Record participation in the VIII Cuttlefish Fair

For another year the sea and the cuttlefish took the centre stage at the eight edition of the Cuttlefish Fair on the 20th to 21st of April in the Port of Alcúdia. Acoording to the local police, up to 12.000 visitors enjoyed the mediterranean cuisine and strolled amongst the large variety of boats exhibited along the Paseo Maritimo. The nautical fair occupied a total area of 12.000 m2 where 25 companies exhibited the latest products. From jet skis and semirigid tenders to sailing and motor boats, not forgetting the traditional boats and yachts. And of course all sorts of accessories and other essentials related to the sea were on offer. The stands dedicated to fishing and water sports managed to catch the attention of many enthusiasts who were looking for equipment for a good price or simply hunting for professional advice.

Not the instable weather during the weekend nor the pouring rain on Saturday kept thousands of people way from the port. For the coordinator of the fair, Margalida Ginard, it is a fact that “every year the fair reaches further, judging by what the exhibitors tell us, as well by the number of visitors”. Ginard explains that the Town Hall “has worked to achieve a more dynamic event, not centred only on the nautical and gastronomical issues, but introducing also numerous kids activities”, together with the help of Alcudiamar, who give logistical support for the event.

Conference: Blue Growth in the Mediterranean: The Perspective of Spain

AENB, through the Maritime Cluster of the Balearic Islands, has participated in the organization of the conference "Blue Growth in the Mediterranean: The Perspective of Spain", which will take place on the 02.-03.05 in the Auditorium of Palma, supported by the European Commission and the Direction General of the Maritime Affairs and Fishing.

Seven workshops have been planned, out of which the last two will be most interesting for us:

- Nautical and Coastal Tourism

- Insularity as a differentiating fact

The registration form and the final programme are available behind this link.

Meet or associates - Fanautic Club.

Fanautic Club is a Mallorca based navigation club with franchises in Valencia and Burriana. Diego Orallo, the Managing Director of Fanautic talks to us about his career as an entrepreneur and about the success of the company.

What can you tell us about your professional trajectory and the history of Fanautic Club?

My nautical career started 7 years ago as a manager of the Palma branch of a navigation club based in Barcelona. Previous to that I had worked as a pharmaceutical representative as well as in a family company specialized in event organization and conferences. 7 years ago an opportunity came up to start a navigation club, until then an unknown concept in Spain. I found the idea professionally attractive and got involved from the very beginning, which gave me a chance to learn the basics of the business very well.

Thats how we got started, but later on the club ceased it´s activity in Barcelona for various reasons, amongst other because it was complicated in Barcelona and the people running it were not putting their best efforts into it. But here in Palma things were going well, that´s why I decided together with a partner to continue with the business model. Compared to the original model we improved the concept considerably. We created a new brand as well as a new technological operating system and work allocation which are giving us very good results. To the point that we have opened franchises in Valencia and Burriana.

The Direction General of the Ports and Airports summons companies that operate party boats to make sure that they have filed the corresponding notification beforehand

The Direction General of the Ports and Airports will have a string of meetings this month with the relevant departments and with the sector to address the decisions made already last summer regarding the party boats and to explain the measures of control carried out by the Direction General, according to its competence.

Such measures consist of sending requisitions to companies that carry out activities of tourist transport, party boats being counted as such, and who are required by the Law of Maritime Transport to present a prior notification to the Direction General. These requisitions allow for the control of the boats and whether they comply with the necessary requirements. The requisitions also facilitate the proper identification of the boats and help to identify those who have not complied with the requirement of prior notice.

Added to these controls are the inspections by the Direction General that were started already last summer in the ports to confirm whether a prior notice of the party boat activity had been given. It has to be clarified that in the case of not having presented a prior notice, the boat can be demanded to do so or its activity will be stopped, independently from the start of sanction proceedings according to the above mentioned Law of Maritime Transport.

The recreative yachting will be regulated separately for the first time in the Draft of Law of Maritime Navigation

The recreative yachting will be regulated separately from the merchant marine for the first time in the new Draft of Law of Maritime Navigation, under preparation at the moment, and over which the various experts of the sector have debated during the 1st Nautical Congress, celebrated at the headquarters of CEOE in Madrid.

According to the General Sub-director of Legislative Politics of The Technical Secretariat of the Justice Ministry, Julio Fuentes, the project incorporates and regulates for the first time the recreational nautical activity differentiating it from the merchant marine. An achievement able to take place thanks to the joint efforts of ANEN with the administration.

Besides work is being carried out on the Ministerial Order which will regulate the Recreational Yachting Qualifications, which according to the adviser of the Director General of the Merchant Marine, Benito Nuñez Quintanilla, is being a complex project to write due to its ambition and because it introduces profound reforms to adapt the regulations to current reality of the sector and to adjust them to the international standards.

Three Public Administrations give the nautical sector a hand.

The members of the Popular Party Group in the Parliament discussed and listened to the claims of the nautical entrepreneurs in a recent meeting with the heads of the principal nautical associations.

During a two day event at the headquarters of CEOE in Madrid the first edition of this forum was held in an attempt to get all the mayor players of the industry together.

Organized by the National Association of the Nautical Enterprises (ANEN), the congress enjoyed the patronage of the Barcelona Boat Show and Volvo Penta Spain, with the collaboration of Yachtsman (boat insurance), Yamaha Spain, Register A Yacht.com, Iusavant and CGI Finance.

Nautical legislation. Objetive: to continue developing own framework

In this section two drafts of a law were discussed, firstly the Bill of Law of Maritime Navigation, which – as explained by Julio Fuentes (the Subdirector of the Legislative Policies of the General Technical Secretariat of the Justice Ministry), incorporates and regulates for the first time the recreational nautical activity by differentiating it from the merchant marine. This achievement is a fruit of the work carried out by ANEN with this administration.

The future Ministerial Order that regulates the Recreational Boating Qualifications was another prominent theme in the discussions. According to Benito Nuñez Quintanilla (Adviser of the Director General of the Merchant Navy), the new normative is very complex to draft, for its ambitiousness and because it introduces profound reforms to adapt the legislation to the current reality and to meet the international standards. Amongst the main modifications to be introduced stand out the reduction of nautical qualifications, the elimination of the boat length limitation in the qualifications, the extension of navigation areas and the increase of practical training on the cost of theoretical learning , as well as an update of course subjects.

New route of collaboration between the sector and the Department of Custioms and Special Taxes

The export and import procedures of recreational vessels occupied the debate in the second panel discussion of the congress. After an explanatory speech about the differences between the temporary importation rule and tourist registration, the General Subdirector of Inspection and Investigation of the Customs and Special Taxes Department, Maria Angeles Marín listened to the various problems the companies in the sector face when processing the paper work relating to these issues. The Subdirector expressed her willingness to cooperate through ANEN to solve these difficulties and even to revise the current normative.

For his part, Gabriel González, the Director of RegisterAYacht.com, explained the different international nautical registrations for recreational vessels. Very useful information, which is the “talk of the town” in the sector since the possibility opened up for a Spanish fiscal resident to flag his/her boat in any European registry (provided all the corresponding taxes are paid).

Why the Spanish companies don´t export more?

The national export figures are one of the economic indicators to measure growth, and exports could be an important avenue to to battle the crisis. However, the small and medium size companies in Spain do not export, as Antonio Fontanini ( the Director General of the CEOE International) declared in his intervention at the congress, and affirmed that it is a problem of attitude and fear to take a step out of the box.

Fontanini presented the program CEOE has started to overcome this reluctance by helping small and medium enterprises in their export processes, in a way that each company can be assessed individually according to the market where it intends to export its goods and services. Without a doubt a very interesting tool for the nautical sector.

Sharing the vision of Fontanini that in Spain we don´t believe in our own capabilities, Fernando León (the Head of the Department of Promotion of Services of ICEX), explained all the tools ICEX has available for the companies. He highlighted the “a la carte services”, personalized help that is offered through the economic and commercial network of ICEX offices to the companies who make an effort to extend their business abroad.

The panel discussion about International Markets and Competitiveness was rounded up with two practical cases. One of them was explained by the Director of Marketing of the Fira de Barcelona, Albert Planas, who shared the success story of the international commercial strategy of this institution. He illustrated this strategy with the examples of the the fairs organized by Fira which have become international model cases like the Mobile World Congress or CONSTRUMAT, amongst others.

Victor González, the Director of Yamaha Spain, presented the successful trajectory of his company and insisted in the necessity to “adapt to its environment” as one of the fundamental principles of a company.

What is so harmful about recreational yachting as to be levied a special tax?

This blunt question was put forth by Raúl Burillo, an Inspector of the Tax Office in his speech at the congress. Burillo, who has a vast knowledge of the taxation system that affects the sector following his job as the Special Delegate of the Balearic Tax Office until the year 2010, described the matriculation tax to be unfair and provided some hints as how the sector can try to justify the suggested modifications to the Administration.

The matriculation tax is an unfair tax, Burillo pointed out, as it burdens the recreational yachting which stimulates the tourism and drives other the economical sectors related to tourism. However, it is penalized with a lot higher tax rate than in any other country nearby (12% on the purchase of vessels over 8 m for private use, or in the case of charter boats it is applied to vessels over 15 m).

How the communication, marketing and opportunities for the nautical sector have evolved in the age of internet

This was the topic of the last panel discussion of the congress, in which Carmen Herrero (responsible for the strategy 2.0 of ANEN) addressed the change in the ways and means of communication and marketing during the last five years. Herrero highlighted the opportunities the social media offers in the way of marketing and sales tools, a challenge that the nautical sector should not let pass.

Closing speech by the Director General of the Merchant Navy

Once again the Direction General of the Merchant Navy has expressed his support and involvement with the sector, with the participation of it´s Director General, Rafael Rodriguez Valero, who ratified the words of their Advisor referring to the future normative of the nautical qualifications.

The Director general of the Merchant Navy declared that the team he leads is working intensively so that the new rules will become reality before the end of the year 2013. At the same time, he took the opportunity to express the support of the Direction General to ANEN, in the quest find a solution to one of the main burdens to the sector, the matriculation tax.

The boat registrations fall by 33,7% in the first quarter

The registrations of recreational boats fell by 33,7% in the first quarter of 2013, with 623 vessels compared to the 940 registered in the same time period last year, according to the information by the National Association of Nautical Enterprises (ANEN).

By types of boats, the motor boats fell least between January and March, with a fall of 24%, compared to the decline experienced by the folding inflatables (-28,9%), sailing boats (-39%), semirigid inflatables (-49,3%) and jet skis (-53,3%).

Balearic Islands lead the demand

By provinces, the statistics show a decline in registrations during the first three months of the year in Barcelona and Madrid, which normally hold the top positions in registrations, with falls of 62,5% and 45,2%, respectively.

This highlights the fact that The Balearic Islands lead the demand, with a share of 10,27% of the market, despite registering a fall of 14,67% between January and March, followed by Girona with a market share of 9,1% and a growth by 5%.

Read the complete article in Nauta 360.

Carlos Sanlorenzo is the new General Secretary of ANEN

Carlos Sanlorenzo takes over the general secretariat of the National Association of Nautical Enterprises (ANEN). The announcement of the change was given during the Annual General Meeting of ANEN, which took place straight after the I Nautical Congress.

Sanlorenzo, a law graduate from the University of Valencia and a holder of different Masters, amongst them a Master of Shipping Business from the Nautical Faculty of Barcelona (UPC). He is also one of our leading specialists in nautical legislation and regulations, the legal adviser of ANEN and the director of the law firm Iberian Yachts Consulting S.L.

Carlos Sanlorenzo will start in his new post on the 1st of May, taking over from Alejandro Landaluce, until now the General Director of ANEN.

PortsIB offers to public tender each of its 13 ports of direct management

The Director general of the Ports and Airports specified, after the "erroneous information published in the media" that "it is a question of being able to award the concession of these ports, under no circumstances privatize them. It must be clear that privatization of the ports can not be carried out, because they are public domain." This way Deudero rejected any accusations of squandering the patrimony of the community by selling its ports.

These 13 ports are: Colonia de Sant Jordi (Campos), Cala Figuera (Santanyi), Portopetro (Santanyi), Portocolom (Felanitx), Porto Cristo (Manacor), Cala Bona (Son Servera), Cala Ratjada (Capdepera), Port de Pollença (Pollença), Port de Sóller (Sóller), Port d'Andratx (Andratx), on the island of Mallorca. Port de Ciutadella (Ciutadella) y Fornells (Mercadal) on the island of Menorca. And Port de Sant Antoni (Sant Antoni de Portmany) on the island of Ibiza.

In other words, assures Antonio Deudero, the intention of the Government is that "the ports of direct management can be turned into ports of indirect management, which happens already with 29 other sports and recreative installations, where the concession has been awarded by the autonomic community to various yachting clubs and companies". All of them managed indirectly by PortsIB: 23 in Mallorca, 4 in Menorca and 2 in Ibiza.

Read the complete article in Gaceta Náutica.

The Ibiza Boat Show opens on the 27th of April

The XXI edition of the Boat Show organized by the Nautical Association of Pimeef (Petita i Mitjana Empresa d’Eivissa i Formentera / Small and Medium size companies of Ibiza and Formentera) opens its doors on Saturday the 27th of April in the port of Santa Eulária. 

The Show stays open uninterrupted until the 1st of May with opening hours from 11.00 to 20.00.The official inauguration will take place on Saturday the 27th of April at 12.00, and various authorities are expected to attend from the Balearic Government, the Council of Ibiza and the Town Halls of Santa Eulária, Sant Antoni and Sant Joan, amongst other entities.

Read the complete article in Deporte Balear.

Revision of the Collective Agreement of Metal.

As we have informed you in previous communications, the Sentence by the Supreme Court from 10th of December 2012, after given the right of appeal on cassation (appeal on points of law) 267/2012, is still not firm. The lack of validity comes from the fact that another collective ASEMA didn´t contest the appeal brought on by the labor unions, and it is not confirmed whether it was not notified due to a negligence by the Court or whether the collective itself did not communicate the notification to their lawyers.

This means that still today we don´t know the percentage by which the agreement of 2010 should be revised. We underline the year 2010 as it is the only one to be revised, not 2011 and 2012 as the labour unions are informing their members and sympathizers. 

We repeat it is only question of year 2010, as this is stated in the clause of the collective agreement of 2009 and 2010, a collective agreement which was denounced and therefore not extended, and right now we are negotiating a new collective agreement which will have a time range from 1st of January 2011 until a date agreed by the parties (we have suggested a validity of the agreement from 1st of January 2011 until 31st of December 2015).

Letter from the President - April 2013.

We have noticed with satisfaction that over the recent weeks our sector and also AENB have figured prominently in the press, thanks to our involvement both in the organization of the Palma Boat Show as well as in the Nautical Sector Working Group along with the authorities. We also take the opportunity to remind our associates of the anual Nautical and Gastronomical Fair of the Cuttlefish, to take place this month in Alcudia. We would like to invite all companies to participate in this traditional event. The new Board of Directors of AENB had its first meeting in March. It was a very productive meeting, resulting amongst other things in formation of various working groups. Next week a very important event on a national level will take place in Madrid: The 1st Nautical Congress, organized by ANEN. 

The high season is about to start and some of our biggest challenges are coming to fruition. On one side the modernization of the Palma Boat Show, and on the other our participation in the working group at the highest political level, where the future of our sector is being discussed. Each and every one of you who trust AENB to represent your company has made fullfilling these objectives possible. We have written loads and loads about the new boat show: we have explained how it will be capable of attracting different segments of public and clients, how it will draw the attention of both the national and international press, bring in more professionals etc. And we will continue doing it because the project is really exciting. It is a project born from your ideas and your feed back over what did not work in the old boat show and how things could be improved. At AENB we would like to encourage you to participate in making Palma, and Balearics in general, the nautical capital of the Mediterranean, with the Palma Boat Show as the launching pad and the International Nautical Week with all its activities supporting it. Please don’t forget that as an associate of AENB you will get a 15% discount on the prices of exhibition space at the show.