Exhibitors at Dubai International Boat Show 2005 report million dollar deals

The Dubai International Boat Show 2005, which concluded Saturday at the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC), Mina Seyahi, was a huge success, with boats, yachts, marine leisure equipment, supplies and services being sold during the five day event, resulting in transactions amounting to more than 100 million dollars.

The show attracted 20,414 trade visitors and general public. In all, 440 exhibitors from 30 countries were present at the event, which had 85 berths catering to boats ranging from 39ft to over 200ft. 

Commenting on the success of the show, Helal Saeed Khalfan Al Marri, Director General, Dubai World Trade Centre said, “This has been another successful boat show for us. In fact, this year has seen new benchmarks in exhibitor numbers, visitor turnout and business deals. With this, we believe that the Dubai International Boat Show has further secured its position as the definitive event of its kind in the Middle East, Asia and Northern Africa regions.”

Reactions from leading regional and international exhibitors at the show echoed positive sentiments on the overall outcome of the exhibition, with most exhibitors finding the show an ideal platform to target key decision makers and marine enthusiasts.

“This was our best show ever as we signed five major deals for our Sunseeker range of yachts. We sold an 82 foot Sunseeker for AED 20 million to a UAE national, followed by four other contracts for boats between 37 and 60 feet. The total value of contracts on the first two days was more than US$ 10 million. Over the years, the show has evolved into the most important forum for the regional boating industry,” remarked Ali Al Jafla, Managing Director, Sunseeker Middle East.

GC Marine, one of the main exhibitors at the show clinched significant deals for their range of boats. Hicham M Hamza, Manager, GC Marine Yachts and Boats said, “The response we received at the Dubai International Boat Show has far exceeded expectations. We sold five ‘Durra 38’ 38 foot luxury boats to France, six 40 foot ‘Sea Buses’ to a company in Dubai, on behalf of the government of Iran, one 53 foot ‘Durra 53’ to a UAE national, while two 53 foot ‘Sea Bus 53’ were bought by Malta. Besides this, we also sold five ‘Sooly’ fishing boats to a buyer from the UAE, 31 ‘Seabreeze 4’ to Azerbaijan and two more Seabreeze 4’s to France. The total value of our deals amounted to more than US$ 5 million, making this a very successful exhibition for us.”

Grandweld, the largest ship building company in Jadaf, received an order for building two new tugs for A.A. Turki Corp and Trading and Contracting, Saudi Arabia. The 4800 BHP modern design tugs will be fitted with state-of-the-art equipments for harbour operations, Class-1 fire fighting and anti pollution system for the Ports of Saudi Arabia. “The contract value is over US$ 10 Million and the tugs will be delivered in May 2006. We have increased our shipbuilding capacity and now we can accommodate 10 vessels in our new building, every year,” explained Jamal Abki, General Manager, Grandweld.

The next edition of the Dubai International Boat Show will be held from March 13 and 17, 2006. 

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