METS Show Report 2023

Three days, 40,000 steps, a shipyard visit, two parties and one international marine trade show… welcome to Metstrade.

Our second METS as SYR, it was a pleasure to visit Amsterdam once more for the biggest and best B2B show that the yacht industry has to offer. A hub of technology, innovation and every product you could possibly think of or want for a yacht, superyacht or indeed, a commercial craft. Some excellent new ideas launched this year too including the Young Professionals Lounge with career talks, the Startup Pavillion and the Foiling Technology Pavillion. A strong nod to the continued work by the Metstrade team to provide an engaging and exciting industry event. Celebrating its 35th year, our Consultants have been visiting this event for close to a decade now and it remains a firm favourite for us.

Arriving in The Netherlands on Monday, SYR ventured south of the capital to meet some of our key industry customers, receiving detailed facility tours which allow us to understand the client better and to be able to advise our candidates in more depth about what to expect when applying and interviewing. A key part of our service offering is our knowledge and relationships with our customers, so days out like this are key.

Back in Amsterdam, SYR attended the annual Vrithink Night Out, hosted by industry legends Vripack. A series of quick-fire presentations on matters such as foiling, emissions and battery charging the event attracts a wide cross section of individuals from across the industry and inspires conversation, networking and indeed the enjoyment of a few beverages over the course of an evening. SYR were able to bump into some old friends and also make some new connections during the evening, paving the way for a successful number of ongoing job leads. Rounding out the evening with dinner with our friends from UKSA and Polaris Yacht Supply, this set the stage for a great few days.

Our time this year was split between The Superyacht Forum and Metstrade itself. Engaging and exciting talks followed by lots of networking and a host of prearranged meetings. This made for a busy and fruitful day, showing that despite its challenges in 2023, yachting still has an appetite for growth. The forum itself offered some great networking opportunities too and was followed by the annual Red Party hosted on site at the purpose built evening space at the RAI. Many thanks to Martin and his team for hosting such an engaging series of discussions and for continually switching up the event make it more and more appealing each year.

Will The Superyacht Group be able to top this event next year? We have no doubt, but we still feel that when it comes to employment, that us shoreside types are a little unheard… perhaps a subject we speak on in the 2024 edition?

Our final day at the show saw us split time between candidate and client meetings. Metstrade is a great chance to meet in a less formal setting and without the pressure of having to sell directly to the UHNW sector. With close to 30 meetings taking place during show hours, it proved a challenging mixture of logistics, time management and reading of the show map! However, we met with everyone we needed to and those who wanted to meet with us. A resounding success though an extra day in the show would always be helpful!

We leave our visit with a host of exciting new opportunities across sales, operations, build and management. A lot of follow ups to come in the next few days as well which we hope will glean further opportunities to round out 2023 and to kick 2024 off to a winning start. We’re already excited for the next edition of this great event.