MILAN — A major boon for the Italian economy, the nautical sector will not go unscathed amid U.S. President Donald Trump‘s evolving trade policy.
“Tariffs represent one of the main sources of uncertainty affecting sales performance and margins expectations for 2025,” said Deloitte Italy private leader Ernesto Lanzillo on Wednesday at a Genoa Boat Show press conference at the Milan Bourse.
Tariffs come at a critical time in which the strength of the euro against major currencies like the Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar is also negatively impacting Italy’s exports abroad. The euro hit a three-year high against the U.S. dollar in April.
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Similarly to the fashion and design sectors, industry leaders here said that it’s crucial for the yachting sector to diversify its reach, explore new markets and strengthen their presence at international trade fairs.
“It is also true, however, that we need to see what happens with tariffs, because today, at least from our perspective, tariffs are a black box. Some say they have no impact, while others argue they could become a very significant driver. However, what we want to emphasize is that growth in the coming years, in our opinion, will mainly revolve around certain key factors,” said Tommaso Nastasi, senior partner at Deloitte.
The leading Italian operators, interviewed by Deloitte about their final results for 2024 and their forecasts for the next three years, estimate more moderate growth in 2024 compared to the previous year, followed by a slowdown in 2025. They see a recovery in 2026 and 2027, driven by the appetite for Italian yachts and superyachts.
“Among the critical factors for the future, the Italian operators interviewed highlighted tariff uncertainty, which is impacting demand and margins, the revision of price lists, the consequences of dealer ‘destocking’ initiated during the 2024/2025 season,” according to the report titled “The State of the Art of the Global Yachting Market” presented by Deloitte and Confindustria Nautica.
Italy is home to go-to shipbuilders like Fincantieri, Azimut|Benetti, Sanlorenzo and Ferretti Yachts. Italy is the biggest superyachts maker in the world, by sales. Azimut|Benetti for example is a leader in the Americas, in the U.S. in particular, and continues to serve as a major driver for the shipyard despite macro challenges in the area. “The Americas is a springboard for the Shipyard to achieve ambitious goals, despite the fact that it is currently the most challenging area because of the new import tariffs,” the company said.
The European Union and the U.S. reached a trade deal in July, fixing tariffs on EU exports at 15 percent for most categories.
On a worldwide level, market for new yachts grew 7.3 percent year-on-year in 2023, driven by sustained post-pandemic demand, reaching almost 35 billion euros, the report said.
The global boating market historically outperformed global GDP growth, aligning its performance to the growing wealth of ultra-high-net-worth individuals and the global stock market’s gains. Between 2020 and 2023, the global GDP rose 2.3 percent. The capital annual growth rate of the global yacht sector was 9.7 percent between 2020 and 2023. Eyes will turn to the market pointers from the Genoa yacht show which will unfold Sept. 18 to 23.