LEEUWARDEN — Boat Holland (March 6-10) is a mid-sized, indoor boat show that always kicks off a new Dutch boating season. This year, 250 + exhibitors set up shop in an events complex for a show keen to reflect the industry trends rocking the recreational boating sector.
The displays ran from tenders to houseboats, from navigation electronics to makers of engines and safety gear.
One thing stood out: the spectacular advance of the electrification of recreational boats continues. For example, De Stille Boot (The Silent Boat) – a sales and maintenance point for seven Dutch and foreign-made electric drives – presented a handful of firsts in electric propulsion.
De Stille Boot is a market leader in total solutions for electric boating in the Netherlands courtesy of its expertise, services, training and product range.
In addition to advising on design and application, the company is a project partner of shipyards and installers. It makes custom packages or individual components from various electric drive trains, charging and monitoring systems, solar panels and accessories.
The show opened under a dark cloud: forecasts of labor shortages in the Dutch boating sector and many other European nations.
HISWA’s post-Covid ‘Grow Boating’ campaign lured many new boaters onto the waterways and lakes of the Netherlands.
However, that growing demand, says HISWA, has revealed a shortage of skilled labor – such as painters, welders, carpenters, mechanics, bookkeepers, administrators, etc.
At the 2024 Boat Holland, it ran a stand urging visitors to look for a maritime sector job. It identified companies looking for staff using colored flags: red, green and blue for companies needing, respectively, technical, commercial and general office workers.
