Gold Coast luxury cruiser manufacturer Maritimo had one of its most successful ever Sanctuary Cove International Boat Shows over the weekend with its large on water display becoming a ‘mini United Nations’.

Maritimo has been continuing its worldwide dealer partner expansion over the past twelve months and the success of the strategy was evident at SCIBS.

Attending the event were Fran Galati and Jay Dee Jackson from the huge USA marine operation Galati Yacht Sales, Craig Harvey from Spencer Ship, Monaco, Bill King from Hampton Yacht Group in California and Eric Koh from SGBOATING Singapore.

The international visitors all represent Maritimo in their various home ports and they say the interest in the tough Australian product is at an all time high.

Maritimo’s International Sales and Marketing Manager, Greg Haines, said the company’s on water display had been visited by a record number of people during the weekend.

“Our numbers were up and we have finalised a significant number of deals with plenty of quality leads to follow-up,” he said.

“The new M61 cruising motoryacht was a big hit and its worldwide launch at Sanctuary Cove has already proven successful with several deals finalised.

“We found that not only had the number of people who showed interest increased on previous years but the quality of enquiries we received was also greater. We are confident we will secure more deals in the coming days.”

Photo: Maritimo Sales and Marketing Manager Greg Haines with Bill King from Hampton Yacht Group in California.

One of the Maritimo sales will see an M48 cruising motoryacht head to Singapore and this follows hot on the heels of another recent Singapore deal where the customer added $1.1 million in optional extras to the vessel he purchased.

Maritimo’s Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show display included some of its most popular models ever with the M65 cruising motor yacht and the M58 cruising motor yacht sitting along side the new M61 cruising motoryacht.

Greg Haines said Maritimo was ‘on a roll’ with strong interest internationally. He said about 45 percent of the company’s buyers were from the USA with the remainder from Australia and New Zealand. “Our international dealers are excited by our new products and we are confident that the new M61 will be a winner for us with six now sold,” he said.

He said many of Maritimo’s sales were to second and third time Maritimo owners who were staunchly loyal to the brand.

Haines said Maritimo’s push to increase its global reach would continue with the international dealer network being expanded.

“Our partnerships with Florida based distributor Galati Yacht Sales, Spencer Ship in Europe, Bill King’s Hampton Yacht Group and Eric Koh in Singapore are all paying handsome dividends,” he said.

He said the current Australian dollar exchange rate was a positive for local manufacturers. “The Aussie dollar at these levels helps exports and is a barrier to imported boats so we expect our USA exports to continue to be strong,” said Haines.

Haines said in 2015 Maritimo’s staffing numbers increased by approximately 30 percent and with sales on the increase the company was very solidly positioned.

Photo: Monaco based European dealer Craig Harvey from Spencer Ship with Maritimo founder Bill Barry-Cotter.