Plain sailing

When was d’Albora Marine boat sales established, and where are they located?

The business was started five years ago. It was originally located at Rushcutters Bay, Sydney, and since then has progressively expanded to ten d’Albora Marina network locations.

In Queensland, we have Horizon Shores Gold Coast–Brisbane and Port of Airlie, Airlie Beach. In New South Wales, we’re at Rushcutters Bay, The Spit Mosman, Cabarita Point and Akuna Bay Pittwater in Sydney, and Nelsons Bay, Port Stephens.

And, in Victoria, we have Victoria HarbourDocklands and Pier 35 Port Melbourne in Melbourne as well as Martha Cove Mornington Peninsula.

How many team members are in the group?

The d’Albora group employs 100 staff across the network. The d’Albora Marine sales team comprises seven executive brokers located along the east coast, who are supported by staff in the service, marketing, finance and administration areas.

What is the synergy between boat sales and the marina and boat yard businesses?

We have a fully integrated business model. This means our customers can benefit directly from our operating model at d’Albora Marinas, providing wet and dry berthing, boat yard facilities, vessel repairs and maintenance, marked-down fuel and hospitality. We aim to be a one-stop-shop delivering premium lifestyle choices.

Which brands do you represent in boat sales?

We exclusively represent Azimut Yachts in Australia. Azimut is a leading producer of luxury powerboats and motor yachts between 40 feet and 40 metres.

We also exclusively represent two leading US brands: Monterey Boats, which builds family sport boats between 20 and 40 feet, and the renowned Bertram Yachts that builds pedigree luxury fishing boats between 28 and 61 feet.

Monterey and Bertram are our newer brands, which are both well-known in Australia. Monterey is a family-owned business that has been operating for over 30 years. They’re known for building high-quality, high-value bowriders and sport cruisers.

The Bertram brand is a household name and famous worldwide for the deep-V hull that provides superior oceangoing capabilities. Bertram targets luxury fishing and recreational usage, building centre consoles, dual consoles plus the retro classic Moppie 35-foot flybridge, Express 50 and the flagship 61 flybridge convertible boats.

In terms of marina developments and demand, how is the boating boom impacting your business?

All our marinas are hospitality and service-focused, which means there is the opportunity to expand our offerings to better serve our long-term, loyal customers by providing relatively high occupancy.

During the pandemic and up until now, we’ve experienced increased enquiries and are providing higher berth occupancy overall.

Do you have expansion plans?

As Australia’s largest premium marina and hospitality network, we’re always looking for growth opportunities to expand and improve our facilities and services.

With ten prime marina locations across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, our primary focus is our current and growing member base. Part of this is adding a fifth full-service boat yard facility to The Spit, Mosman.

This nearly completed development includes a 50-tonne travelift that will be instrumental in offering premium boat yard facilities and services to our Sydney Harbour and beyond customer base. It’s scheduled to open for mid-2022.

What are your plans for the upcoming Sydney International Boat Show (SIBS)?

At SIBS, we’ll display the d’Albora network along with more Azimut boats and larger Monterey boats, plus there will be the Australian premiere of the first Bertram Centre Console, which will be very exciting.

Any other new developments coming in 2022–23?

The fifth full-service boat yard facility at The Spit, Mosman, to service Sydney Harbour and surrounding waterways represents an AU$6-million expansion. At Akuna Bay, we’ll replace B and C Arms, which is an AU$2-million project.

The boat yard at Martha Cove will undergo an AU$10-million expansion of Stage 2, comprising storage for 250 additional vessels in the dry stack, 4,000 square metres of additional hardstand and 1,800 square metres of marine enterprise commercial space. This is on track for completion in summer 2022.

At Horizon Shores on the Gold Coast, we’ve added 24/7 fuel facilities and further north, at the Port of Airlie, we’ve started construction of new G Arm and B Arm berths, a project worth AU$3 million.

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