Size and Characteristics of

the Australian Marina Sector

Marina Industries Association of Australia

November 2010

With Support from Research Partners:

MIAA Nov 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Executive Summary........................................................................ 3
2. Introduction and Background............................................................ 4
3. Objectives and Methodology............................................................. 4
4. Findings ...................................................................................... 6
4.1. Number of Marinas Nationally and by State ..................................... 6
4.2. Size of Marina Boat Storage Capacity in Australia.............................. 6
4.3. Size of Marinas in Australia by Boat Storage Capacity. ....................... 7
4.4. Marina Boat Storage Capacity Nationally and by State ........................ 7
4.5. Segmentation of On-Water and Dry-Land Marina Boat Storage ............. 8
4.6. Marinas by Type ....................................................................... 9
5. Recommendations ........................................................................11
6. Attachment 1 - Data Sources ...........................................................12
7. Attachment 2 - Survey Definitions of Marina by Type.............................13

MIAA Nov 2010

1. Executive Summary
The objectives of this 2009/10 study were to quantify the scale and basic characteristics of
Australian marinas. Marinas have been defined in this report as recreational marinas including
club and commercial marinas with 20 or more on-water boat storage spaces.
There are an estimated 356 such marinas in Australia. In terms of distribution of marinas New
South Wales accounts for 154 or 44% of all the marinas in Australia, followed by Queensland
with 19% and Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia all around 10%.

The total number of marina boat storage spaces including dry-land boat storage is 39,300. This
represents approximately 5% of the estimated 800,000 registered recreational boats in
Australia1. The average marina boat storage capacity is 110 boats. Just over half of all marinas
(53%) have storage for between 20 and 100 boats indicating that the average marina in
Australia has a relatively small boat carrying capacity.

While New South Wales has most marinas Queensland has the most marina boat
storage spaces or approximately 30% of national marina capacity; followed by New South
Wales with 28% and Western Australia with 16%. On-water boat storage spaces account of
approximately 88% of all marina storage. Marina berths (or pens) account for just over 90% of
all on-water boat storage with the balance being marina moorings. On land approximately
three quarters of all marina storage is on boat trailers or similar while more sophisticated dry
stack or rack and stack systems are relatively uncommon.

While the data relating to type2 of marinas was less reliable it is estimated traditional
commercial marinas that carry out a range of services account for roughly half of all marinas
in Australia. Club and service and repair marinas are the next most common types of marina.

This estimate is derived from 2008 and 2009 boat registration data provided by various state boat registration
agencies.
2
See Attachment 2 for definitions of marina types.
MIAA Nov 2010

2. Introduction and Background

The Marina Industries Association of Australia (MIAA) is the peak industry body representing
marinas, slipways, boatyards, berthing, mooring and other marine storage facilities and sailing
and cruising boat clubs3. MIAA focuses on the sustainable development of the marina
industries

through

the

provision

of

education,

accreditation,

research

and

policy

development. This is done in conjunction with the State Boating Industry Associations who
play an active role in supporting marinas, particularly with respect to State regulatory and
planning matters.

MIAA identified the lack of data about the profile and characteristics of marinas in Australia as
a fundamental barrier to further research and development of the marina industries. The aim
of this report is to quantify the key characteristics of marinas in Australia in terms of size,
location and type. The report also identifies further research opportunities to expand on our
understanding of marinas in Australia and the wider Asia Pacific region. Additional to this
report is the work being conducted for MIAA and partners by Dr Ed Mahoney4 on the economic
and employment value of marinas in Australia. The two reports will add significantly to our
understanding of the marina sector in Australia.

3. Objectives and Methodology

The objective of this report is to quantify the size of the marina sector in Australia in terms of
number of marinas, location by state, boat storage capacity and type of storage and type of
marinas. Any additional data that was gathered (excluding economic and employment data)
that adds to the understanding of the size of the marina sector in Australia was also to be
added to the report.
In May 2009 a PHD student from Macquarie University was engaged for 70 hours to gather data
as a desk top research exercise for this report. This data was subsequently checked and
3

Over 85% of the major Australian marinas are members of MIAA. MIAA is attracting a growing number of members
from the wider Asia Pacific region and the Middle East.
4

Dr Ed Mahoney is a professor and industry extension specialist at Michigan State University and a co director of
the Recreation Marine Research Centre. Dr Mahoney and MIAA have agreed to conduct a three year study to
quantify the economic and employment value of marinas in Australia.

MIAA Nov 2010

additional data gathered by a suitably qualified industry contactor5 mid 2010 and the final
report completed by the MIAA Executive Officer October 2010. As part of the desk top
research a variety of state and national references, lists and directories were used -see
Attachment 1. Phone calls were also used to verify data.

The criteria used for marinas6 counted in this study were that they have a minimum of 20 onwater boat storage spaces either wet berths (or pens as they are called in Western Australia)
or moorings. On-land or dry land boat storage spaces were also counted as part of the overall
analysis and reported on in the study. In around 15 instances marinas with slightly less than 20
on-water boat spaces (and mostly with dry land storage) were included in the study as they
were deemed be a functioning marina enterprise with at least one full time equivalent marina
position.

The collection of data for boat storage for this study focused on recreational marinas but it is
noted there are a number of commercial fishing marinas that also accommodate recreational
boats for casual or longer term berthing or mooring. Data from these marinas has not been
included in the study. The study also did not include private berths, moorings or dry land boat
spaces not managed by marinas. It is noted this number is significant in some locations: e.g.
canal estate berths on the Gold Coast and south of Perth and NSW Maritime moorings in
Sydney Harbour.

Kerry Ellis: BA Hons Maritime Leisure Management 2002, work CV includes UK and NZ marina industries.
Dictionary definitions of marina include: 1. Area of water for small private boats. An area of water beside the
land, that is designed for keeping small private boats in: 2. A harbour specially designed to cater for pleasure
boats and their owner.
6

MIAA Nov 2010

4. Findings
4.1.

Number of Marinas Nationally and by State

The study identified there are 356 marinas in Australia. The study indicates the percentage
breakdown in terms of location (see Figure 1). 154 marinas are located in NSW which
represents 43.8% of marinas in Australia. Queensland has 67 or 18.8%, Victoria 40 or 11.2%,
Western Australia 36 or 10.1%, South Australia 32 or 8.9%, Tasmania 18 or 5.1%, the Northern
Territory 7 or 1.9% and Australian Capital Territory 2 or .6%
Figure 1

N = 356

4.2.

Size of Marina Boat Storage Capacity in Australia.

Data was collected in the study on marinas boat storage capacity including both on-water and
dry land storage. This covered floating and fixed marina berths/pens, fixed and swing
moorings, dry stack and dry land boat storage attributed to marinas. It can be seen in Table 1
(see over) that the total number of boat storage spaces at Australian marinas is estimated to
be 39,300. The average boat storage space per marina is therefore estimated to be 110.

MIAA Nov 2010

Table 1. Boat Storage Capacity Figures

Number of Marinas
356

4.3.

Average of Boat Storage

110

Total Number of Boat Storage

39,300

Size of Marinas in Australia by Boat Storage Capacity.

Figure 2 below indicates that the most common boat storage capacity in Australia is in the 50
100 boats range representing 29% of all marina boat storage. 24% of all marina boat storage
is in the less than 50 boats range. 24% of marina capacity is within the 100 150 band and only
14% of marina boat storage is in the 200 plus range. 6% of marina boat storage is at marinas
with capacity greater than 300 marina boat spaces.
Figure 2
Size of Marina Boat Capacity
250-300 >300
200-250

<50

<50

24

50-100

150-200

100-150

150-200
200-250
100-150

50-100
29

250-300
>300

24

4.4.

Marina Boat Storage Capacity Nationally and by State

While Queensland has less than half the number of marinas than New South Wales the
Queensland marinas are on average more than double the size in terms of boat carrying
capacity. Although New South Wales has the greatest number of marinas (43.8%) when one
analyses the boat storage or carrying capacity of marinas the picture changes significantly
(see Figure 3 ).

MIAA Nov 2010

Figure 3

N = 39,300

As illustrated above Queensland has the largest number of marina storage spaces at 11,642.
This represents 29.6% of all on-water marina boat spaces in Australia. New South Wales
marinas have an on-water boat storage capacity of 11,004 or 28% of national capacity.
Western Australia follows with 6,259 or 15.9% of national capacity; then Victoria with 4,753 or
12.1%, South Australia with 3,530 or 9%, Tasmania with 1,227 or 3.1%, Northern Territory 755
or 1.9% and the Australian Capital Territory 130 or 0.3%.

The explanation for Queenslands fewer but larger marinas than New South Wales may be
attributable to a range of factors including Queenslands later development of recreational
boating marinas including those on relatively large green field sites.

4.5.

Segmentation of On-Water and Dry-Land Marina Boat Storage

Analysis indicates that marina on-water storage (wet berths and moorings) are the
dominant form of boat storage associated with marinas. Figure 4 shows that 88.2% of
the boat spaces are on-water whereas 11.8% are on land.

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Figure 4

Percentage of Marina On-Water to Dry-Land Boat Storage in

Australia
100.00%

88.2%

80.00%
60.00%
40.00%
11.8%

20.00%
0.00%
On-Water Storage

Dry-Land Storage

Analysis indicates that wet berth or pen storage is by far the most common type of on-water
boat storage in Australian marinas as apposed to swing or fixed moorings. It is estimated that
92% of on-water boat storage at marinas are marina berth spaces and only 8% of spaces are on
swing or fixed moorings.

The vast majority (72%) of dry-land boat storage spaces are boats stored on trailers or with
simple supports; as opposed to more sophisticated rack and stack/dry stack systems. It is
noted that industry expect significant growth in more sophisticated dry stack storage systems
into the future as has been evidenced in the USA and parts of Europe.

4.6.

Marinas by Type

The survey has not fully met the objective of quantifying the breakdown of Australian marinas
by type. With respect to a key categorization of club and commercial marinas the following
general assessment has been made but it should be noted there is some overlap with this
categorization. Some club marinas host more than one sailing club and some commercial
marinas have club marinas operating from within their marina.

MIAA Nov 2010

The Yachting Australia web site lists 382 affiliated yacht clubs in Australia. Analysis indicates
the vast majority of these do not meet the marina definition for inclusion in this study. For
example many have no on-water boat storage and have ramp or off the beach launching;
are inland clubs again without on-water boat storage, are clubs such as Sailability QLD that
operate within a marina, or are administrative in nature such as Yachting NSW. Of the 382
clubs on the list 61, or 16%, appear to meet this studies definition of a marina. From analysis
of the data on the 356 marinas counted in this study, 61 are club marinas and therefore as per
Figure 5, 17% of marinas in this study are classified as club marinas.

Figure 5

N = 356

The analysis by more detailed marina type as per the definitions in Attachment 2 is less
reliable. The researchers encountered significant issues in applying the definitions with the
data they had available. While the club and to a lesser extent residential marina type were
easy to categorize the four other marina types were more difficult to categorize on the
evidence available. Therefore the data in Figure 6 should be considered as not definitive and
interpreted with caution.

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Figure 6

N = 356

5. Recommendations
5.1.

The study highlighted the lack of an effective centralized data base and data source

for marina statistics. Given MIAAs leadership role in facilitating marina research, it is
recommended that MIAA continue to build on the data set presented in this report.
5.2.

The study did not quantify the total number of boats stored on-water as the study

focused on marina boat storage. Government moorings, residential berths etc were not
counted. It is recommended that the feasibility of this gathering this data be investigated
with a view to including it when next updating this report.
5.3.

The study has highlighted the need for widely agreed definitions of marinas by size and

by type. It is recommended resolution of this matter be sought though MIAA prior to next
updating this report.
5.4.

It is specifically recommended that MIAA create a more sophisticated data base to

collect marina industry data. Given the labour intensive nature of collecting this data, it is
recommended that MIAA provide a mechanism for industry to update its own data within the
data base (and subject to MIAA verification).

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5.5.

As an additional incentive for industry to provide such data, it is recommended to link

part of the data on marina facilities to one or more consumer marina directories.
5.6.

It is recommended that this report be thoroughly updated and widely distributed at

least every three years.

6. Attachment 1 - Data Sources

Boating Industry Association of Victoria
http://www.biavic.com.au
Boat Web
http://www.boatweb.com.au
Department for Planning and Infrastructure Western Australia
http://www.dpi.wa.gov.au
Report on the Western Australian Marine Industry: Edith Cowen University 2010
Marine Queensland Member Directory
http://directory.marineqld.com.au
Maritime Safety Queensland marina data base listings 2009
Queensland Department of Transport marina infrastructure records 2009
NSW Land and Property Management Authority marina data base listings 2009
NSW Maritime marina data base listings 2009
Department of Planning New South Wales
http://majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au
Tasmanian Government Boating Statistics Annual Report
Australian Marina Guide
http://www.marinasguide.com.au
My Boat
www.myboat.com.au
NSW Marine Directory
http://www.marinedirectory.com.au
Portbooker
http://www.portbooker.com

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PortFocus
http://portfocus.com
Sea-Ex
http://www.sea-ex.com
South Australia Boating Industry Association
www.boatingsa.com.au
Super Yacht Group
http://www.superyachtgroup.com
Yachting Australia
www.yachting.org.au
Yellow Pages
http://www.yellowpages.com.au
420 Yachting
http://www.420.yachting.org.au

7. Attachment 2 - Survey Definitions of Marina by Type

Yacht Club Marina
Club that operates in a traditional committee/membership manner and contains marina
berths/moorings. Club house with amenities, food and beverage, but with or without repair
facilities/poker machines.
Tourism/Accommodation Marina
Provides short term accommodation adjoining the marina with food and beverage, plus possible retail.
Retail Marina
Marina with associated retail outlets exceeding 2,000 sqm. It may or may not have haul-out repair
facilities.
Traditional Marina
Marina with up to a maximum 2,000 sqm of retail/commercial and some haul-out/service facilities.
Service & Repair Marina
Some berthing plus some commercial/retail but primarily a service/haul-out facility. Minimum haul
facility and hard stand to accommodate a minimum of 300m of vessel with associated services.
Residential Marina
Provides free hold or strata title permanent accommodation adjoining the marina.

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