The Balearic nautical sector, represented by the employers´ association AENIB, heads for the post-Covid scene

The Association of Nautical Companies in the Balearics (AENIB) held its Annual General Meeting this Thursday. The event was organized virtually this year due to the health situation and was attended by a large number of representatives of the associated companies.

Even though the evolution of the pandemic caused a cancellation of the traditional gala dinner, the association has not resigned to simply reduce the event to an online connection, but has opted to plan a presentation by the professor of Applied Economics at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), doctor Antoni Riera.

In his presentation, titled ´Navigating in the post-Covid scene´, Riera placed value on the fact that “the Balearic nautical companies are in a good position to open new windows of opportunity in the context of new global tendencies related to sustainability and digitalization”.

Riera stressed that it will take years to return to the numbers that defined the standard in which the nautical sector found itself in 2019, but “even if this statement might seem apocalyptic, it is realistic. But even so, the nautical sector is sufficiently relevant and has a solid base of knowhow as to establish the necessary strategies to stay afloat”.

“Despite the blurring of the industrial fabric and the fact that companies and jobs have been lost, this crisis hits the nautical sector in a moment of great expansion, and this is the important antidote in favor of the nautical sector when facing the new post-Covid era” states Dr Riera.

“The nautical sector has to rely on its high standards and resilience in an environment where it can count on solid cornerstones thanks to the windows of opportunity offered by the blue economy. In 5 years from now, we will not be able to recognize the old production methods that we are using today, but at least the said blue economy provides a starting point in the recovery of the nautical industries. We have to foster digitalization and sustainability as measures of impact in a painful situation”.