Used Boat Market Blues
Since the BP Deep Water Horizon spill in March of 2010, the used boat market has taken some twists and turns. The Gulf of Mexico shrimp trawlers were largely put to work as oil clean up boats and this reduced the amount of inventory of used gulf trawlers significantly. The available trawlers at that time were the remnants of the trawler boat building boom of the 1980’s and 90’s. Some of the last trawlers built were built in 2002 and it was very hard to find many built after that time as the boom dwindled and some boat builders closed their doors due to lack of new build orders.The price of steel was also increasing and as the Great Recession continued to develop, it simply became too expensive to build new boats.
Recently, some fleet owners began to replace older equipment with newly built boats as the older boats were beginning to show their age and certain industries such as scallops and crabbing continued to show moderate stability which allowed some modicum of certainty. Limited entry and IFQ’s have also created certainty for some fisherman or fleet owners as they can predict at some level what their future income will be. However, the price of the new boats being built is staggering. To build a 90′ scalloper or shrimp trawler in 2017, versus building one in 2002 has increased by 60% in some cases. To give you a better idea of what that looks like, the same boat built in 2002 for $600,000.00 USD would cost you over $2,000,000.00 to build in 2018. This has caused many commercial fishermen to widen or, “sponson” their existing vessels as it is much more affordable. In most cases, they can increase the width as much as is practical and they can extend the length of the boat 5 to 10 feet, depending on the length that the permit allows them to lengthen.
The gulf shrimp fleet is reducing in size and the availability of used boats is becoming smaller. Many of the older or dilapidated boats have been sold to South America for cargo boats or island transport. The price of shrimp and the price of diesel have been fairly stable over the last few years, but when the economy or government policies change, there will be a resurgence of boats on the market.
Until then, finding a boat in good condition will be difficult, and when you do, be prepared to pay well over what that boat was built for over 15 years ago.
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