Marina ownership keeps consolidating: 1,183 sales tracked since 2016
Why this matters
Close to 300 sales in a single year, on top of a decade of steady consolidation, means a shrinking share of marinas stay independently owned. For an operator weighing a sale, or a boater picking where to keep a boat, the buyer on the other side is increasingly a multi-property portfolio company rather than a family business.
Marina World, a trade publication covering the global marina industry, reported on April 20 that its internal tracking database has recorded 1,183 marina and boatyard ownership transactions worldwide between the start of 2016 and the end of the first quarter of 2026, with close to 300 of those sales happening in 2025 alone. The publication said roughly 40 of those deals were international portfolio transactions, in which a single buyer acquired multiple properties at once, together accounting for around 600 marinas and boatyards.
Marina World said it is now tracking 42 portfolio operators in the United States and 23 internationally. Among the deals it cited: Safe Harbor Marinas acquired France’s Monaco Marine in 2025, its first venture into the European market. The article also named Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, Lazard and Moelis as investment banks that have handled confidential sale processes for marina owners weighing an exit.
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- Marina World
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- What a difference a decade makes
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