The French Leisure Marine Industry is Going From Strength to Strength

In exciting news for the French leisure marine industry, the Fédération des Industries Nautiques (FIN, French Federation of Leisure Marine Industry) recently presented the key figures for 2018 season in France and things are looking extremely promising.

With a growth rate of 5% in 2018, the turnover of the marine industry and services reached an impressive 5.09 billion euros. The best performance since the 2008 crisis, this increase is mainly due to exports, which reached 76.4% of production in 2018.

With this dynamic set to continue through 2019, President of the FIN, Yves Lyon-Caen said: “This is undoubtedly good news for the entire leisure marine sector. We stay vigilant though, because uncertainties weigh on the international market.”

The nautical sector places employment at the heart of its strategy, and in 2018, the number of employees in leisure marine industries and services increased by 3.6% to 42,930 employees (direct employment). This trend is expected to continue in 2019-2020, according to a FIN survey.

70% of the surveyed companies also plan to recruit in the short term, for three main reasons: increased production, retirements (especially in the construction sector) and the launch of new activities. “Over the past two years, job creation in the leisure marine industry has continued at an annual rate of about 1,000 positions. Today, companies are facing shortage of human resources and are looking for new ways to attract qualified candidates,” the FIN said.

To help meet the companies’ employment objectives, the federation has launched several projects; the first being negotiations on the modernisation of the collective labour agreement, in order to strengthen the attractiveness of the sector’s employment offer.

They are also restructuring and strengthening specific training programs to meet the geographical and skills needs of the companies, as well as the creation of a vocational course for young high school graduates 

“The studies we are currently conducting all over the country show that the sector influences directly and indirectly the creation of 140,000 jobs. At the FIN, we focus on reforming our collective labour agreement, modernising our training courses, making our job offers more attractive and promoting the professional opportunities within our companies,” explains Lyon-Caen.