Italian superyacht-building continues to lead the sector globally

Italy confirms its position as the first among the top 20 superyacht-building countries with a total length of about 19,158m of superyacht in production in 2022 from 523 projects, at an average length of 101.2m, as reported by The Global Order Book, by BOAT International US Edition. Of the total of projects in the Global Order Book, 50% are being built in Italy. The top-tier country producer was followed at a considerable distance by The Netherlands (4,681m total length – 75 projects – 62.4m average length) and Turkey (4,010m total length – 91 projects – 44.1m average length).

 

2022 forecasts expect 1,024 projects on order or under construction, a rise of 24.7% in comparison with 2021, as a result of an unprecedented demand of superyachts, to remain stable until 2026. Demand is strong across all segments of the industry, with a significant rise for expedition yachts (+33%), sportfishers (+133%), and sailing yachts (+18.6%).

 

The number of active shipyards across the globe continues to grow from the 10-year low of 2018, with 151 active yards, to current 186 active yards building superyachts (+4% from 2021).

 

Among the top-tier builders, Azimut-Benetti tops the volume charts with its 128 projects, up 28 units with respect to 2021. Sanlorenzo comes in second place with 117 projects in build or on order. Ferretti Group appears in the top three most productive yards. Along with the top three, other Italian shipyards, as Overmarine, The Italian Sea Group, Baglietto, Cantiere delle Marche, and Palumbo, deserve special attention as they have shown substantial growth in the total length of production.

 

Promoting Abruzzo wines

The Italy-America Chamber of Commerce Southeast, thanks to its consolidated expertise in the wine sector, will be collaborating with the IEEM (International Event & Exhibition Management) for the organization of B2B meetings with 7 producers of Consorzio Vini d’Abruzzo, representing the excellence of regional signature wines as Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Doc, Trebbiano d’Abruzzo Doc, and many others.

The B2B meetings will take place in the framework of the event Simply Italian Great Wines, to be held on February 7, 2022, in Miami, which will include master classes and tasting from Italian prominent regional wine consortiums. The IACCSE will support IEEM in selecting key buyers from out of State to be invited to the event and organizing their trip to Miami.

The IACCSE will be also supporting Consorzio Vini d’Abruzzo in the selection of key buyers from Italian wines importing companies for a trip to Abruzzo, from March 7 to 11, for a first-hand experience of local wineries.

Meet US Roadshow in Italy: US market advisory sessions for Italian companies

The IACCSE is getting ready to organize the in-presence event “MEET US Roadshow in Italy” in May 2022. The initiative, which will be held in four important Italian cities, is intended for those Italian companies interested in exploring new opportunities in the US market: attendees will be provided with detailed information on topics relating to strategic, commercial, administrative, financial, and fiscal matters linked to the expansion of Italian businesses in the US market.

Organized in the framework of our Business Expert Channel (www.bec.iaccse.com) program,  and aimed at providing a reliable overview of the business opportunities in the US market, the MEET US Roadshow in Italy represents a great opportunity for US professional firms to connect with a qualified group of Italian entrepreneurs and managers with the support of the IACCSE.

The event will be organized with the collaboration of local Chambers of Commerce and industry associations in Italy. We estimate to reach a total audience of more than 200 selected companies among the four cities where the event will take place.

Professionals interested to participate as speakers will benefit from the visibility exposure of the social media campaigns to 6,000+ Italian exporting companies interested to export.

Find here more details about the Roadshow.

For further information, contact marketing@iacc-miami.com.

 

US inflation at its peak

2021 saw the closing estimates of inflation at their highest from 1982, thanks to the surging demand of consumer goods by American consumers and the widespread and global supply chain distortion caused by the pandemic.

 

The Consumer Price Index rose by 7% in December 2021, with respect to the same month of 2020, and by 6.8% in November. The increasing trend of inflation seem to stabilize around digits that surpass 6% for the last three months of 2021.

 

Automobile and durable goods prices keep influencing the inflation rise, helped by the demand and offer imbalances caused by the pandemic. Another important factor which contributes to such soaring inflation is the rise of energy prices, due primarily to the pandemic disruption to the market and the geopolitical instability of the major exporting countries.

 

Such high inflation rate is coupled with a fall in unemployment rate and a rise of hourly wages: the Labor Department estimates that unemployment fell from 4.2% to 3.9%, close to full employment equilibrium, and that the hourly wages rose by 4.7%, with respect to the previous year, contributing to the average increase of 3% from pre-pandemic times. At the same time, the National Federation of Independent Business highlight how 49% of small business declared in December they will be raising prices in the following three months.

Holiday sales soared, with e-commerce notching huge gains

Holiday retail sales jumped 11% with respect to previous year figures, in the period from November 1st to December 24th, thanks to a renewed trust of American consumers during the holiday season, despite the huge inflation rise of prices.

 

Mastercard data, reported in the Mastercard Spending Pulse, registered an 8.5% increase in retail sales during the holidays, with respect to the previous years. In store sales increased by 8.1%, while e-commerce rose by 11%. With respect to 2019, orders online jumped 61%.

 

Over the total of sales, 20.9% of transactions was realized on online platforms, increased from the 2019 figure of 14.9%, thus showing how the pandemic has inevitably accelerated the shift towards online shopping of American consumers, especially during the holiday season.

 

Despite initial fears regarding deliveries and delays, most of the gifts arrived on time, thanks to the American consumers’ early ordering to avoid such occurrences.

 

In general, despite the long period considered in the report, Mastercard highlights how most of the transaction happened during the Thanksgiving long weekend, thanks to the convenient offers displayed on Black Friday, with a 14% increase with respect to 2020.

New Tenant in our co-working space

Technical Yacht Management (www.tethys.mc) is a new tenant of the Chamber’s offices inside the co-working space Italian lab. Leaded by Mr. Nicola Ruggeri and born in 1965, Technical Yacht Management, headquarter in Monaco, is a leading company in the nautical sector with over 50 years of expertise and specialized in marine radio communications.

The company, with fifty years of experience, have developed knowledge in the field of all on-board electronics, domotics, communications and safety at sea, maintaining constant growth.

Technical Yacht Management is recently developing a new business in Florida and has chosen to take advantage of the Italian Lab service offered by the IACCSE which, in addition to providing private offices and shared stations, offers tutoring sessions, one to one encountering with selected business professionals, informative guides, introductions to one to one local business development agencies.

For more information on the Italian Lab service, please click on the following link:

www.iaccse.com/services/market-entry-and-business-development/italianlab/

Thank you to all companies that supported the Gala

The IACCSE would like to like to express its gratitude to all the sponsors for their wonderful and valuable contribution to the Italic Award Gala. Their commitment has been critical to guarantee the success of an event organized in a very short time due to the uncertain situation created by the pandemic.
Therefore, a special recognition goes to:
Gold Sponsors:
Silver Sponsors:
In-Kind Sponsors:
Air Europa, Palio Tours and Kartell (for the the Silent Auction), Acqua Panna San Pellegrino, Ad Maiora, Citronella Graziani, Mercato Miami, Origini Italian Market, Orso Italian Specialty Foods, Pasta e Sapori, Consorzio Prosciutto di Parma, Shaw-Ross International Importers.
Finally, a special acknowledgment goes to Dodo Arslan Studio (www.arslan.it) and Metea (www.metea.it) for designing and producing the beautiful Italic Award.

A spectacular celebration

The 3rd  edition of the Italic Award Gala was a huge success. More than 250 entrepreneurs and executives were in attendance at Port Miami to celebrate an important milestone in the history of the Chamber, its 30th Anniversary.

The evening was filled with a great sense of pride and community.

During the night, our Board of Directors and management team had the pleasure to recognize 2 members with the 2021 Pillar Awards for their longstanding commitment to the chamber: Interamerican Hotels Corp. (20 years of membership) and Maya Enterprises (25 years of membership).

In addition, the IACCSE acknowledged the support of its new premium members Air Europa and Castel USA and presented to them a plaque as a symbol of appreciation for their contributions to our organization.

The peak-time moment of the Gala happened when President, Mr. Tommaso Cardana and the Consul of Italy, Hon. Cristiano Musillo presented the beautiful Italic Award to two excellences of Made in Italy naval and cruise industry: Fincantieri and MSC Cruises represented respectively by Mr. Giovanni Rivera (General Manager of Fincantieri Services USA) and Mr.Richard Sasso (Chairman of MSC Cruises USA).

Attendees were welcomed by an Italian Style aperitivo thanks tom the collaboration of many Italian food and beverage brands and enjoyed a spectacular 4 course dinner featuring a mix of local sourced Florida products as well as authentic Italian products. All dishes were paired with signature Italian wines.

The event included also an amazing silent auction featuring 2 business class air tickets, a unique tour in Italy and an Italian design chair

A picture gallery of the event is available on our Facebook page at:  www.facebook.com/iaccmiami

 

Closing a positive 2021 and planning a rich calendar of initiatives for next year

With its up and downs due to the pandemic and the travel ban, 2021 has been another challenging year for the IACCSE. Nevertheless, the Chamber has been able to offer a wide array of initiatives:

This past February, the IACCSE organized the first edition of the International Business Roundtable in collaboration with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico to explore new opportunities both in Mexico and the South-East of the United States and succeeded in organizing the online event Meet US, a series of webinars and B2B meetings organized for Italian SMEs wishing to expand their business in the US market that reached outstanding results with almost 200 participants.

Furthermore, in June, the Chamber managed to organize its first in-person event in 15 months: the Food Design Night at the Miami Design District, that has been the result of 15 partnerships with different Italian companies and has seen more than 300 attendees.

Moreover, in September, the IACCSE presented a hybrid event, both in-person and online: “Italian Grapes in Miami”, that took place at the Miami Culinary Institute which focus was the presentation of 11 Italian wine labels ready for the Florida market to a selected public of wine buyers.

For next year, the IACCSE is preparing 12 months full of new initiatives that will include our regular business breakfasts and European Chambers networking, the 3rd edition of The Best Italian Design, the 2nd edition of our Roadshow in Italy, the 3rd edition of the Authentic Italian Table food & wine festival and the 3rd edition of the European Chambers Tech seminar, among many others.

More information about the 2022 calendar of events will follow on our website: www.iaccse.com

 

Miami-Dade County mission to Italy

The Miami-Dade County Office of International Trade Consortium coordinated a business development mission to Italy from October 7-14, 2021. Program participants included Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine CavaChairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz; Juan Kuryla, Director & CEO of PortMiami; Maria Dreyfus-Ulvert, ITC Interim Director; Veronica Pizzorni, Operations Manager of the Office of the Mayor.

The County’s delegation met with elected officials of Italy’s port cities – ViareggioFlorence, and Genoa — to promote cruising, tourism, cargo, and future economic opportunities in Miami-Dade County. During the visit, an International Sister Cities agreement was signed between Miami-Dade County and Viareggio, Italy and an International Sister Seaports agreement was signed between PortMiami and the Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority. 

The delegation met with four mayors and two region representatives of Tuscany and Liguria. Italian elected officials included The Hon. Giorgio del Ghingaro, Mayor of Viareggio; The Hon. Dario Nardella, Mayor of Florence; The Hon. Giovanni Toti, President of the Liguria region; The Hon. Mario Bucci, Mayor of Genoa; Paolo Emilio Signorini, President of the Port Authority of the Western Ligurian Sea;

The mission received the support of the Consulate General of Italy with the objective to increase relations and collaborations in the tourism, cultural and commercial fields.

The IACCSE will be involved in the business development aspects of this first Miami-Dade County international mission after the beginning of the pandemic.

Italy is the first European trading partner of PortMiami and the second European Trade partner of the state of Florida.

Specifically, the marine industry will be a primary focus of this collaboration.

For more information, please contact us at info@iacc-miami.com