The Future of Superyachts Conference: Report

Thursday 29th June saw the inaugural ‘Future of Superyachts’ conference hosted by Quaynote Communications in London.

Coined as an exciting new and open concept for superyacht industry conferences, our CEO, Ed Ewer, was invited to speak on a panel which focussed on skills shortages in the yachting sector. Joining a panel of experts from across the industry, the panellists hoped to be able to bring to the fore a number of key matters and to start the industry on a path of change and adaptation.

With a host of interesting topics, ranging from sustainability to market trends and staffing to maritime media, the eight panel discussions brought together a fresh selection of attendees from across the market, keen to learn and share opinions.

SYR have long wanted to be the voice for shoreside recruitment. Whilst the subject of employment is not new to seminars, it has always focussed around crew, so a chance to touch on shoreside employment was one that we jumped at the opportunity to discuss.

Chaired by the dynamic Andrew Grant Super, the event kept a lively pace, with experienced panel leaders ensuring every panellist had their say and that the interactivity kept flowing throughout the event. An ‘active questions’ section also asked a lot of the questions that others were sometimes a little afraid to ask, leading to some much more valuable answers from the panels.

The ‘staffing and employment’ panel, chaired by long time industry senior Paul Cook, touched on both the challenges faced by crew and those seeking a move ashore with the eternal question of ‘Is Below Deck good for the industry?’ It was met with mixed feedback both from the panel and from attendees. A clear focus was aimed at how the industry as a whole can attract new talent and maintain it once onboarded. Some staggering facts showed that there is still a large percentage of industry dropout within 3-4 years, a key issue to be addressed.

Looking to the future, it was identified that there are clear needs around talent retention, mental health, training opportunities and cross-industry recruitment. Whilst some of these topics have loosely been mooted before, this time it felt like there is a genuine appetite for action.

Ed and his team have come away from the event with some clear goals to work towards and a dedication to see through a number of the points discussed.

If you’d like to know more about the event or indeed some of the questions asked and answered by the panel, please do send us an email to hello@superyachtrecruiter.com