AZIMUT BENETTI YACHT MASTER 2016
The Italian conference of the Azimut|BenettiYachtmaster was a rounding success, with more than 160 participants: captains, surveyors, owner’s representatives and sponsors.
The Italian stage of the 16th edition of the Azimut|BenettiYachtmaster, hosted in the splendid surroundings of the Tombolo Talasso Resort, at Marina di Castagneto in Tuscany from February 3rd to the 6th, is the second (the first was in Hong Kong in November 2015 and the and the third will take place in the U.S. in April 2016) and largest of the three events that compose the “Azimut|BenettiYachtMaster–Superyachting On A Global Scale” project, with the objective of keeping the Benetti community in continuous communication for the entire year.
The opening presentation was held by Alessandro Gallifuoco, Benetti’sQuality and After Sales Manager, to a numerous and attentive audience, and underlined Benetti’s important commercial returns over the past year.
To the existing fleet of 192 yachts we must add the 44 presently building, including 14 Class Line, 30 Custom and four Gigayachts over 90m. If we were to put them all in a line, the Benetti yachts would cover the incredible distance of 7,385 meters!
World-wide strengthening of Benetti and After Sales
The above results and the numerous requests for new vessels are a consequence of Benetti’s close attention to the post-sales service network, with increased efficiency and IT. With Benetti the client is assured of an ally everywhere across the world’s oceans.
Benetti is concentrating on an ever increasing presence worldwide, reinforcing local facilities, including Hong Kong and Fort Lauderdale, around the world and including post-sales services.
Benetti is also increasing their commitment to relationships with their partners, Benetti Service Partner, in different countries. The presence of trusted suppliers allows captains to deal with familiar faces, increasing trust and therefore service quality.
Workshop
There were four fundamental themes to the workshops. Coordinated by aand paneled by experts, the groups of participants were able to participate in rotation in all the different workshops. The four themes dealt with the fundamental issues of insurance, taxes, new environmental protection standards and new challenges in crew management. Benetti yacht captains also intervened, illustrating their experience in the various discussions.
The emphasis of YM16 is increasingly concentrated on the captain’s duties, in confronting and communicating experience. The captain’s valuable on-board knowledge is second to none and a better understanding of their duties allows Benetti to adopt ever more useful instruments to facilitate these duties. This creates a virtuous cycle without peer.
This year’s workshops were accompanied by the customary social activities: the evening gala dinner, this year dancing to the “Roaring ’20s”, and team-building with an exciting go-kart race.
Satisfaction was expressed by Azimut|Benetti for the growth in importance and interest in the event, year after year, and not only for the Benetti yacht captains. Alessandro Gallifuoco commented: “We believe that this format, continually refined by the participants’ feedback, is a winning format. What is especially pleasing for us is that there are always more and more professionals interested in talking to our variegated audience with their differing roles in the industry; this is an interesting aspect that can only increase the overall merit of the project. International participation also increased, with 25 nations present, and everyone brought their own viewpoint.” Excellent results in prevision of the April edition in Miami. “We hope that the success of every edition will be amplified in the successive event, and obviously we try to make each one better than the previous.”
This year’s Azimut|BenettiYachtMaster innovations include maintaining the community in constant communication throughout the year by means of dedicated workshops and training sessions. Minor events will be held out of season, from September until May, to guarantee continuity; they will be associated with technical sessions and meetings in the yards.
Fundamental to the success of the event were the contributions of the event’s partners and sponsors: AWLGrip, Boero, Jotun, Peninsula Petroleum, Peters&MaySuperyachts, Team Italia, Versilia Marine Service, Viraver, CGT, CMC Marine, Fraser Yachts, Lusben, MTN, Naiad Dynamics, Nextworks, Rina Group, Valletta Superyachts and Yachtique.
Media Partners for 2016 were the sector publications SuperYachtTimes.com,Dockwalk, The Superyacht Report/Crew Report.
