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Ucina boss sounds the alarm

The headline in Il Giornale on January 18th left little room for doubt: “Rescue us now or we’ll go under.” UCINA President Anton Francesco Albertoni chose the pages of the Italian daily newspaper to sound the alarm to the nation about the state of our nautical industry.

The article beneath the headline revealed that 35% percent of the nautical sector’s workforce have been made redundant. Many yards are really struggling while others have just closed their doors in defeat with the outlook for the market still very uncertain. Simply put, the nautical sector, which until very recently was one of the jewels in the Made in Italy crown, is running the risk of withering on the vine. And that’s the plain truth of the matter. For the first time since the crisis began, Albertoni has told it like it is. In his interview, he laid bare the state of the industry in the rawest of terms with no pussyfooting or resorting to flowery language. The only comment we can make is to ask why he waited so long to do so.

It seems like a case of closing the stable door after many of the horses have already bolted. The economic crisis has hit hard right across the board, including the gilded world of luxury. That’s no news to anyone. We’ve all known it for a long time. Since September 15th 2008, the day Lehman Brothers collapsed, in fact. The effects on the nautical world, both here and elsewhere, have been felt for quite some time. It might be worth reflecting on why exactly no one (the specialist sector press included) ever asked whether the runaway growth of the nautical industry had solid foundations or not. The result is, of course, that the sector is now paying dearly for its excess production capacity.

The market is swamped with new models still looking for owners and structures that expanded their facilities and workforces to an extent no longer justifiable in such a shrunken market. We can all see what that has caused: an oversupplied pre-owned market, new boats selling in drips and drabs, and yards’ output slowed to a minimum. Is calling on the government for aid now the only option left to us? Maybe so. What is true, however, is that the sector has always had to get by without any outside assistance and relied solely on the entrepreneurial skills and courage of its members. It has always come out with its head held high too. And that, I would argue, is the real strength of an industry that will continue to be one of the jewels in the crown of the Made in Italy phenomenon.

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