Biz Buzz: Business News for the Marine Industry. Vol 2
- beth443
- 27 minutes ago
- 3 min read
SPF-360's Biz Buzz brings you the Chesapeake buzz about who's making waves, debuting new products, on the move, and more—plus, new places to pick up SpinSheet, PropTalk, and FishTalk.
MAKING WAVES
Training Award
AkzoNobel’s yacht coatings business has been named an EPIC Award winner at this year’s IBEX Show for setting the industry benchmark in training globally. Hundreds of marine industry leaders gathered for the ceremony in Tampa, FL, in October to celebrate organizations shaping the future of the industry through bold leadership, purposeful innovation, and a commitment to positive impact. The EPIC Awards (formerly the Most Innovative Company Awards) is an initiative curated by Soundings Trade Only to highlight the innovations that positively impact the industry, local communities, and the broader global marketplace. AkzoNobel was awarded for excellence in the ‘Training’ category, recognizing the launch of its new Yacht Paint Application Center (YPAC) in the Asia-Pacific region last October to deliver world-class product and technical training. The state-of-the-art facility, located in the world-renowned Gold Coast City Marina in Coomera, includes a mezzanine-level training room, paint mixing room, preparation bays, and an advanced spray booth, and serves as a hub for product education and professional training. Since its launch, the center has hosted multiple training sessions to upskill customers in the region. The YPAC joins AkzoNobel’s extensive portfolio of facilities across the globe, including centers in Southampton, California, and Florida—with the latter regularly training around 100 application professionals each year.
The EPIC Award also recognized the integration of AkzoNobel’s Virtual Reality (VR) Spray Gun technology into their tailored training programs. The technology is changing how expertise is delivered in yacht coatings by removing the need for liquid paint and saving approximately three liters of mixed product per trainee per square meter. Lucy Cater, regional marketing manager of North America at AkzoNobel’s Yacht coatings, said, “We’re proud to have our training excellence recognized by the EPIC Awards, reaffirming our commitment to our customers and our collaborative sustainability standards. This year alone, we’ve seen our customers benefit from our investment in training, and this recognition inspires us to continue setting new standards of innovation and craftsmanship across the global yacht coatings industry.” akzonobel.com
Sustainability Award
Suzuki Marine USA was honored with a 2025 EPIC Award from the editors of Soundings Trade Only magazine. This award, created to honor Exceptional, Purposeful, Innovative, Compassionate companies, was presented during the 2025 International Boatbuilders Exposition and Conference (IBEX) that concluded in October in Tampa, FL. The EPIC awards are judged by a panel of journalists and industry experts who carefully review dozens of nominated companies from all segments of the boating business. Suzuki Marine was chosen as an EPIC Award Winner for the Sustainability category, which was established to “recognize projects that use inventive design to meaningfully reduce harm to the environment, and for developing products with consideration to end-of-life cycles, a thoughtful utilization of materials for packaging, shipping, industrial design, and components.” “We are grateful for this honor and are pleased to see Suzuki Marine’s long-running dedication to sustainability recognized by the industry,” said Brandon Cerka, Suzuki Marine vice president of sales and marketing. “Sustainability is not a one-time project at Suzuki Marine; it is a company-wide commitment. From the Micro Plastics Collecting Device on our outboard motors, to greatly reducing the use of plastics and sourcing more sustainable alternatives, to our focus on sustainable fuels, to cleaning up beaches and waterways across the country, Suzuki Marine is always looking for ways to improve. It’s great to see these efforts recognized, and we hope it provides a strong example for others in the boating industry to follow,” added Cerka. suzukimarine.com
New Places To Pick Up SPF-360 Publications:
Stony’s Dockside Bar and Grill in Norfolk, VA
Molly’s Place in Kennedyville, MD
Go Mart in Church Hill, MD
Fairfield Inn and Suites Annapolis
Residence Inn by Marriott Annapolis
Shady Side Market in Shady Side, MD
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VA Department of Wildlife Resources in Henrico, VA
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Stony’s Dockside Bar and Grill in Norfolk, VA
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