This article was also published in Marina World'sThe State of Marinas 2026. Click here to read the online version.
Conversations with five leading companies in the US marina industry - GCM/ASAR, Bellingham Marine, Hazelett Marine, Morgan Marine and Golden Marine Systems - reveal that while the excitement about institutional investment and revenue diversification continues, the wider domestic market remains uneasy about rising costs, falling revenues and tight regulation.
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The United States of America is the biggest domestic marina market in the world, generating an estimated $7.6 billion USD in revenue in 2025 according to the US industry research firm IBISWorld. The industry has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 2.4 percent between 2020 and 2025, including a growth of 1.4 percent last year alone.
The precise number of marinas currently operating in the USA depends on what you would define as a “marina” and whether or not that definition includes boatyards, refit facilities and dry storage. In general, the most inclusive definition of what constitutes a marina gives a total number of businesses in the USA as being somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000, with an approximate 50/50 split between the number of inland and coastal facilities, according to Marina Dock Age’s 2025 annual survey of the US marina industry.
My own observations of daily developments in the US marina industry and conversations during the 2026 AMI Conference & Expo in Daytona Beach would certainly seem to corroborate this. The news environment is dynamic and vendors seemed generally upbeat. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of companies at AMI, both domestic and foreign, who clearly see the USA as a market ripe for business. This does not paint a full picture, however.
Wariness and cautious optimism
The US dock manufacturer Bellingham Marine described the domestic market as “wary”, with interest rates, insurance costs and boat sales impacting local market conditions. Regulatory oversight is also proving to be a stumbling block in certain parts of the country, forcing some owners to forecast their builds between three and six years into the future, making any long-term investment riskier than usual. A divide does seem to emerge, however, between the smaller, local private marinas and larger, more popular international destinations.
“Projects especially on the USA’s west coast are expensive and time consuming,” said Bellingham Marine. “The Pacific northwest is a challenging area for business because the regulatory and environmental requirements have tightened immensely… It can take years of regulation requirements to receive permission to build a project.”
However, Bellingham Marine did say that facilities in the Gulf of Mexico and the southeast coast are growing quickly as increasingly larger boats are being built in the area. Despite challenges in some regions of the USA, the company said that “interest rates appear to be trending downward and vessel owners still want slips in popular markets”.
This divide in fortunes between big and small marinas was also reflected by Hazelett Marine, who described the state of their customers’ current marine business as cautiously optimistic. “The marina businesses we work with remain strong as yachts and superyachts continue to require additional berthing capacity. However, the smaller recreational boating market is less positive due to high inventory levels and elevated boat prices,” said Todd Harris, vice president of business development.
Similarly, Greg Williams of Morgan Marine Salvage & Recovery noted that the trend of smaller facilities being purchased by larger marina groups could be construed as “losing the local owner touch”. He cautioned that marinas that are not selling will have to compete with locations with more resources to invest, which are invariably larger in size and scope.
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Withstanding the elements
The divide between north and south and big and small was reflected in the words of Max Brown of GCM/ASAR, a leading producer and builder of automated drystack facilities based in Fort Myers, Florida. They have seen a “dramatic increase in potential clients, sales inquiries, programming and planning sessions” across Florida, South Carolina, Texas and the Chesapeake Bay Area.
Notably, their flagship Gulf Star Marina in Fort Myers withstood the devastating Hurricane Ian in September 2022 and now serves as a proof-of-concept for a hurricane-resistant drystack building. Similarly, Golden Marine Systems’ products “stood up” to hurricanes Ian, Helene and Milton, according to Mike Shanley, “while others in the same area were completely devastated”. He noted that business continues to be strong with high percentage increases in business year on year.
The increasing strength and frequency of hurricanes in the southeastern US does not appear to be dissuading boaters from taking to the water. Rather, innovations in marina resilience are securing near-year-round boating despite the consequences of climate change. However these innovations can only be useful if marina owners have the funds to invest in them.
Todd Harris of Hazelett Marine confirmed the pressure on suppliers to provide stronger systems while still remaining competitive: “As large corporations continue investing in waterfront operations, they demand greater efficiency, longer product life and advanced technology to protect their investments. These expectations are increasingly extending to independently owned marinas as well. To make these investments bankable, suppliers must find ways to deliver more performance with less and lower overall costs.”
Meanwhile, Greg Williams of Morgan Marine said that “newer and improved building techniques will make them stronger during weather events, but if maintenance is not followed, they will fall into disrepair like any other”.
Marina Dock Age’s 2025 annual survey of the US marina industry highlighted the increasing vulnerability of marinas to both extreme weather events and their associated costs. Around 45 percent of respondents said that their marina had been affected by some form of climate event in 2025, including flooding, low water levels, wind storms or ice. Meanwhile, 50 percent of respondents said that their docks - arguably the most critical piece of marina infrastructure - were over 10 years old and 25 percent said their docks were over 20 years old.
Arguably more concerning was the reported age of marinas’ vital storm defences. Over 67 percent of respondents said that their breakwater, seawall or attenuator is over 10 years old, and around 12 percent said it was over 30 years old. Almost six percent said that their storm breakwater, seawall or attenuator was over 50 years old.
Ageing infrastructure combined with intensifying storms is being reflected in marinas’ expenses, which would naturally affect smaller, private facilities with limited resources more than larger players with institutional backing. 73.2 percent of respondents to Marina Dock Age’s 2025 survey highlighted insurance as having increased over the last year, while 69.3 percent said that maintenance costs had increased. Staffing costs and utilities were deemed to have increased by 66.9 percent of respondents.
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Revenue diversification
Mounting cost pressures squeezing smaller facilities has opened the door to great interest from larger corporate conglomerates with the funds and long-term business case to invest in, upgrade and diversify marinas’ business models. Greg Williams of Morgan Marine recognised that most of the large groups will invest and upgrade the facilities and make them more of a destination, and although this is a trend that can of course be observed worldwide, it is most feverish in the USA.
Max Brown of GCM/ASAR noted the “rising interest in destination location marinas and mixed use facilities”, adding that marinas are looking for new ways to bring in revenue. “Many are asking questions like: How do they attract the crowd and create a buzz?” he said. “Do they add an amenity or two, do they redevelop, or should they expand to other locations as a result of their current success? How do they create a thriving environment for their team members and patrons while reducing cost and protecting their facility and patron’s assets? Owners and developers want to diversify their revenue streams and keep the waterfront activated year-round.”
Mike Shanley of Golden Marine Systems agreed. “The marina business is hot,” he said. “Institutional investors have now long realised the strong upside of marinas and the opportunities to cash in on both operational returns and increased asset values. Larger companies that are acquiring these assets are bringing in new excitement with programmes that create a destination type of atmosphere.”
“These trends have only enhanced our business because the companies who are consolidating and acquiring multiple marinas are investing in redevelopments and capital expenditure programmes,” Shanley added. “This in turn creates business for Golden as a supplier of boat lifts, floating docks and gangways.”
On their part, Bellingham Marine believes that marina consolidation demonstrates that the industry is healthy and attractive to investors. They said that marinas “can make some of the largest returns on investments because of the many opportunities they give to the general public”, noting that waterfronts are opening up for sightseeing, shopping, waterfront dining, community events and boaters.
Other challenges
Labour remains a “constant challenge” for GCM/ASAR, according to Max Brown, and “especially for specialised sectors of the marine industry”. Meanwhile, Todd Harris of Hazelett Marine noted that the company “is in a small market and it is difficult to find experienced people”, a difficulty they have confronted by expanding their business development group and hiring experienced industry leaders who have firsthand knowledge of challenges.
Mike Shanley of Golden Marine Systems agreed that skills shortages do indeed exist, but said that they are “manageable”. Tariffs and the rising costs of material constitute the only “real challenge”, he argued.
“Marina projects take months to develop and with the quickly changing price increases in material it becomes challenging to navigate,” he said. “Regulations and governance are a historical issue as agencies take a lot of time to approve and permit projects. This creates a set of challenges for the marina owners in the way of increased costs for permitting and of loss revenue.”
Morgan Marine has also learned to work with these kinds of delays and managed to retain their skilled workforce thanks to consistent work. “In this line of work government bottlenecks are expected and we plan accordingly as many of our county, state and federal jobs must pass multiple departments for the proper approval,” said Greg Williams.
That said, Hazelett Marine has chosen to reduce overall project costs and extend product life by developing all their new materials and modern manufacturing technologies in the US, noting that meeting a very aggressive four-week project timeline for Brooklyn Bridge Marina would have been extremely difficult with products that were not manufactured in the United States.
