Marina Dock Age, July/August 2001

Consider the Concept:
An International Federation of Marina Organizations
by Ron Stone

The concept of an international federation of marina organizations is on the agenda for the spring 2001 meeting of the Boating Facilities Committee of the International Council of Marine Industry Associations (ICOMIA).

Since 1991, ICOMIA’s Boating Facilities Committee has functioned as the technical service arm of recreational boat and associated equipment manufacturers in all matters pertaining to boating facilities development, operation, and maintenance. Popularly known as the IBFC, the committee is a mix of representatives from national marine manufacturer’s associations, national and regional marina and yacht harbor organizations, and government representatives, for the promotion of nautical tourism and navigation safety in 15 countries around the world.  

Considering that the IBFC meets only a few times a year, it is remarkable that it has accomplished so much. The committee organizes triennial international marina education conferences; maintains a library of authoritative references on financing, designing, building, improving, maintaining, and operating marinas; conducts marina market and regulation surveys; publishes an international directory of marina architects, engineers and consultants; and networks with other organizations in the field. One of the IBFC’s primary goals, however, is organizing marina interests worldwide.

In the IBFC’s formative years, national and regional associations of marinas and yacht harbors were already in place in certain developed boating market countries such as Holland, Great Britain, Italy, and the United States. These countries have been the backbone of the IBFC.

These early associations had their genesis either in a collective response to regulatory issues or in a recognition that marina operators can do more good for themselves and the boating industry by putting their heads together on market research, recommended marketing strategies, and frugal, environmentally-responsible, profit-making techniques for operating and maintaining their facilities.

In more recent years, the IBFC has encouraged marina interests in developing, boating-market countries in the Caribbean, Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia to organize as well.

Today, there is an emerging body of opinion within the IBFC that favors renaming the Boating Facilities Committee the International Federation of Marina Organizations. Certainly, the change would more clearly identify the constituency. Continue »