The waterways surrounding Ocean City are full of people enjoying the open water throughout the summer from pontoon boats and Jet Skis to the sports and commercial fishermen.
NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Available boat slip and storage opportunities are next to non-existent along the New Hanover County coastline. The shortage has prompted…
Boat sale surge sails into 2021
2021 sees surge in boat sales By Elly Cosgrove | May 9, 2021 at 9:19 PM EDT - Updated May 10 at 5:27 PM
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Boat sales surged across the country in 2020 as the pandemic drove people to spend more time outdoors, and that trend seems to have sailed straight into 2021.
“It has not slowed at all we,” said Emmet Stovall, owner of Marine Warehouse Center. “Even December, January, February, our slow months, we were still as busy as we were late summer and early fall.”
Sales of boats and marine products increased almost 10% in 2020 from the prior year, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association. That jump marked a 13-year-high.
Demand Remains High
February registrations continued to soar. NMMA says builders âare shipping approximately
20,000 new boats monthly and operating at 13 percent above normal levelsâ
Author:
Apr 26, 2021
Preliminary data from just over half of the U.S. boat market showed what was largely expected: February’s registration numbers continued to ascend, with little sign of plateauing, according to Statistical Surveys, a Michigan firm that tracks new-boat registrations.
With 29 states reporting approximately 56 percent of the U.S. boating market registrations in February were up 16 percent in the main powerboat categories and 19 percent on a year-over-year basis in those segments. “What we’re seeing is there’s still high demand,” says Statistical Surveys sales director Ryan Kloppe. “As long as [manufacturers] can continue to build boats, there’s people waiting to buy them.”