Challenging year for Finnish boating industry, but value of exports rise

The key indicator for the Finnish boating industry is the number of boat registrations, which saw a positive upturn after the financial crisis starting in 2013 and peaked in the pandemic year of 2021. All boats over 5.5 metres in length or powered by engines with power ratings in excess of 15 kilowatts (20 horsepower) must be registered.

The pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 provided an exceptional boost to boat sales. Sales began to decline again already in 2022, and last year saw a return to a more normal rhythm with registrations decreasing by 11% compared to the previous year. The number of registrations in 2022 was still clearly higher than in 2019, before the pandemic, while 2023 was clearly the weakest of the 2000s in terms of new boat registrations.  

“Last year was one of the most challenging for the boating industry in the 21^st century, and according to the boating industry barometer conducted among Finnboat’s member companies at the turn of the year, the challenges will continue this year. The purchasing power of consumers in Finland and nearby markets has weakened, and it will probably take this year to recover, as reflected especially in the demand for small and medium-sized outboard motor boats. Approximately 90 percent of the boats sold in Finland are no more than 7 metres long," says Jarkko Pajusalo, CEO of the Finnish Marine Industries Federation Finnboat.

Finnish brands still the most popular 

Buster retained the number one spot in the statistics for new registrations of motor boats (387 new registrations), Suvi was in second place (234) and Terhi in third (189). The top brands among the ten most popular motor boats were all domestic.

For all watercraft, including personal watercraft (PWC), Sea-Doo retained the number one spot with 673 new registrations.

Total number of registrations fell by nearly 30 percent

The total number of watercraft registrations in Finland amounted to 3272 in 2023 (4589 in 2022), including 2359 (3241) motor boats, 51 (79) rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) and 785 (1179) personal watercraft.

The range of watercraft registered in Finland is huge: a total of 126 different brands were entered in the register. After the most popular brands, however, the number of registrations among other brands is low: the top ten covers 69% of all registrations and the top 20 as much as 87% of all registrations. Among motor boats, 88% are no bigger than seven metres in length.

Just 17 new sailing boats were registered in Finland in 2023, which is four fewer than in the previous year. The most popular brands in this segment were Beneteau from France (3 boats), the Lagoon catamaran, also from France (2 boats) and X-Yachts from Denmark (2 boats)

The slowdown in the sale of summer cottages and related accessories was also reflected in boat sales. For example, wholesale deliveries of rowing boats amounted to just 2100, compared to 4000 rowing boats reported by Finnboat members in the previous year.

Sales of used boats continued to be brisk. According to the boat register maintained by Traficom, the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, more than 23,604 changes of boat ownership were registered, almost a thousand more than in the previous year.

First registrations of watercraft in Finland 2019–2023 

	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Motor boats:	2 773	3 361	3 699	3 242	2 359
Sailing boats:	26	22	22	18	17
RIBs:	68	68	104	78	51
PWC:	1 086	1 272	1 276	1 179	785
Others:	45	46	64	72	60
Total:	3 998	4 769	5 166	4 589	3 272

Changes in ownership of watercraft 2019–2023 

	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Motor boats:	19 058	24 759	23 930	18 394	19 218
Sailing boats:	1 141	1 593	1 573	1 227	1 117
RIBs:	65	112	109	119	136
PWC:	1 604	2 309	2 723	2 722	3 040
Others:	70	87	102	76	93
Total:	21 938	28 860	28 437	22 538	23 604

Source: Traficom. Note: Figures for sailing boats include motor yachts

Sales of sailing boats drive exports of watercraft

According to customs statistics, the value of Finnish boat exports increased by approximately 22% in January-November 2023 compared to the previous year. Almost 5000 boats were exported to 52 different countries. In terms of the number of boats, exports fell by half, although the value of exports increased by 22%.

The most important export market was Sweden. Although the value of exports decreased by 16%, more than 2100 boats with a total value of EUR 66 million were delivered there. The second most important export market was Norway, where the number of boats exported decreased by 40%, but the value remained at the previous year's level at almost EUR 57 million.

A total of 68 sailing boats were exported during the first 11 months of the year with a total value of almost EUR 164 million. Both the number of sailing boats and the customs value increased significantly from the previous year.

The most important markets for exports of Finnish sailing boats were Spain (3 boats / EUR 37.9 million), Norway (2 boats / EUR 22.8 million), Sweden (1 boat / EUR 20.7 million), France (1 boat / EUR 16 million) and Switzerland (7 boats / EUR 15 million).

Top 10 export markets, January-November 2023:

	M€	kpl	change-%
Sweden	66,2	2 149	-16,2
Norway	56,8	1 514	+0,5
Spain	39,3	15	+859
UK	29,2	117	+26,1
Germany	23,2	209	+34,1
France	23,2	102	+222
Switzerland	19,1	53	+2,1
USA	18,9	72	+12,2
Estonia	9,5	96	+320
Turkey	7,5	54	+453
Total	330,8 M€	4 940	22,40 %

Most imports from Mexico

Mexico continued to be the leading market for boat imports into Finland last year, supplying 2234 watercraft, all of which were personal watercraft. Most of these were imported into the EU via Finland before being exported to other parts of Europe, as only around 700 new PWCs remained in Finland. The value of imports from Mexico fell by 42%.

The second most important import market was Poland. Between January and November, the value of imports from Poland fell by 17% to EUR 11.9 million euros and 205 units. The third biggest import market was Sweden, from where 230 boats were imported with a total value of EUR 4.2 million, representing an increase in value of 4.6%.

Top 5 import markets, January-November 2023:

	M€	st	Change-%
Mexico	21,1	2 234	-41,7
Poland	11,9	205	-16,6
Sweden	4,2	230	+4,6
UK	10	315	+730,3
Japan	1,3	117	+86
Total imports	54,5	5 825	-17,90 %

Uusimaa and Varsinais-Suomi leading boating regions in Finland

The leading boating regions in Finland are Uusimaa in Southern Finland and Varsinais-Suomi in Southwestern Finland. These two regions accounted for 40% of all watercraft registrations in Finland in 2023: 832 (1248) in Uusimaa and 468 (682) in Varsinais-Suomi. 

The leading boating cities in Finland last year were Helsinki, Turku and Espoo, where watercraft registrations totalled 223 (386), 138 (190) and 129 (181), respectively. Kuopio was not far behind Espoo, with 117 (170) registrations.

Boating industry barometer anticipates challenging market situation will continue

Finnboat once again compiled estimates from its member companies regarding their net sales and number of employees at the turn of the year. The boating industry barometer for 2024 anticipates that the challenging market situation will continue this year: 49% of member companies expect their net sales to remain at the same level in 2024, 33% expect net sales to increase and 19% expect net sales to decrease.

Despite industrial layoffs, employment in the entire boating industry is still expected to remain at a good level, which indicates faith in the industry's future: 76% of member companies expect the number of employees to remain at the same level in 2024, 17% expect the number of employees to increase, and 8% expect the number of employees to decrease.

Number of employees in 2024

• 17% of member companies expect the number of employees to increase (21% in the previous year)
• 8% of member companies expect the number of employees to decrease (9%)
• 75% of member companies expect the number of employees to remain at the same level (70%)

Net sales in 2024

• 33% of member companies expect net sales to increase (35% in the previous year)
• 19% of member companies expect net sales to decrease (25%)
• 48% of member companies expect net sales to remain at the same level (40%)

Among the member companies that responded to the barometer, 15% reported temporary layoffs in 2023 (11% in the previous year).