It’s not just parking spaces that are becoming scarce in Dubai. Boat berths are also in increasingly short supply.
The emirate’s economic rebound is boosting boat ownership as more people take to the water at the weekend. But a shortage of berths and the cost of maintaining a boat is holding potential customers back.
“I bought a new boat last year and wanted a 11-metre berth in Dubai Marina Yacht Club, but they were completely full,” said Pooyan Farnam a sales director in Dubai. “So we got a berth for 14 metres and are paying Dh65,000 a year. I know many people who have moved their boats to Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain because it is too expensive in Dubai now.”
A wave of waterfront development under way across the emirates and wider region is set to improve the availability of berths for boat owners.
Across the GCC the number of operational marinas is expected to reach 85 by 2016, increasing the number of berths from 9,000 to 16,000.
But the current lack of spaces in Dubai is pushing boat owners to seek berths elsewhere in the UAE, with greater interest in Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain and Fujairah. Umm Al Quwain’s Marine Club charges Dh330 per foot each year
“The shortage is there. Dubai requires more spaces” said Abdulla Ali Al Noon, marina operations manager at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club, which hosted the fifth Dubai Pre-Owned Boat Show last weekend.
“There is room to create more mooring spaces and I think the government is aware of this so they are building more.”
The Dubai Marina Yacht Club has four main berthing facilities starting from Dh2,000 per metre annually for boats ranging from 8 to 13 metres. That increases to as much as Dh5,500 per metre for larger boats that range from 18.1 to 60 metres.
Projects like Dubai Maritime City, Dubai Canal and The World are expected to push up the number of spaces as well as demand for boats.
“When people are buying boats their main concern is the berthing,” said Nour Al Sayyed, architect and head of design and production at Al Marakeb, a Sharjah-based boat builder. “With more spaces opening up, not only will there be more vacancies, but it might push up boat sales.”
While in the past many owners used their boats for fishing, buyers are increasingly looking for larger vessels.
“In recent years there has been a slight change in trends,” said Ms Al Sayyed. “People want weekend boats, so they prefer to have a cabin to stay out at night, this is something that is new here and becoming very popular.”
The Dubai Pre-Owned Boat Show attracted more than 8,000 visitors this year. There were more than 90 boats ranging from Dh40,000 to Dh9 million.
“We have noticed that a lot of people are buying newer pre-owned boats from 2010-11. In the past few years it was a bit different, where customers were trying to find boats from 2006 and up,” said Mr Al Noon. “We’ve had a lot of boats come in from New York to local owners over here that have established boat-selling companies.”
Despite the costs, interest is still high. Data from the 2014 Global Order book, an annual report by the Boat International Group showed the UAE now features in ninth place on a list of the world’s top 10 superyacht-building nations.
“It is expensive everywhere to maintain a boat.” said Richard Clarkson, a product designer based in Dubai with boating experience in Canada, the Caribbean and the US. “It used to cost my family C$10,000 [Dh32,249] at least for fuel costs and docking fees and maintenance for just a few months. But here it is really worth it because you have the sun 12 months a year.”
thamid@thenatonal.ae
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Company name: Namara
Started: June 2022
Founder: Mohammed Alnamara
Based: Dubai
Sector: Microfinance
Current number of staff: 16
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Family offices
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Engine: 2-litre 4-cylinder and 3.6-litre 6-cylinder
Power: 220 and 280 horsepower
Torque: 350 and 360Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
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Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain
Funding: $4 million
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Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
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Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
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10 tips for entry-level job seekers
- Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
- Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
- Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
- For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
- Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
- Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
- Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
- Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
- Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
- Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.
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Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
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'Worse than a prison sentence'
Marie Byrne, a counsellor who volunteers at the UAE government's mental health crisis helpline, said the ordeal the crew had been through would take time to overcome.
“It was worse than a prison sentence, where at least someone can deal with a set amount of time incarcerated," she said.
“They were living in perpetual mystery as to how their futures would pan out, and what that would be.
“Because of coronavirus, the world is very different now to the one they left, that will also have an impact.
“It will not fully register until they are on dry land. Some have not seen their young children grow up while others will have to rebuild relationships.
“It will be a challenge mentally, and to find other work to support their families as they have been out of circulation for so long. Hopefully they will get the care they need when they get home.”
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
