Self Employed Marine Engineers and COVID 19. The First business casualties.

[GregOddity]

Greg, is it not the case that every person is only in it for the money. If he can get his products made cheaper abroad he will do so. you buy your steel you say from China, because its cheaper. This thread contains nothing positive at all and is just gloom and doome. How will you and anyone get out of this mess without a bit of positivity. Each day Ive been doing something positive for the future when we can start to pull ourselves out of this mess. Ill be on my boat in July for a few weeks, so the season is not over yet. Your be busy with repairs by then. we will need to have biosecurity procedures firmly in place by then, but we will all be moving forward, (if I am still alive).
I used to say to a good friend, don't worry about the global economy, worry about your own pocket. The global economy will only recover if we do. He took no notice and drowned.
Steveeasy

True, not everyone is in it for the money. But the likes of Dyson and the Wetherspoon dude are. It does amaze me that people still believe in the Tooth Fairy.

There is a difference between doom and gloom and reality. I’ll give you an example.
Brexit. Part of our economic reality, yet every time someone tries to have a proper conversation about the effect on the economy then someone jumps along and starts the Hare Krishna of Brexit that all is going to be fine and leave that alone.

Most members of this forum will tell you privately how they don’t even post so as not to get pestered like that.

Independently of personal views or beliefs, it is part of our reality and needs to be addressed in how it’s going to impact us after the Virus does its rounds. Stopping that conversation is actually the problem not the solution.
There’s a very good book “Who moved my Cheese” that people should read.

The discussion on this thread should be geared to help the ones that are going to fall through the cracks of the system and how to pressure out local MP’s and mobilize the sector to lobby for the help that many companies are going to need to survive this unprecedented event.

While not trying to be all gloomy, yesterday marinas everywhere invoiced Sailing schools that have no idea how they are going to pay for berthing, besides the odd online course no one has any bookings or revenue coming in. The summer is going to be at best bad and some form of support is going to be needed. Not just it’s “all going to be fine”.
At the moment information is VERY scarce on how to even apply for something. There’s going to be something. WHERE AND HOW? That is one of the pressing issues for many people.
Positiveness is something we all need to see this through. Preparedness as well. So, let’s see how to prepare and where to go etc.

My Nana also imparted some real savvy wisdom to me as a kid, “if it’s drizzling take your raincoat, if it rains hard you won’t get wet.”

 

[GregOddity]

If I can get July and August in on my charter boat I would be very happy, but I'm being pessimistic and I think maybe September October will see restrictions partly lifted.
So no money to take me through winter ?

I think it's not going to be as bad as that. Sadly a lot is going to depend of the behaviour of people after the restrictions are lifted. There's a case for a good summer even if short. Let's hope and keep our spirits high.

 

[steveeasy]

Its a business model ive never considered. sailing schools. Their boat storage fees are in essence their business premises, correct. So they have never had any rates, They should be discussing a reduced rate with the marinas. see another thread on this forum regarding Marina fees. They can claim for staff, reduce overheads as much as possible. There is support provided. you cant expect something special for sailing schools and the likes.
They will now need to focus on income streams later in the year. there will be lots of possibilities for sailing schools. perhaps courses on the boat, Is there a market for winter sailing trips.
Brexit. its done. Like it or not, we decided we wanted our indepedance and to keep our own identity regardless where we end up.

Steveeasy

 

[PaulRainbow]

Let's leave the Brexit nonsense for the lounge, shall we ?

Same with slagging the likes of Dyson for moving manufacturing abroad. Big companies have manufacturing done at the cheapest place, no different to us buying from the cheapest place. We're all in it for the money.

 

[Concerto]

Imagine the berthing costs for Sunsail in the Solent - ouch. steveeasy may have missed any loans or overdraft the sailing schools may need to pay out of zero income. I berth just across the pontoon from 3 sailing school boats and they have several others including their large static barge in the same marina. The end of last week they were working on the boats. They probably cannot even get them lifted for work as the boatyard is rammed with boats that have not been launched. Another area of working in the marine business is the agents selling secondhand boats. They can only show photos or a video of their boats on their books, no one is going to be buying so they will have no income.

Economically we are entering uncharted waters. No one knows how long this virus is going to affects us, how long the restrictions on movement will last, when industry here and abroad will get back to normal working. Plus many other factors like the diving of the financial markets, where is the money coming from for the massive governments support, not to mention the antics of our suntanned friend across the pond. There will be no quick fix as many businesses, both large and small, will have failed. This could leave holes in areas of our economy. The housing market may end up with more properties for sale with probate and mortgage repossessions driving prices down and new mortgages becoming more difficult to obtain with larger deposits. Finally many people have started home working and may find they prefer this new form of working. These are some of what I think will happen, but over what timescale?