the help of the
Marina Industries Association (MIA)
of Australia and the ICOMIA Marinas
Group. But it seems that the industry
has not appreciated the impact of
this year’s pandemic. We are not
speaking about shifting bookings and
occupation or price variation. While
the confinement is in place, a marina’s
day to day is a future situation to be
guessed, a sudden shock to be dealt
with as soon as boat users start to go
boating again. This boating will not be
as it was before: it will be gradual, slow
and very demanding on management
decisions as to how to regulate toilet
and shower use etc. There will be
no more packed restaurants at the
weekend, not even a busy bar to
comment on the catch of the day, the
weather, the neighbour’s new boat or
the latest electronic gadget.
Marinas as social communities,
a concept that has been fought for
for many years, will disappear for
some time. The notion of “grouping
is dangerous” will prevail. For how
long? At least as long as the world’s
governments do not consider countries
free of the virus threat, free air travel is
allowed again, and what is much more
important, people do not feel afraid of
being exposed to the virus. For that
matter, media news has not helped at
all by adopting a strong catastrophic
tone. The skipper will always want
to go boating, but many family and
friends will consider that it is too soon
to attempt to do it. And with crippled
services at the marina, the fun will be
considerably less.
We are saturated with the
message of the numbers of people
sick, of deaths, and of hygiene and
social distancing, which is part of
governmental protocols to relax
confinement rules, yet everybody pays
attention and is aware of it. What hurts
me is not seeing a single message
reminding people that boating is a
sport that automatically fulfils the rules
of distancing (if you are less than two
metres from a person on another boat
you’d better call the insurance: you
are in trouble), that is usually enjoyed
with family or friends, that a boat is
very easily sanitised. I also miss the
organising help for all those in the
marina community who are going
through hard times. Raising money
via charities is valid but solidarity is
a horizontal concept that generates
mutual respect. Here are some
thoughts:
• If boat owners are not able to buy fuel
– invite them on your boat
• Give restaurants extra terrace place
at no charge to match their capacity
while fulfilling social distancing
• Small companies are the ones facing
the worst financial trouble: rent and
wages. They will have to downsize to
try to survive. Self-employed single
person services are the next. If the
marina bar or restaurant is operating
at a fraction of capacity, they could
offer cheap meals to marina workers,
own and external.
• Service companies and individuals
can organise small group events:
training on simple subjects like
fishing, engine and outboard
maintenance, cooking onboard,
occupations that the users value and
are simple, and keep the companies
As never seen before? Port of Palma in the
middle of the day during the coronavirus
lockdown belonged exclusively to its yachts.
and service people in contact with the
client.
By doing things like this, various
opportunities will come up for
vulnerable groups and, although it
may not translate into immediate
job increase, it will help people
psychologically by making them feel
less abandoned, and still part of the
marina community. The one value for
the users will be health safety, and they
will agree to change their habits and
respect new ones.
Of course the ideas and examples
given here are not from the coretraditional
procedures we knew and
followed up to January 2020, but the
priority is, at least for the next five to
ten years, to make the users as well
as the whole industry feel comfortable.
Everybody in the industry knows that
without environmentally controlled
waters, there is no industry. Neither is
any industry without people, and this
is now the weak link. The way forward
is something to be done by all parties,
if we want to succeed. This awful
situation has marked us indelibly. Let’s
hope the lesson is learned and a bright
future lies ahead of us.
Oscar Siches runs Marina Matters, a
consultancy based in Mallorca, Spain.
E: oscar@siches.com
www.marinaworld.com - May/June 2020 27