At 50, RIMTA’s still a leading industry advocate

FRESH COAT: Paint supervisor Eddy Silveira works on a racing shell at Bristol's Resolute Racing Shells. Networking through RIMTA has helped the company find clients for its painting services. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY
FRESH COAT: Paint supervisor Eddy Silveira works on a racing shell at Bristol's Resolute Racing Shells. Networking through RIMTA has helped the company find clients for its painting services. / PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

Resolute Racing Shells of Bristol sold its first boat to Japan in December, and is following up with two more, through a referral the Rhode Island Marine Trade Association helped the firm make to federal and state commerce agencies.
Jeff Sturges, president and CEO of the racing shell company, said the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation helped with export sales by directing him to federal commerce translation services for product brochures, which in turn helped make the sale to Seikei University last year and two more to Tokyo University this past summer.
“We were unaware that that service existed until that connection was made,” Sturges said. “We would have sold the first boat, but would we have been successful with the other boats? Certainly, not as successful.”
As RIMTA gears up for its 50th anniversary celebration on Nov. 6, supporters say the organization’s advocacy has literally kept the boating industry in Rhode Island afloat.
From the lobbying that helped jettison the sales and use luxury tax for boats here in 1991 and enable dredging of marinas, to support of training to keep boat builders, boatyard workers and tradespeople employed, RIMTA has played an active role in promoting the industry at all levels, company owners say.
“RIMTA’s biggest value has been their lobbying success and keeping the state at bay and promoting the marine industry,” said Tom Rich, one of three owners at New England Boatworks, Inc. in Portsmouth. “We don’t have sales tax on boats and that has resulted in thousands of jobs in the industry and businesses coming into the state.”
Rich and others said that RIMTA also has kept on eye on environmental regulations through the R.I. Department of Environmental Management, in particular by forming a fire committee, which helped ensure that new fire codes intended to better protect the public after the 2003 Station nightclub fire were reasonable for businesses as well. But the lid the recession has kept on business growth has not stymied the health of the industry in the state, said Wendy J. Mackie, RIMTA’s CEO.
Though the recession forced the closing of some boating businesses, and the number of core marine-trade businesses decreased in number from 665 to 650 between 2006 and 2012, average employment grew from 6,879 to 6,955, according to Charles Lawton, chief economist at Planning Decisions, Inc. of Portland, Maine, who prepared an August Economic Impact and Skills Gap Analysis for RIMTA.
The report estimates that the marine trades as a group have a total economic impact exceeding $2.5 billion in spending.
Coordinating training and workforce development became part of RIMTA’s mission just before the recession, said Mackie, and when the recession kicked in, became critical – allowing the slight growth in employment today, despite the reduced number of businesses, she said.
“Here we were trying to train people and people were getting laid off and businesses were closing, but what we knew was, there’s a graying workforce and we needed to keep training people in the pipeline, so that when the economy came back, those folks were there,” Mackie said.
The educational organizations that RIMTA helps businesses connect to include the New England Institute of Technology, IYRS and the Motoring Technical Training Institute.
Between 2006 and 2012, the average wage also grew from $39,092 to $46,776, Lawton noted.
The support from the Governor’s Workforce Board has helped keep RIMTA operating, Mackie said, covering about half its budget of approximately $900,000. Since a long-term goal over the next 50 years is to become self-sustaining, another contributor to RIMTA’s success has been the organization’s 2013 acquisition of the Providence Boat Show, she said. “We acquired the boat show to ensure that the service was still available for our membership and have a shot at creating a long-term, sustainable revenue stream,” Mackie said. “The biggest value with owning the Providence Boat Show is the $100,000 that that show allows us to spend on boating in Rhode Island, to market Rhode Island and to get excited about water-based activities in the middle of the winter.”
Another facet of RIMTA’s success has been its ability to network and market the industry while representing all types of boating enterprises, from boat builders, manufacturers and marinas to boatyards, service providers, retailers, wholesalers and educational institutions, said J. Michael Keyworth, vice president and general manager of Brewer Cove Haven Marina in Barrington.
Keyworth has been on the board of directors at RIMTA for 25 years.
“My feeling is, the organization should serve all entities in the marine industry, not just the dealers in the state,” he said – a change that has evolved over time.
Membership has grown from 170 in 2009 to 298 today, said Mackie. She took over in 2011, after the implementation of the strategic plan called for hiring a top executive.
“After the 2011 strategic plan, the board members were excited and reached out to a lot of companies and said, ‘You need to join this organization,’ and a lot of them did,” Mackie recalled. “Retaining them was my job.”
She hired a consultant who helps promote meetings and activities among members.
“Our goal is to create a good foundation for more growth,” she said. “Our goal is to have every single marine-trade organization as a member.”
RIMTA’s networking and lobbying efforts are big selling points with existing members who want to remain proactive and informed, said Rich.
“They’re keeping an eye out for us,” he said. •

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