Member’s One Stop Shop for NC Marine Business Information
We now have our www.NCMTA.com
website up and running – just in time for MarineEXPO 2000. You can
go to this site to download MarineEXPO registration forms, NCMTA
membership forms, hurricane and oil spill response plans, link to the latest
issue of TradeWinds newsletter and past newsletters, other state boating
websites, regulatory information, Clean Marina program details and checklist,
hurricane tracking sites, “how-to” steps on auctioning off abandoned boats, and
lists of North Carolina boat builders, boatyards, and marinas.
And that is just what is available now. Currently
anyone can access the entire site, but we plan to restrict parts of the site as
an extranet and make these available only to NCMTA members. Your
amazingly low membership fee of $25/year will start to pay off year-around, and
not just at EXPO time. To join – call us or
go to the site.
Exposure and support. These reasons sum up why
sponsoring this year’s EXPO in
EXPO brings marine product and
service corporations and marine businesses from across the country to
The EXPO 2000 may be a trade-only show and conference, but the marine industry is nowhere without the boater as customer. Boat/U.S., with over 500,000 of your customers as members, is the largest boater’s advocate in the country. Mike Sciulla, the editor and associate publisher of the Boat/U.S. Magazine, will be providing EXPO dinner guests with an overview of boating trends, some pretty surprising statistics on boat usage among members, areas of concern for boaters and some of the efforts underway to work and exchange dialog with other trade groups.
ABYC
(American Boat and Yacht Council – www.ABYC.com)
has offered to hold testing for experienced marine technicians as part of this
year’s MarineEXPO.
On Saturday November 10 from 8-11am, those familiar with ABYC standards and
interested in getting certified in electrical, refrigeration, air conditioning,
diesel engine & support systems or gasoline engine & support systems
will be able to take their chosen test at a discounted rate. The advantage of
ABYC certification is that it tells the public you have demonstrated advanced
skill and knowledge and can therefore offer the best in customer service. ABYC
certified mechanics are chosen over non-certified competitors time and again.
The test itself is open book using the ABYC standards manual. A study guide is
also available. The standards manual, study guide and registration information
can be obtained by calling ABYC at (410) 956-1050. Tell them that you are
attending as part of MarineEXPO to
receive the discounted price.
You will soon receive
information regarding the16 seminars, two trade forums, two luncheon events,
the all-industry reception and the speaker’s dinner that will be held at this
year’s NC/SC MarineEXPO. There will be a package price for NCMTA and SCMA
members, non-member package price, and individual seminar fees and event fees
available. We are working hard on sponsorships to bring the cost to
participants down and we know they will not exceed $15 per seminar and be
reasonable costs for the meals. We want you there.
We have targeted a range of
marine business issues in a variety of topics, as well as, seminars covering
general business issues - with a cast of over 30 presenters and panel members.
See the full schedule on the NCMTA.com website. The participant package will
soon be in your hands.
John
McKnight, regulations guru for NMMA, needs 90 hours, but will use 90 minutes to
review current regulations, and those that will soon influence decision making at
most NC/SC boatbuilding facilities. The EXPO 2000 seminar and panel he is leading, “Boatbuilding Regulations – The Impact of Recent Rulings
on Manufacturers and Small Builders”, will inform and warn those participating. NMMA is a non-profit trade association that represents domestic
manufacturers of over 80 percent of the marine products used in North America,
among which are manufacturers of fiberglass and aluminum boats that will be
affected by dozens of pending rules. The NMMA is voicing their concern that
some of the proposed EPA rules and requirements would impose a substantial
burden on the industry without achieving the goals they are meant to achieve.
These requirements include, to list just a few, Use of Non-HAP Carpet and Fabric Adhesives, Solvents Used in Resin and
Gel Coat Equipment Cleaning Operations, Closed Molding Averaging for New
Facilities, Compliance With Gel Coat HAP Limits Should Be Based on Styrene and
Methyl Methacrylate Content, Not Total HAP Content, and the list goes on. Plan to attend.
After
more than a year of meetings with the Pender County Planning Board and Pender
County Commissioners, a recommendation to amend the Land Use Plan (LUP) to allow for marina expansions in Outstanding Resource
Waters has been made. NC Marine Trades Services, working with Scott’s Hill
Marina, pushed for this change based on the need for public access to the
Intracoastal Waterway in
The Pender
County Commissioners meeting (above) reemphasized the problem marinas have
across our coast. Well meaning environmental groups and equally well meaning restrictions
in land use plans rely on fairly outdated and mostly erroneous concepts of
today’s boats, and service marinas. It is now easier, less time consuming, and more feasible for 50 contiguous coastal
landowners to have 100 boat slips along the waterways than it is for a 30-slip
marina to expand into a 100 slip marina or for a new 100 slip marina to be
developed.
This is the last and final call to assure that your transient-boat-serving marina or boatyard is positioned and identified in the NC Department of Transportation Coastal Boating Guide for 2001. Call or fax Wendy Larimer by September 6th if you have not forwarded your information earlier. To give you an idea of how popular this map is to visitors of our waterways, almost 5,000 maps have been provided by DOT from individual orders placed through our www.www.NCWaterways.com website since February, 2000.