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What is happening in the boating industry
An underwriter sits at a junction. Yards, dealers, marinas, surveyors and courts all pass through, and most of what they produce ends up in trade magazines nobody outside the trade reads, or in circulars that only members receive. This page carries the part that actually reaches boat owners.
Two things set it apart from a press release. Every item names where the facts came from, with a link. And our own reading of it, as insurers, sits in a separate box, marked as what it is: our view, not the news.
All items
Updated 11.09.2026 · 22 items
Associations11 September 2026
Two German trade bodies become one
The German water sports industry spoke with two voices for decades. Since the merger of BVWW and DBSV it speaks as Verband Maritime Wirtschaft Deutschland, around 700 companies strong.
Market11 September 2026
The trade holds its course, no more
The German industry barometer for the first half of 2026 shows a trade with no crisis and no tailwind. The striking part is how far the market has split.
Law11 September 2026
A survey reaches further than many assume
The Oberlandesgericht Schleswig, a German court of appeal, ruled that a surveyor can be liable to an insurer that never commissioned his report. The case came from the motor sector and still concerns boating.
Technology11 September 2026
Electric drives grow, dock power does not
There are now more makers of electric boat motors than of combustion engines. Lake Constance shows what is holding the change back anyway.
Technology11 September 2026
When a battery burns, it burns fast
Two fires on Bavarian lakes show what sets a battery fire on board apart from any other blaze. It is not the frequency, it is the speed.
Market11 September 2026
Brussels now counts boatbuilding in
The European Commission has published its first dedicated strategy for the maritime industry. Recreational boats and yachts are named in it explicitly, and the consequences go beyond symbolism.
Market11 September 2026
The industry roadmap is not only electric
European Boating Industry has published a roadmap for the energy transition. The most striking item in it is a fuel that runs in most existing diesel engines.
Law11 September 2026
Denmark clears out its dead boats
Danish harbours may dispose of derelict leisure boats faster from this season. The owner has fourteen days to respond, otherwise the boat can be broken up.
Technology11 September 2026
A robot walks the pontoons
A Croatian marina has 1,400 berths inspected automatically. The thermal camera on the machine interests us more than the robot itself.
Events11 September 2026
boot 2027 is set: 23 to 31 January
Exhibitor registration is open, and for the Thursday of the show the German trade body plans its own Superyacht Day.
Boatyards11 September 2026
Yard in insolvency: what happens to the deposit
A French catamaran yard entered insolvency proceedings in early September. The case is small and the question behind it is large.
Boatyards11 September 2026
Ten, sixty and a hundred years
Three anniversaries in one issue, and taken together they describe German boatbuilding rather well.
Law11 September 2026
One boating licence for all of Europe, perhaps
The European Parliament has called on the Commission to regulate mutual recognition of national recreational boating licences. Around 48 million boaters in Europe would be affected.
Market11 September 2026
More boats sold, and it still takes longer
The second quarter figures for 2026 show a market that is moving. Just slowly: in Europe a boat sits on the market for 263 days on average before it sells.
Market11 September 2026
South America moves a little closer
Since 1 May 2026 the trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur states has been applied provisionally. For European boatbuilding that is a market opening after years in which markets rather closed.
Technology11 September 2026
Marine radio goes digital, channel 16 stays
The IMO sub committee for navigation and communications set the path to digital marine VHF in June 2026. For leisure boaters it mostly contains reassurance.
Technology11 September 2026
What the IMO is preparing for batteries
The IMO Maritime Safety Committee met in May 2026. The package agreed takes effect at the start of 2028 and directly concerns large yachts only. The direction applies to everyone.
Technology11 September 2026
Noise under water is becoming a subject
Everyone hears what a boat makes above water. What it does below water is only now coming into the view of the rule makers.
Law11 September 2026
On a houseboat, often only the builder checks
Houseboats are a growing segment, and the rules for them are thinner than most buyers assume. The decisive point is not in the brochure but in the question of who checked stability and buoyancy.
Law11 September 2026
A teak deck will soon need proof of origin
From 30 December 2026 the EU Deforestation Regulation applies. Anyone bringing teak or marine plywood into the EU will have to say on which plot of land the tree stood.
Law11 September 2026
Germany may drop its official boating licence
A draft regulation would abolish the official German recreational boating licence and replace it with certificates the boating associations issue themselves. Those same associations are against it.
Law11 September 2026
Brussels clarifies the customs status of pleasure craft
A new note from the Commission tells the customs and tax authorities of all 27 member states how to treat pleasure craft. It is not binding, but it sets out a clear starting point: a boat inside the Union is presumed to be Union goods.
Nothing in this section yet.
How often something new appears
We publish when something happens that concerns boat owners. That is not every day, and it is not meant to be.