Proposed 54.5 mpg CAFÉ could cost industry jobs and sales

A proposed U.S. rule which would require automakers to double their vehicles average fuel economy to 54.5 mpg by 2025 may cost consumers $157 billion in additional vehicle costs but could cost the boating industry much more by killing the ability for Americans to pull their boats.

The proposed rule requires annual fuel economy increases of 5 percent for cars. Light trucks, including pickups and SUVs, must meet a 3.5-percent increase in average mpg for the first five years before rising to 5 percent.

“MRAA has long opposed increases to auto industry CAFÉ standards and will vigorously oppose this latest attempt,” says Matt Gruhn, MRAA President. “Besides being concerned what the new CAFÉ standards would do to recreational boating, we believe the rule was rushed and may jeopardize safety by reducing the weight and size of vehicles on the road.”

To reach a federal mandated doubling of the CAFÉ standard, automakers will work to downsize weight, horsepower, and torque of vehicle, potentially greatly inhibiting ability to tow recreational boats. There is expected to be increased emphasis on promoting all-electric vehicles and hybrids.

Rep. Pingree Introduces Working Waterfronts Bill

Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) introduced H.R. 3109, the Keep America’s Waterfronts Working Act of 2012, along with 17 original co-sponsors late in 2011. The bill is very similar to one introduced by Rep. Pingree two years ago, which had the support of several national and state marine trades associations, including MRAA. MRAA has joined a newly formed coalition organized to support the bill.

H.R. 3109 recognizes the importance of keeping water-dependent commercial activities in many coastal communities and specifically identified commercial fishing, recreational fishing, tourism, aquaculture, boat building, transportation, and “other” businesses that support these activities. For example, boat yards that support any of these activities would be included under the special protections of the bill. It further says these activities are dependent on coastal access in the form of docks, wharfs, lifts, wet and dry storage in marinas, boat ramps, boat hauling, repair, and construction facilities.

Many of these activities are threatened due to loss of access and the pressures of conversion to privately owned commercial and residential activities.

The bill sets up a grant program to establish a working waterfronts plan in coastal states. The bill authorizes $25 million in 2012, $50 million in 2013, and $75 million in 2014 and 2015. In addition, funds from the program could be used by a state to purchase working waterfronts or to acquire an interest in a working waterfront. The state may also allow a non-government organization to manage the properties. However, the bill requires the property be open to the public. Private clubs would not qualify for usage of the funds.

A working waterfront is defined as real property including support structures over water and other facilities that provide access to coastal areas and to people engaged in commercial waterfront activities.

The issue of working waterfronts has been one of considerable concern to boating and fishing businesses and trade associations. With the escalating property values on the waterfronts in most communities and the increasing pressures to develop waterfronts for residential use, many small marine businesses are squeezed from declining revenues and rising taxes. The commercial, cultural, and historical values of the working waterfronts are adversely impacted by private residential development with devastating consequences for any coastal communities.

NOAA Sets Catch Limits on All Managed Species

In an unprecedented effort to sustain commercial and recreational fishing in the next several decades, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration set the world’s first catch limits for every species of marine animal it manages from Alaska Polluck to Caribbean conch making an important shift in public policy that could easily impact recreational fishing and boating. There are approximately 528 species of marine animals being managed by the federal government.

Unlike most recent public policy debates divided along party lines in Congress, this decision was originally forged by a Republican president and finished with the backing of a Democratic president. Five years ago when President George Bush signed the re-authorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, which dates to the mid-1870s and governs all fishing in our country, language was inserted in the bill requiring each fishery to have animal catch limits in place by the end of the 2011 to end “overfishing.”

To date NOAA has set catch limits on 40 of the 46 fishery management plans and expects the remaining six plans to have catch limits by the beginning of the 2013 fishing season beginning on May 1. Some fish like Mahi-Mahi and Wahoo, a game fish in the southeast Atlantic, will have catch limits for the first time.

Until recently, regional management councils representing a mix of local interests and anglers wrote the rules of fish stocks and regularly used scientific advice to establish fish management plans. Critics of the NOAA decision, like MRAA, argue the new plan lacks the scientific data to justify the restrictions and seeks to undo them. Efforts are underway led by Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Rep. Water B. Jones (R-N.C.) to relax some of the new catch limits.

Anglers are increasingly concerned that fishing will be curtailed without sufficient justification due to the pressure exerted by environmental groups and even a few fishing groups.

To date controls over recreational fishing are spotty. NOAA has created an expanded dockside survey and will use new methods to analyze the results. After an annual catch limit is set for a recreational fishery, NOAA managers can adopt several measures, such as limiting the season or the size of fish that can be taken.

“Boating and fishing groups face a long battle to relax these new catch limits,” says Matt Gruhn, MRAA President. “MRAA is committed to the support of recreational fishing and recognizes the importance of a strong fishing industry for a strong boating industry. We will work hard to relax these new rules.”

Final Longshore Rule Out

In 2009, after a long fought battle by a coalition of recreational boating trade groups, the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act was successfully amended by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to exclude certain additional recreational vessel yard workers from the federal law’s definition of “employee” as it related to repair and dismantling of recreational vessels. For the past couple of years, the Department of Labor has been writing the federal regulation to the law, which is of great interest to businesses that employ workers who build, repair, or dismantle recreational vessels. The boating industry was very concerned that the Longshore issue would require duplication of insurance coverage increasing the overhead costs and making repairs in certain areas uncompetitive to boat yards in nearby countries.

On December 30, 2011, the Department of Labor published its final rule to implement the law. The final rule includes nearly all the changes requested by the coalition of recreational boating groups working on the issue. The preamble provides guidance that will directly result in many boat manufacturers and repair facilities to be able to revisit whether their operations need a Longshore rider on their Workers’ Compensation policy.

The following are highlights of the Department of Labor final rule.

  1. Clear guidance is provided that if a boat manufacturer or repair facility is landlocked (not adjacent to navigable body of water), there is no need for LHWCA coverage.
  2. For manufacturing facilities adjacent to a navigable water, the exemption for the under 65 foot exemption continues to apply for boats intended for the recreational market.
  3. Work on vessels owned by police, government, and municipalities are excluded. This exemption frees up facilities to do work on these vessels without triggering the LHWCA coverage.
  4. The 65-foot exemption limitation is lifted for facilities that repair recreational vessels adjacent to or on navigable waters. However, these facilities will have to look at the current use of the vessel to apply the exemption.

One of the keys to the re-write of the rule, is the definition of “recreational vessel.” The rule incorporated the Coast Guard’s standards for categorizing vessels. The final rule also contains two key provisions designed to make the definition easier to apply. The final rule provides that manufacturers and builders may determine whether a vessel is recreational by the nature of the vessel’s design rather that the end use of the vessel, and rule includes within the definition of recreational vessels non-military vessels that are recreational by design and owned or chartered by federal, state, or municipal governments.

A Summit you should know about

I spent the better part of last week in San Diego at the International Boating & Water Safety Summit. I’m disappointed to tell you that, prior to joining the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, that I knew nothing about this event.

But YOU should know about it. There are many outstanding groups in this industry, many of them that are not widely known, that are working diligently to ensure the safety and well-being of your customers. The topics of the sessions at the IBWSS aren’t necessarily sexy, but they underscore the importance of keeping our waterways safe.

Those topics range from life jacket use to boater education to the use of EPIRBS on offshore boats, and the event attracts the likes of the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Transportation Safety Board, and professionals and volunteers who advocate for recreational boating safety in both Canada and the United States, including members of the U.S. and Canadian Safe Boating Councils. In all, there were nearly 450 people who attended, and the many companies and organizations represented there believe wholeheartedly that investing in the safety of our consumers ensures the long-term success of our businesses.

U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Christopher Colvin, who is the Pacific Area Deputy Commander (which in effect makes him in charge of half the world as far as U.S. Coast Guard responsibilities go) said it best in his opening remarks at the conference: “One of the great things about this Summit is the synergy of effort. Together, you are helping save lives.”

The Coast Guard plays a major role at this event (which is officially co-produced by the National Safe Boating Council and the National Water Safety Congress), and the attendees rally around the Coast Guard’s Strategic Plan, a plan to help reduce the number of fatalities and injuries on the water through 11 specific objectives. The three-year plan is an update of a five-year plan that wrapped up in 2011, and is just kicking off now, and you can read more about the Strategic Plan here. In 2010, boating-related deaths were at an all-time low, at 672 deaths. Preliminary numbers show that in 2011, the number of boating-related deaths rose to more than 700, and in 2012, boating-related deaths, according to Jeff Hoedt, Chief of the Boating Safety Division of the U.S. Coast Guard, are on pace to exceed the 800 mark. So you can imagine the urgency to begin implementing the Strategic Plan.

What do we do, as retailers, to get involved with the effort to reduce accidents on the water? It’s commonly believed that mandatory life jacket use would inhibit boat sales, but that reality is right around the corner if we don’t make progress on reducing accidents (perhaps even if we do). It makes sense to me that increasing our focus on boater education on the front lines of boat sales would be the way to go. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on these topics.

STO: MRAA debuts nationwide insurance program

The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas announced that the MRAA Rewards Insurance Program, available through Norman-Spencer Marine Insurance Services to MRAA members, was rolled out nationwide March 1.

The MRAA Rewards coverage, which is part of the agency’s AquaPac program, offers consumers broad, affordable insurance coverage that accommodates the full spectrum of boats … read more.

MRAA announces AquaPac Boat/Yacht insurance available nationwide


BOCA GRANDE, Fla. – The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas announced today that the MRAA Rewards Insurance Program, available through Norman-Spencer Marine Insurance Services and only to MRAA members, was rolled out nationwide on March 1.

The MRAA Rewards coverage, which is part of Norman-Spencer’s AquaPac program, offers consumers broad, affordable insurance coverage that accommodates the full spectrum of boats, from pesonal watercraft to large sail and power yachts. Each AquaPac policy is written to meet the individual boater’s needs and exceeds programs available from most standard and specialty marine insurance providers.

“We’ve been working with Norman-Spencer and the AquaPac team to design and implement this product, and we’re excited to see it coming to market nationwide,” says Matt Gruhn, President of MRAA. “Not only will this program create greater opportunities for consumers who cover their boats with the AquaPac product, but it also offers MRAA members a fabulous opportunity to expand their offerings and drive additional business to their dealerships.”

As the endorsed consumer insurance product of the MRAA, AquaPac offers consumers preferred repair deductibles — reduced by half when repairs are made at a current MRAA member facility. The program’s total loss replacement protection gives the MRAA member the first opportunity to provide the replacement; there is no depreciation on most parts up to 10 years old, which makes the estimates and claims process seamless; and repairs made by an MRAA member shop are guaranteed, with no deductible, for as long as the customer owns the boat and carries the AquaPac policy.

“We’re building on the tremendous success AquaPac has had over the last 30 years in the West coast market,” says Paul Sexton, National Boat/Yacht Director for Norman-Spencer’s Marine Insurance Services division. “This innovative program, paired with very high service standards has always been highly regarded by boaters, dealers, marine industry groups and the general insurance industry. We’re excited to roll this out coast-to-coast and to also provide vast product, policy and pricing upgrades in the process.”

To find out more about the AquaPac program, please visit www.mraa.com/?page=MRAA_BoatInsurance or contact Mike Garner at Norman-Spencer at 800-252-9597, exts. 1345.


About Marine Retailers Association of the Americas
Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2012, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas is the only North American association dedicated to furthering the interests of boat and engine dealers and other marine-related retailers throughout North America. Under the umbrella of MRAA Rewards, the MRAA offers a host of cost-saving, revenue-generating, business-improvement, and professional-development benefits exclusively for its members. For more information, visit www.MRAA.com.

Industry Partnerships for ABC 2012 Support Louder Voice on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Last month, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas was the first group to announce it would co-host the American Boating Congress with the National Marine Manufacturers Association, and today seven additional leading industry groups were announced as co-hosts of ABC, joining the rallying-cry to strengthen the industry’s collective advocacy impact following 2011’s industry Growth Summit. ABC will be held in Washington, D.C., on April 24-25, 2012.
 
Committed co-hosts to-date include the National Marine Manufacturers Association, the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, the Center for Coastal Conservation, the South Carolina Marine Association, the National Marine Distributors Association, the Boy Scouts/Sea Scouts, the Boating Trades Association of Metropolitan Houston, the U.S. Superyacht Association and the Association of Marina Industries. 

As co-hosts, these organizations have committed themselves to growing the industry through partnership on public policy advocacy. Assembling from a wide variety of industry segments, these groups provide ongoing counsel and insight into what issues are of the most pressing interest to stakeholders and advocates, ensuring that ABC’s agenda will be packed with timely and relevant policy matters. These co-hosts will be attending ABC with representatives from their respective organizations, contributing to a dynamic dialogue during the event.
 
ABC is the premier legislative conference for the recreational boating industry. The 2012 agenda includes a variety of dynamic speakers, invited to discuss an array of urgent policy and legislative issues affecting the recreational boating industry. Policymakers, advocates and stakeholders will be on hand to respond to industry specific issues.

BI: MRAA says new website offers new way of doing business

The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas today introduced an upgraded website that it says offers “an entirely new way of conducting business.”

“To put it simply, this new website provides us the platform to reinvent the way we do business,” Matt Gruhn, president of the MRAA, said in a statement. “It may seem a little overblown to make so much of what appears to simply be a new website, but this is much, much more than a simple redesign, or a couple new features. This allows us to interact with our members in ways we’ve never explored, and it provides much greater value to both our retailer and supplier membership experiences.” Read more...