cruise ship in the world, The Harmony of The Seas, we idenfied export opportunies for the system in certain territories and have quickly supplied 10 vessels with these system, with more investment forthcoming to facilitate addional sales.


Geng support


Much support is available from naonal, regional and local levels for the SME and larger businesses alike. Grants and other external funding and incenves are available for product development and innovaon, but much support is also available to assist and increase trade.


Government support is available from Department of Internaonal Trade (DIT), helping to find and realise export opportunies, with local assistance available in many countries. Internaonal Trade Advisers can be a valuable source of support and advice to the exporter, offering regional / sector‐specific advice, whilst also being a channel to grants and subsidies that may not be widely publicised.


Trade Associaons such as The Society of Marime Industries can support domesc concerns and business profile, but also organise specialist overseas trade missions and help to build a strong network of peers and collaborators within the sector.


RS Aqua import sales example: mul‐sensor package for ASV Global


greater than the sum of its parts, and simplified the supply chain for our customer.


Successful export business In summary


If an export market is sought then the first quesons should involve route to market. A demand may exist or may need to be developed, but without an effecve route to market then success will be limited. Local distributors and resellers can help, not only in providing the local customer interface and logiscs, but may also be an asset for local market intelligence, to inform the market research plan (Note: internaonal trade associaons, Brish Consulate, embassies etc. may also provide similar services internaonally). For instance, local regulatory posions, cultural trends and an unknown compeve environment could render your product or service unfit, superfluous or just of very low demand. Alternavely, this market intelligence may idenfy significant market potenal, which may influence the level of investment in an export market.


An example here is an RS Aqua developed soluon for monitoring extreme wave heights affecng large ships whilst underway. The system uses our Wave Radar REX, MRUs and WaveView Connect soware. Having installed three of these systems on the largest


Against and backdrop of Brexit, the relave costs of internaonal freight and shipping, plus the weakened Pound Sterling, has increased the cost of imported goods significantly. Dues and taxes remain level, but the situaon aer the UK leaves the EU is sll an unknown quanty. Import costs may increase further sll, as will the administrave overhead to UK trading companies who are used to dealing largely within the confines of the EU and EFTA. Progressive importers should add their own value to the supply chain.


To counter the import woes, there is a strong Polical appete to realise more value from export sales. For established and new‐to‐ export businesses looking to break into export markets, focus on quality and in‐demand products is essenal, but further support can be accessed through naonal and regional organisaons, smoothing the path to export success.


Marn Stemp Managing Director, RS Aqua


Society of Marime Industries Handbook & Members’ Directory 2018 37


Business councils and Instutes can help with further access to markets, collaborators and customers, and may also provide training and resources for import/export, commercial elements, finance, regulatory and administrave funcons.


Chambers of Commerce and other UK regional organisaons are oen much more than just a B2B networking hub. These groups can offer technical experse and support with logiscs, market research, finance and more, and should not be disregarded.


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