SuperyachtNews – 26 April 2018
The MYBA board’s newly elected ‘tax and law’ representative discusses his objectives and concerns…
At the first MYBA Charter Show in Barcelona last year, Toby Maclaurin, commercial director of Ocean Independence and a former president of MYBA aired concerns about over-commercialising the yachting business and damaging its allure by heaping bureaucracy on superyacht owners. His primary apprehension at the time was the introduction of the charter transport contract as an alternative to the existing rental contract for tackling progressively stringent market conditions.
“One year on from its introduction, I’m thrilled to say that the take-up on the contract has been very low,” extols Maclaurin during an exclusive conversation with SuperyachtNews at this year’s show. “It’s had very little impact on our business because it’s overly complicated and overly commercial. Some owners have asked about it and when we’ve shown it to them, their common sense has dictated that it’s not a contract they want to commit to.” Thus, Ocean Independence, which has one of the largest charter fleets in the market, has not set itself up to use the contract.