Simpson Marine a Market Leader in Asia in 2020
Simpson Marine, Asia’s leading yacht sales and services company, reports a very busy year in 2020 with sales of over 200 million USD and 112 new and pre-owned yachts sold in 2020. Founded in 1984 by Mike Simpson, over the years Simpson Marine has gone from strength to strength, cementing its position as market leader in Asia. Despite 2020 being a turbulent and challenging year for many businesses, boating became a safe haven to turn to when people’s usually busy lives and diverse leisure agendas have been suspended and altered. With international travel seriously restricted or unavailable in some parts of the world, including Asia, enjoying the local area by boat quickly grew in popularity.
Simpson Marine’s mission has always been to bring people closer to the ocean and let them enjoy the freedom of life at sea. With this in mind, Simpson Marine’s team has been working hard across its entire network of 11 regional offices to help customers’ yachting dreams come true. As a result, the team has welcomed impressive numbers of first-time boat owners into the yachting fold.
Asia’s yachting centre Hong Kong has proven a particularly buoyant market with the marinas remaining open with minimal restrictions on yachting throughout the year. Already the busiest and most mature Asian yachting market, Hong Kong has registered even greater growth than usual, compensating for other South-East Asian countries that have been more affected by the pandemic due to tight cross-border travel restrictions in place for most of the year.
Representing the world’s leading yacht brands, Simpson Marine has seen substantial growth in all business streams including new yacht sales, brokerage, yacht charter and services. Sanlorenzo, Italy's leading shipyard was particularly successful in 2020 with 17 yachts over 24 metres sold in 2020 including a second new build 500EXP sold just before the end of the year. 12 yachts are already scheduled for delivery in early 2021 including new models of the 44Alloy, Sanlorenzo SX112, Sanlorenzo SL102 Asymmetric, the SL96Asymmetric, the SD96, the SX88 and many more. In 2020 the Asian market accounted for 23.5% of Sanlorenzo’s total global sales demonstrating the strong growth of the Asian market since Simpson Marine took over the representation of the brand in May 2015.
Bluegame, a new brand under the Sanlorenzo group, attracted a lot of interest in Hong Kong and elswhere in Asia, following the arrival of the first BGX70 into Hong Kong in November. The innovative Bluegame yachts, ranging between 40 - 70 feet, complement the highly successful SX range of the parent company, Sanlorenzo. The first BG62 is also scheduled to arrive in March 2021 and is eagerly anticipated in the Hong Kong market.
The Beneteau Group Brands with Beneteau and Lagoon on offer from Simpson Marine, have been equally successful with double digit sales for each brand and significant growth of the Beneteau Outboard ranges including the Antares and Flyer with flagships Antares 11 and Flyer10 due to arrive in Hong Kong in early 2021. On the sailing side, Simpson Marine has delivered the new models from the historic Oceanis range including an all-new Oceanis Yacht 54 and Oceanis 51.1, 40.1, 38.1 and 35.1 models and contracted two new First Yachts 53, confirming the appeal of the new cruiser racer relaunch from Beneteau.
Another notable achievement was the launch of the Simpson Marine Sailing School in Thailand with eight boats from the new First line including five First14s, two First 18s and a First 27 set to arrive in Pattaya in Spring 2021 and more bigger yachts scheduled to join the fleet later in the year.
Lagoon continues to enjoy an excellent reputation as the world's number one catamaran brand with many Lagoons sold in 2020 including new models (LG40, LG 42, LG46, LG50) delivered in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. There are exciting times ahead for Lagoon with the new Lagoon SIXTY7 motoryacht arriving in early Spring 2021 to Hong Kong with her Asia premiere to follow.
British motoryacht builder Fairline Yachts is a recent addition to the Simpson Marine portfolio and has equally attracted a lot of interest in Asia. 2020 saw the new Fairline Squadron 50 arrive in Thailand and in Hong Kong, with its launch campaign “Fairline x The Riviera of the Orient” co-hosted by Simpson Marine and The Peninsula Hong Kong. More Fairline yachts are due to arrive in 2021 including the new squadron 53 Squadron 53 and the flagship Squadron 68.
Aquila Power Catamarans has enjoyed a very busy year globally, and Asia has been no different. First units of the Aquila 44's and Aquila 36's have been delivered in Hong Kong making their debut in North Asia. In addition, the first Asia unit of the new Aquila 54 has been launched with the first 20 units sold globally before her official release in Spring 2021. The new Aquila 54, the flagship Aquila 70 and a new version of the Aquila 32 will further boost interest in this popular brand that is redefining the design of power catamarans in terms of speed, livability, ergonomics and fuel consumption.
Simpson Yacht Charter has registered unprecedented growth for day and overnight charters in Hong Kong with 600 charter days booked in the city alone in 2020 (until the new restrictive policies came to life in early December 2020) and numerous short term charters (half-day, day, weekend, long-weekend) in Thailand including Phuket and the Pattaya region, accounting together for a total of over 1000 charter days sold throughout Asia in 2020. Likewise, in Singapore, Malaysia and China, the countries with restrictive cross-border travel policies, local charters are now more in demand.
Simpson Yacht Care and Yacht Management divisions have welcomed several new yachts into the fleet with the Hong Kong division alone[ welcoming five new Sanlorenzo yachts and other motoryachts in 2020. Simpson’s Yacht Care division, which cares for yachts on behalf of their owners in Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore has never been busier with another 10 yachts expected to be signed by Spring 2021.
As we look to 2021, global business trends are still unpredictable due to the volatile state of the world, and so Simpson Marine remains conservative on expectations for future market behaviour. However, the company is set to start the new year with a solid order book and a well-appointed delivery schedule for the year to come.