Boat-building industry to make a comeback
By Sanjeevi Jayasuriya
The boat-building industry hopes to make a vigourous come back this
year with export targets set to double that of last year.“Last year’s
export revenue which recorded a drop will recover100 percent based on
projections and performances recorded so far.
 By the end of the year there should be full recovery. The receding
recession in Europe and the USA will certainly increase exports,” Boat
Building Technology Improvement Institute, Managing Director, Gamini B.
Herath told Sunday Observer Business.
The reduction of orders from traditional buyers has prompted
exporters to seek new markets. These efforts have been successful. “We
now have orders from Madagascar, the Seychelles, Kenya and Ghana. They
have emerged as new markets inspite of the initial difficulty of making
our presence felt there. The major exporters who have made inroads into
these emerging markets have been rewarded with contracts to supply
fishing boats,” he said.
The earnings of the industry which were $ 150 million in 2011 dropped
to $25 million last year.
This year's target is $ 50 million, a 100 percent increase on last
year’s turnover.
“We are planning further forays into non traditional markets in the
Asia Pacific countries which has great potential.
The other benefit from the boom in tourism will be the requirement
for pleasure crafts and other boats used for leisure activities. There
is a collaborative effort by the tourism authorities and industrialists
to capitalise on the increased influx of tourist arrivals,” he said. The
industry needs small marinas and boat parks to attract foreign and local
tourists.
“We call upon the Government and the Export Development Board (EDB)
to provide us a relief package to improve the industry and impose a tax
on imported boats to safeguard local boat manufacturers,” said Herath.
The EDB will assist individual boat manufacturers who use locally
sourced raw materials, he said.
It is essential to have a healthy domestic boat market for the
boat-building industry to prosper.
The exploitation of traditional and non-traditional markets will
ensure improved export revenue to the country.
Boat Show 2014 is expected to supplement the local boat-building
industry, he said. |
