Mag touts R.I.’s marine industry

Rhode Island “is considered a great place to run a marine business” because of its small size and exceptional government cooperation, according to a monthly trade magazine for the marine industry.
With more than 400 miles of coastline and spanning just 1,045 square miles, “the Ocean State holds itself up as one of the best places in the country for marine businesses,” said the Dec. 1 article by Melanie Winters in Soundings Trade Only, headlined “Rhode Island: Small in size, large in stature.” More than 10,000 people are employed in the marine industry, the article says. (The Rhode Island Marine Trades Association in February estimated 6,648 jobs in the industry.)
Such a positive assessment comes as no surprise to those in the marine business here, like Peter Van Lancker, president of Hunt Yachts in Portsmouth. “Rhode Island is a beautiful place to boat,” he told Providence Business News. “If you tried to design a place to go boating coastally, you’d have a hard time improving on what’s here.”
“I don’t think a lot of [Rhode Islanders] realize it because they haven’t seen other boating places and, when it’s right in front of you, in your back yard, you take it for granted.”
Van Lancker was one of several representatives of the marine industry quoted in the Soundings Trade Only article. He told the magazine about moving his company to Portsmouth from South Dartmouth two years ago, and how the state gave his company grants to train workers. He was most impressed, he told the magazine, when Gov. Donald L. Carcieri showed up in person at Hunt’s grand opening, christening a yacht with a bottle of champagne to mark the occasion.
Compared to South Dartmouth, Portsmouth is a “more visible and more prestigious place” for his yacht company, Van Lancker told PBN. “Other people are coming here to do a variety of activities in boating,” he said. “It brings customers here and their friends here, and they’re boaters as well, and, literally, we have sold boats because [customers] walked by the front of the building.”
No one can pretend, however, that the boat-building business isn’t hurting right now. “Our industry, like any business that relies on discretionary spending” is struggling, Van Lancker said.
“A new boat purchase, for a lot of people, is no longer a high priority,” he added. “On the other side, it’s a good time to buy a boat because there are great values all over the place.”
Other highlights of the Soundings Trade Only article include:
• A representative of Goetz Custom Boats recounted how the state provided a $4.3 million bond to double the size of its Bristol facility in 2007, along with a $68,000 grant to train employees;
• Working with the R.I. Economic Development Corporation and several private companies in the marine industry, New England Institute of Technology in March formed a boat repair and construction program, with federal funds paying for Rhode Island students;
• At the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport, state funding allowed for expansion of educational programs;
• “Marine trades and defense technology” is one of six industry sectors that the state has targeted for investment due to growth potential and above-average wages, with $63,478 as the average salary.
The marine trades (not including defense technology) include more than 2,300 businesses, account for $1.6 billion in sales and pay $260 million in income to Rhode Island workers, according to a February 2008 report prepared for the Warwick-based Rhode Island Marine Trades Association.
One key fiscal reason the industry does well is because Rhode Island law exempts from the state sales tax any boats purchased and registered in the state, the magazine noted. That exemption benefits dealers, builders and boat owners, while requiring the boats to be registered in-state generates business for marine storage and service companies, said Paul Harden, work force development director for the EDC.
“It’s something other states wish they had,” Harden told PBN.
Van Lancker called that tax exemption “critical” to the marine industry. “I know that there are some discussions going on about repealing that and I’d say, now is not the time. The industry is very fragile, don’t mess with it unless you want to just kill it.”
Bill Sisson, a Rhode Island native and editor of Soundings Trade Only, said the Ocean State presents “a hub of activity” related to boat-building and “is considered one of the sailing capitals of the Northeast.” The developments in the marine industry that the story mentions took place over the last two years, he said. “We thought it would be insightful and eye-opening to wrap them into one article.” The magazine is published by Soundings Publications LLC in Essex, Conn.
Harden said the Soundings Trade Only article will increase awareness of Rhode Island’s marine industry and show how the state has helped it. “It’s important to get that message out beyond Rhode Island,” Harden said.
“We have a whole supply chain here,” Harden added, “basically everything you need to build and service a boat,” including keel-makers, sailmakers, rigging sellers and boat designers, for instance.
Van Lancker spoke of upholsterers, resin suppliers, welders, canvas sellers and a fiberglass company as examples of the “core base” contributing to the state’s boat-building trade. “Regionally, there’s a lot of support and a lot of expertise,” he said.
Andy Cutler, of Cutler & Co., which provides communication services to the EDC, said the state is seen as a national leader in the marine industry. He mentioned the case of defense contractor Kelly Space & Technology, based in San Bernardino, Calif., which this year opened a Warwick facility to develop and market marine-industry applications for its lightweight ballistic protection armor. In August, Kelly contracted with Goetz to handle prototype development.
“We have a thriving marine-trade sector here that we should be very proud of,” Cutler said. •