NC Boating Issues Receiving National Media Attention

North Carolina is receiving quite a bit of media space in national trades and boating magazines lately. This is likely to continue as more boating industry companies make announcements about relocating to the state. Hurricane Article The May issue of BoatU.S. magazine contained an article on readiness for the 2006 hurricane seasons entitled "Time to Get Ready for Alberto, Beryl and Chris". Besides providing a list of all of the 2006 names, it offers a number of suggestions from our NC Hurricane Plan and examples and comments on contingency planning, readiness, and resources to help you. Read more... Boating Access Issues The June issue of Soundings Trade Only has a six-page article by Beth Rosenberg titled "Access Denied" where marine industry representatives in several states including North Carolina, Florida, the Great Lake states and California are interviewed on the issue of waterfront development and how it may be undermining "the industry efforts promoting the boating lifestyle." Read more... Motor (Boat) City, USA The June issue of Soundings Trade Only has an informative five-page article entitled "Motor (Boat) City, USA" which describes the strengths and attractiveness of NC locations for relocating marine businesses. Read more... Southport Marina Issue in Association of Marina Industries E-newsletter The national AMI NewsWatch for the week ending on June 2, 2006 (www.marinaassociation.org) carried an article on the Southport Marina controversy. Read more...

Coastal Marina Corrections Needed NOW for Boating Guide Updates

Mike Woodard, a UNCW student working for us this summer, has been calling every coastal marina in the 2005-2006 Coastal Boating Guide and verifying the data currently displayed on the map. Please take time to look at the 2005-2006 edition and verify every item related to your marina in the map's table. If you have not been contacted, call him at (252) 728-2804 or copy your marina's information from the map with corrections and fax them to (252) 728-6988. Please provide us a company email address if you have one. We do not share this address. 

If you know of marinas or boatyards near your marina that provide public boating services (such as fuel, transient slips, or repairs) that are NOT on the map, please help us contact them.

Marine Industry Supports Pepsi Americas' Sail

A number of NC marine businesses will be in Beaufort supporting and participating in the upcoming Pepsi Americas' Sail, a tall ships event coming up at the end of the month (June 30 - July 4). These include:

Glen Raven Mills (Sunbrella®), Hatteras Yachts, Gregory Poole Power Systems, Jarrett Bay Boatworks, DNA Group, Sea Tech, Mack Boring, Grady-White Boats, Hickory Springs Marine Group, Beaufort Docks, 70 West Marina

For a look at the events, visit www.PepsiAmericasSail.com.

NC Firms Involved in Multi-Agency Craft Conference

Jack Morrow of our Wilmington office attended the 2006 Multi-Agency Craft Conference (MACC) in Norfolk, VA, June 6-8. MACC is an annual conference for developers, operators, and distributors of marine military products such as boats and marine products with military applications. Triumph Boats of Durham will have both a static display and be one of the in-water boats on display. Both Fountain Powerboats and Hatteras Yachts will also have vessels in the event, but are coupled with other companies' technologies: Fountain with Twin Disc, Inc., and Hatteras with Northrop Grumman.

Our agency's Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) helps businesses obtain contracts by providing comprehensive assistance in selling products and services to local, state and federal government entities including military agencies. Last year, our PTAC counselors helped NC companies obtain over $1.4 billion in contract awards. If you want help getting on the GSA schedule or exploring other contract opportunities, call Jack Morrow at (910) 962-3351 and he will work with you to get PTAC assistance.

Registering with, and being listed on the Federal “GSA list” is becoming much more important for suppliers wanting to do business with the Military.  So called “off the shelf” items that can be integrated into a military or law enforcement applications with out extensive redesign or customization are being evaluated and considered before most other procurement processes are started.  The Federal market for North Carolina marine products and services can grow significantly if our manufacturers and suppliers make the considerable effort to qualify to do business with the Military, even at the most basic GSA level.  At the present time one Florida recreational boat manufacturer is doing almost $12 million of business each year supplying basic hulls for integration into various applications.  To the best of our knowledge there is only one competing manufacturer on the GSA list.

Grad Students Become Marine Industry Consultants

This past spring, a UNC graduate-level workshop class, entitled "Leveraging Marine Trades in North Carolina's Water Counties", was designed around the loss of waterfront access for boats and boating services and a shortage of qualified workers in the industry. In conjunction with the Carteret County Economic Development Office, eight UNC graduate students assessed a variety of challenges and identified strengths that could be leveraged to enhance the growing Marine Trades cluster in the region.

The students interviewed dozens of business representatives, utilizing salary, business classifications, and a wide range of statistical resources, and provided an eye-opening summary of marine industry issues for the counties studied. The summary paper, the final draft report and the PowerPoint can be found on our website at our Working Waterfront and Water Access Page.

NC's Changing Waterfronts: Coastal Access & Traditional Uses

NCSU's North Carolina Sea Grant hosted the a one-day forum June 5, 2006, in New Bern. This one-day information session included sessions on how and why waterfronts are changing, including cultural and economic factors, options for communities and property owners, and innovative ways that other states are dealing with similar issues.

During the Stakeholder Panel session in the morning, Mike Bradley provided an overview on the loss of haulout repair services, transient and long-term public slips, private ramps, and dockside fueling. He also explained how access loss may affect hurricane preparedness and boat-owner insurance options. See a summary of the event at our  Working Waterfront and Water Access Page.

 10% Ethanol Fuel & Boat  Fuel System Concerns
More information is appearing in the industry media on efforts to determine if E-10 effects long and short term durability of boat fuel system components. The ABYC, NMMA and USCG met and agreed that the US Coast Guard will fund a study to look at various materials used in boat fuel systems - from an NMMA note from John McKnight. BoatU.S. also has sponsored several tests to find out more. See Results of BoatU.S. Sponsored Fuel and Fiberglass Gas Tank Tests from the group's Seaworthy website.

Fountain adopting Toyota cost-cutting system

As reported in Boating Industry on May 9, Fountain Powerboat Industries engaged consultant Samuel R. McPherson to implement the Toyota Production System (TPS) in its manufacturing facilities. TPS incorporates lean manufacturing principles designed to provide best manufacturing practices and eliminate waste, while improving productivity and efficiencies in the manufacturing process. The goal of TPS is to eliminate seven types of waste: defects, overproduction, transportation, waiting, inventory, motion and over processing.

If you have questions about lean manufacturing or how to incorporate lean manufacturing in your company, we can assist you. We can help you understand what is involved, learn some of the first steps you might take, and give you tips on how to approach potential paid consultants (our services are pre-paid by your tax dollars). Call Bion Schulken in our Charlotte office at (704) 548-1090 ext 3347.

National Marina Day on August 12, 2006

The goal of National Marina Day is the education of politicians, civic leaders and the public about the important role the marina industry plays in cities and towns across the nation as family-friendly gateways to boating and stewards of the environment. This goal is achieved through the promotion of nationwide marina focused events with local flavor.

Make plans today to support this mission by planning a National Marina Day event at your facility. Find helpful marketing information, such as ads and promotional materials, in the resource kit on the AMI website.

And a mixed message sidebar: Jim Frye has resigned from AMI as executive director and joins Vinings Marine Group in Virginia as its president. Jim has played a long term role in helping us with NC marina and boatyard issues and has participated in many NC MarineEXPO events and trade seminars at our request. The up-side is that the Vinings operate Shallowbag Bay in Manteo so Jim won't be entirely out of the picture in the state.