Marine East aims to sign up more businesses

Paul Thomas
Friday, June 24, 2011
4:00 PM

Nearly 100 marine companies in the East of England are joining forces as a group to increase new business and job opportunities in their sector. The drive is throughout six East Anglian counties and is led by two Great Yarmouth companies and their heads.

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They aim to treble membership of their trade group, Marine East, and heighten government, industry and community awareness of the potential for growth.

Marine East chairman Alan Goodchild, of Goodchild Marine, said: “Few people realise the might of the marine industry here in the East and our aim is to show that position, then grow that awareness and try to build new jobs, training and business for the welfare and future of the region.”

Marine East was founded in 2008 and has made encouraging progress but now its board, headed by Mr Goodchild and Gary Williams, managing director of E-Tech of Great Yarmouth, is setting new targets.

Five years ago the British marine industry was worth about £3.5 billion in turnover and value added and employed 36,000 people, according to British Marine Federation statistics. The East of England value was more than £500 million of that, plus about a seventh of the jobs – and next in size after the south coast and its east and western sectors which are the largest producers.

The East of England’s traders include a firm fitting out the electrics on superyachts, a shipyard, holiday hire fleets, from boat-builders (including one refurbishing lifeboats), numerous chandleries, manufacturers of marine gear, marine architects and charter boat skippers.

“Very few people understand and appreciate this – and the importance of making the most of it,” say Goodchild and Williams, plus the 10-strong board of Marine East.

The first step in the campaign to build Marine East’s voice is to sign up many more businesses as members and letters are about to go out to firms in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex; followed by others in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.

Alan Goodchild explains: “We are a regional non-profit organisation run by members of the industry who work towards seeking sustainable growth and benefits for marine-sector companies. We were created by a group of dedicated individuals who volunteered their time to represent companies from across the leisure and commercial marine sectors. Over the years the organisation has grown and developed, now with over 90 members and about to seek many more.”

He says ME has five objectives including:

1 Developing skills, training, education and lifelong learning opportunities.

2 Creating networking opportunities for the development of supply chain clusters.

3 Raising awareness of issues that are affecting the marine sector.

4 Accessing best practice to facilitate business growth.

5 The facility to offer trade, marketing and business support.

Mt Goodchild said: “We are now looking to increase our membership numbers, initially focusing more on Essex, Suffolk and the North Norfolk coast. Many of our current members are situated in East Norfolk surrounding our base in Great Yarmouth.

“We already work with a wide range of individuals and companies from the industry including marinas, private boatyards, luxury yacht builders and businesses throughout the Norfolk Broads. We feel this shows our effective links with the leisure sector.”

He added: “However, the importance of commercial marine trade in the region has not been overlooked; the majority of our members comprise of industrial boat-builders and repairers, suppliers, marine consultants, recruitment agencies and training services, such as Lowestoft College, renowned for its teaching facilities in the maritime sector.

“We will continue to develop collaboration with the BMF [the British Marine Federation] for the benefit of the industry and this region.”

Marine East membership offers a wide selection of benefits to members who join. There are three levels: Associate, which is free of charge; Full Paid, which has a charge dependent on company turnover; and Patron, where firms or individuals can show they are fully supportive in the development and growth of the East of England marine sector.

Benefits include a regular e-newsletter containing all the latest marine news, updates on new members joining, helping to create supply chain links, inclusion of member company listings in the ME online membership directory and invitations to Marine East business networking events. There are also press releases, promotional and branding opportunities, reduced ticket rates and support and advice on regional training developments.

■ More information: www.marine-east.org or call membership executive Martin Lippiat on 01493 888288.