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https://ukti.blog.gov.uk/2013/02/01/beautiful-british-boats-at-boot/

Beautiful British boats at Boot

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Germany, GREAT campaign, Marine
Sunseeker Predator 60. Image courtesy of Sunseeker
The beautifully crafted Sunseeker Predator 60. Image courtesy of Sunseeker

If you weren't sure in which country the €8m, 28 metre luxury yacht, was engineered, designed and manufactured, the Union Flag napkins on the wet bar on the fore-deck would have given it away.

But actually to get to the yacht, you would have had to walk past a whisky bar, a gin bar and an enormous Range Rover - so you really should have realised by then that a corner of the Duesseldorf Boat Show was turning British.

Simply known as Boot, Europe's largest marine trade fair gave British exporters another chance to be proud.

With 60 British companies attending as exhibitors, and many others as visitors, the whole week was a chance to show the strength of the UK marine sector.

We hosted two events early in the week to help UK companies reach German or international potential customers.

Whether it was manufacturers of luxury boats or supply chain companies making waste compactors or any number of other products for those using these luxury boats, we were pushing their exports. And they were being well received.

Like our automotive sector, reports of its demise in the UK are greatly exaggerated by those who think we stopped producing anything other than financial services 20 years ago.

The marine sector is worth nearly £2bn to the UK economy and employs 350k - so not crawling on our gums (as the Germans would say) just yet.

If ever you needed proof that we are still successful in this sector, it wouldn't have taken long on the Sunseeker Stand, particularly at their GREAT Britain reception, to see why.

Beautifully crafted vessels, immaculate attention to detail, technically cutting edge - all the pre-requisites when asking people to part with seven figure sums.

Thousands are employed in Poole, Dorset producing these for use across the globe - and, even occasionally, by James Bond.

Exports in different sectors are achieved in different ways.

In the luxury sector, a reception for well-heeled Duesseldorfers on the Sunseeker stand featuring the new Fourth Generation Range Rover, Glenmorangie, premium gins and our national anthem sung from the side of a 28 metre yacht felt just about right.

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