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Maritime News

Bridgewater Canal Breached on New Year’s Day

The Bridgewater Canal was breached near Little Bollington, adjacent to the River Bollin, near Greater Manchester. The canal’s maintenance team, which is not managed by the Canal & Rivers Trust, undertook emergency action to dam off the canal using emergency stoplogs at Agden and Dunham.

Peter Parkinson, Director of the Bridgewater Canal Company, reported “This action has resulted in an approximately 3km of canal being dewatered but has prevented a full loss of the canal and prevented any further flooding caused by the extreme weather”.  The breach came after over 90mm of rain had fallen across Northern England. 

The Bridgewater Canal is 65km long, was built in 1761 and was the first major canal built in England by the pioneering engineer James Brindley.  The canal played a significant part in enabling the industrial revolution and unusually has no locks along it main length.  It was last breached in 1971, not too far from the current breach.

Princess Yachts To Cut About 260 Staff

Princess Yachts in Plymouth have announced the loss of up to 260 personnel due to the new budget measures and wider challenging market conditions having reported a £30m loss for FY 2022 on turnover of £315.2m and a £24.5m loss for FY 2022 on turnover of £310.5m in FY 2023. 

During a recent visit to King Point Marina in Plymouth, Boat Chat counted over 15 Princess yachts at varying stages of final production fit out / acceptance with more tied up on drying moorings alongside the factory in Stonehouse Creek.

It has always struck Boat Chat that Princess Yachts aspires to be a builder of custom superyachts able to compete with other global brands, yet its real estate in Plymouth limits it ambitions, forcing it to be a production line builder of medium sized vessels no longer than 30m.  No problem in that methodology of course if the vessels roll of the line with only a few snags to put right before handover.  But the number of boats that are still ‘in hand’ suggests that the whole process is not working as efficiently as it should.

Sunseeker To Lay Off Up To 100 Staff for January

This month Sunseeker have temporarily laid off up to 100 staff at its factory in Poole due to persistent “operational issues”. The news comes after the company was sold in October 2024 by previous owners China’s Dalian Wanda Group to Miami-based investment firm Lionheart Capital and Italian-owned Orienta Capital Partners.

Boat Chat Focus - What’s Coming In 2025

As we welcome in the New Year, Boat Chat ponders what the coming year will bring locally and internationally.  The UK small craft market in 2024 was subdued to start, picked up through the summer and was pretty busy well into the Autumn.  The year was best described by some yacht and small craft brokers as ‘passable’.  Looking into 2025 and whilst the political landscape is more settled nationally, the global outlook is far from settled.  The return of Donald Trump to the White House will bring with it increased disruption and tension.  The cost of living crisis continues to bite in the UK and the recent budget changes introduced by the new Labour government will see business costs rise significantly this year.

The UK market is likely to remain somewhat ‘confused’ in 2025 with plenty of activity at the sub 15m end, feeling squeezed in the 15-24m middle whilst the 24m+ market will remain relatively immune to the wider economic situation. 

The global outlook for super and mega yachts remains broadly stable with a general trend to larger, more luxurious yachts.  The largest currently in build and planned to launch this year is REV Ocean, a 194.9m “science vessel on steroids”.  According to the Global Order Book 2025, published by Boat International, the number of vessels over 24m currently on order or in build for 2025 is 1,138, slightly down on 1,166 in 2024 and 1,203 in 2023.  Interestingly their data suggests the UK is the 4th largest builder by total length of vessels in build but has the shortest average length of build of only 26.5m amongst the top 20 nations. 

The UK makes lots of ‘small’ boats, which needs a robust supply chain to operate efficiently.  Smaller boats typically have lower margins which makes overall production efficiency critical.  Skilled tradespeople are in short supply and demand for them is increasing.  Anecdotally, many skilled marine fabricators in the South West are being lured away by high salaries in the infrastructure industry.  The cost of labour in the UK is high compared to other nations and is set to rise faster than other nations with the new budget measures introduced by the new Labour government.  Most of vessels built in the UK are aimed at the ‘squeezed middle’ identified earlier.  All in all, whilst the global outlook feels reasonably stable Boat Chat is not getting the same warm and fuzzy feeling about the UK market.

Closer to home, the small craft marine surveying outlook remains good.  Bookings are already coming in for a mixture of yachts, motor boats, narrowboats and barges.  Some pre-purchase surveys, some re-insurance and a sprinkling of unusual jobs including a floating café and a dumb barge for conversion.  So far this month surveys have been in Lincombe Boatyard near Salcombe in South Devon, across the Tamar in Cornwall and in Sutton Harbour in the centre of Plymouth.  It’s not always glamorous though and sometimes a bit of ‘Boat Yoga’ is needed:

The variety of surveys, locations, vessels and people make being a small craft surveyor a truly diverse and enjoyable occupation.

Boat Chat continues to grow well and now has over 500 subscribers, as does the White Hat Marine Surveying YouTube channel. Writing and making videos about boats and boating is almost as much fun as messing about on boats, especially when it is -2c outside with a Force 5 whistling through the marina!

What has AI ever done for us?

Boat Chat likes to keep a weather eye on developments in automation and artificial intelligence and wonders what they might mean for the maritime industry and marine surveying.  From report writing software to AI enabled maintenance schedules there is no doubt that AI is here to stay and will have an increasing role to play in the industry. 

There are plenty of AI pundits out there and Rowan Cheung’s newsletter The Rundown AI provides pithy analysis, AI insights and curated content.  Read by over 800,000 people including tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg, there are also AI tool reviews and plenty of educational content to dive into.  Take a peek through the link below:

Learn AI in 5 minutes a day

What’s the secret to staying ahead of the curve in the world of AI? Information. Luckily, you can join 800,000+ early adopters reading The Rundown AI — the free newsletter that makes you smarter on AI with just a 5-minute read per day.

Sign up to start learning.

A very simple Top Tip this month - As temperatures drop below freezing, check your boat on a regular basis.  Frozen water in pipes, tanks, filters and engines can cause a lot of expensive damage very quickly.

If you winterised your boat properly last year there should be little to worry about but all it takes is a blocked drain or scupper for water to collect and then freeze.  Identify any areas where water can collect and consider what the impact of ice forming in those locations would be.  Look for cracks, shattered fittings, misaligned components and fixings and unusual water stains.

What Did You Get For Christmas?

Every year Santa takes a sneak peek inside my toolbox to fill any gaps.  Not many this year but as always there was a need for some more white and coloured chalk. 

This is mainly for writing Metre Station numbers, ultrasonic thickness readings and to highlight any defects such as blisters, cracks and tired skin fittings on hulls. It also comes in handy to highlight embossed hull numbers and propeller markings.  You can see how I do that in this little video:

Great Kit Ideas

With the 2025 season fast approaching, it is time to start thinking about new gear for the boat owners or marine surveyors in your life or as a treat for your boat. I have put together several collections on Kit.Co which are all personally recommended items and most of which I own.

From boat safety equipment to books about sailing and the tools and books a marine surveyor needs; there really is something for everyone!

Boaty Terminology

Dead ahead - Directly ahead or in front of the vessel.

No beers this month but got some lovely feedback from subscribers new and old; it is always good to hear that people are enjoying Boat Chat.

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