In the latest edition of The Superyacht Group’s Digital Dialogues, Martin Redmayne is joined by Engel de Boer, Marine New Construction and Yacht Segment Manager at Lloyd's Register, to talk about what lessons we as an industry have learned from its evolution thus far, and what we still need to improve and perfect in order to ensure a safer and more futureproof industry.

First and foremost, de Boer identifies the need for collaboration as something we have not yet learned but that is essential for the future of the industry. “There is a terrible need to work a lot more cohesively together. The market is fragmented, as we often identify during the sessions at The Superyacht Forum. We all talk about it, but for one reason or another, it's still - in my opinion - quite unstructured at times. Unfortunately, this can result in some unprofessional behaviour and that is definitely not to the benefit of the end clients,” explains de Boer.

De Boer’s suspected reasoning behind this is that it is somewhat the nature of the market. Yachts are moving around so often that they are, at times, forced to rely on individuals rather than groups or companies. “You might think that this is very similar to the commercial cargo transporting world of ships, but they tend to have a more structured approach and are better organised in all corners of the world,” de Boer continues.

Redmayne believes that the industry tends to waste a lot of time and effort by not working together, which can result in wasting a lot of money because of a lack of project planning on the operational side of a yacht. He then poses the question to de Boer, from a Lloyd’s perspective, what role could Lloyd’s play in improving that ecosystem?

“It's a difficult one. On the one hand, we have the benefit of being a global company, situated across the globe in various offices, which fortunately results in one consistent approach… This is something that we could potentially either guide others on, or work with them, globally, to make sure that there is a more consistent approach for everyone, whether that is in relation to the technical side of things or in relation to the management of the crew,” answers de Boer.

“It’s a changing world, and everybody knows it. It's a world of increasing complexity and we're overloaded with data… Fundamentally, our main purpose is to improve safety and increase performance where possible, and I think it is in that increasing world of complexity overloaded with data that we need to work together, and see whether we can get some more consistency,” de Boer continues.

Do various companies and individuals within the industry need to become more open to working with each other instead of against each other? Alongside this, as de Boer goes on to mention, does this also mean that we need to squeeze out some of the companies which we would rather not see – if it's for the benefit of the industry? De Boer would argue – yes. Redmayne suggests that perhaps there is a call for improvement and an industry “clean up” required in order to optimise our business plan as a whole ecosystem.

To hear more about de Boer’s thoughts on the necessity of knowledge transfer within the industry, as well as his thoughts on deglobalisation, the introduction of risk-based predictive maintenance and his perspective on the sailing yacht market, watch the full interview here.

The One to One series is a collective campaign for change and industry improvement, and we welcome participants from all sectors. If you would like to take part or contribute your thoughts, please contact Eleanor Shepherd.  

You can view the ever-growing archive of Digital Dialogues here.

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