Nothing has changed
IT WAS three years ago that many of the new marinas were built, with Mick Fitzgibbons then writing:
'I am beginning to wonder how well some of the new (large capacity and very expensive to build) marinas will fare with the ever growing credit crunch. Many of the marinas will have been built with financial projections made from well before those gentlemen bankers lost the plot. I am sure that the future is now much less rosy than it was expected to be'.
Fairly accurate
This prediction has proved to be a fairly accurate one.
I also stated at the time: 'I have just bid on a berth in a British Waterways marina. I got it for £10 over the basic guide price. If I have a trawl through the on-line British Waterways moorings up for auction, I can see that there are a significant number of berths that are not getting a single bid. Are the moorings overpriced?'
In the last three years we have seen significant increases in the prices of moorings. Even in locations where moorings are not being taken up. Not only that but the difference between the minimum price and the recommended or guide prices are narrowing. I can't see any indication of market forces providing 'Market Value.'
Looking ahead
At the time, Simon Salem was the Marketing and Customer Service Director for British Waterways. Simon said in a report: 'The key issue for us, looking ahead, is the abrupt change in the market for British Waterways directly managed moorings. Since November with only around 50-60% of berths selling at auction, very few of those selling doing so at above guide price. Although the number of sites coming up for auction is a small percentage of our overall berths, we are monitoring this change closely and looking for innovative ways to market sites'.
I commented at the time that: 'Mooring auctions have been unpopular from the time they started. British Waterways claimed it was a way of finding the 'Market Value' for moorings in a given area. So what value can be placed on a mooring that fails to find a single bid. British Waterways has started to respond to this by starting to create a false shortage.
This is done by not offering empty moorings for auction. If you can get £1,000 for one mooring (by concentrating customers) why settle for letting two go for £500. Have a talk with some of British Waterways staff and they will inform you in confidence of the number of moorings currently awaiting auction in various locations. It is after all British Waterways who set the guide price. It's also British Waterways who set the 'economical' starting bid. It's us who pay the price'.
Nothing has changed
Three years on, yet still nothing has changed except the name of British Waterways to the Canal & River Trust. What has Simon Salem been doing in the intervening time. When will we see the prices of moorings reflect a genuine 'Market Value'?