A London company is analyzing how smaller and lightweight composites will boost the recreational boat industry.
The emerging trends in the global marine composites market will be discussed in Frost & Sullivan’s web conference, which will take place at 3 p.m. British time on Thursday.
Chemicals, Materials & Food Industry analyst Sandeepan Mondal will lead a teleconference that will scrutinize the demand scenario in marine composites globally and how different regions are performing in terms of adopting marine composites.
The recreational boat market is struggling to recover from the financial crisis, which resulted in an annual decline of more than 25 percent in market value and forced many small boatbuilders to exit.
“In the future it is unlikely that such a situation will repeat itself, but market recovery will be slower than usual because of consumer caution, lower purchasing power, decreasing margins and a negative economic outlook,” Mondal said in a statement.
The North American marine composites market will recover faster than Europe because of a good rebound in recreational boat demand, the statement read.
“Growing confidence in the benefits of composites and latest technological advances have led many Tier-I suppliers and OEMs to incorporate higher amounts of GFRPs and CFRPs in marine primary and secondary structures. However, given the less than expected demand over the last 3 to 4 years, the demand for marine composites is expected to pick up substantially only after 2014, when new-boat production increases considerably,” Mondal said.
Creating lightweight boats has become imperative, given the need for lower operating costs and higher fuel efficiency. Therefore, recreational boatbuilders must focus their efforts on “lightweighting” — increasing the incorporation of composites and foam core materials. These materials will help offset some of the weight of the recreational marine crafts and assist OEMs in enhancing fuel efficiency, reducing GHG emissions and decreasing overall material costs during the lifetime of the vessel.
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