Through a focus on digital technologies, marinas can minimise resource allocation, while making their contributions more visible and valuable to the community. Interconnected, accessible resources pave the way for digitally managed, smart, data-driven operations. Once everyone is collecting data the same way, AI tools can turn that information into practical day-to-day recommendations.

Adopting smart technologies for communication with boaters and interconnecting marinas is one of the first steps towards addressing the sustainability challenges lying ahead of the recreational boating industry. Digitising processes has the potential to streamline and optimise the day-to-day operations of marinas, facilitating communication with customers, service providers and other stakeholders in the industry, for example, replacing manual bookings with a simple online system can cut response times and reduce admin work.

Digitalisation also has the ability to go one step further, harmonising systems and processes, thus saving coordination and verification time while building the baseline for generation of market data. Better data helps marinas use their space more efficiently-so the same number of slips can accommodate more boats and more boaters, without expanding or building anything new. Bringing a long -overdue interconnection to the chronically fragmented industry, this is an opportunity to achieve both efficient and effective use of resources, smarter decision -making and carbon- and water -footprint reduction.  In short: smart, sustainable operations drive profitability for everyone involved.

Culminating in the use of Big Data, marinas can obtain a 360º overview of customer behaviour and preferences, together with industry trends, providing the opportunity to predict trends and patterns, make more efficient use of existing assets, make more informed decisions as regards operations planning and creating new value propositions. As the shared data foundation matures, AI engines can surface prescriptive recommendations—pricing, predictive maintenance and berth allocation—while staying firmly grounded in the sector’s sustainability goals.

Building an Interconnected Ecosystem

Digital technologies help interconnect multiple components within a system, such as clients, service providers and assets, enabling them to exchange information and “talk” to each other. This quick and seamless exchange of information creates accessibility, efficiency and interconnectivity which facilitate optimisation of operations, thus reducing environmental footprint. Achieving this vision requires the industry to co-create protocols and data standards—common ground that lets every marina, large or small, plug into the same conversation.

Data generated through exchange of information, sensors and IoT can facilitate improved efficiency through partial automation. Wirelessly connected assets, utilities and appliances, along with sensors positioned in critical locations collecting necessary data such as traffic, weather, pollution, biodiversity, etc. can build comprehensive visibility of the operational environment and marinas’ natural surroundings.

This data can be used to make smarter decisions about issues such as water conservation and energy efficiency, apply circular -economy models, and raise awareness about human- related stressors. For their part, marinas acquire the ability to use this data to react quickly and easily to events while lifting the associated operational burden from staff shoulders.

The second data source for improved efficiency is marinas’ operational traffic. When all marinas’ communications with customers are performed via smart digital systems according to harmonised protocols, the accumulated data can be used for trend insights and machine learning. This permits existing assets to accommodate more users, reducing further construction, thus reducing the environmental footprint of the recreational boating industry.

In summary, the marina community needs to work together to help design and create affordable, effective and value-generating digital services that meet customer expectations and requirements, whilst respecting privacy and confidentiality, furthering digital competency and, most importantly, advancing sustainability across the spectrum.

Further benefits:

1. User-centric alignment
2. Harmonisation for integration
3. Data collection & management
4. Sustainability-driven digitalisation