Kadey-Krogen Yachts and American Tugs filed Chapter 7 in July. Buyers are out their deposits, a Taiwanese yard is owed more than $1.5 million, and the owners left behind have no factory to call.

This is episode one of The Current, the weekly marine industry news show for the people who keep boats running. Techs, shop owners, surveyors, fleet operators, and whoever is standing at the parts counter.

In this episode

Trade desk

• Canada's counter-tariffs take effect September 8. Rates run 15 to 50 percent across $27.6 billion of American goods. Fish and recreational boats are off the list. US-origin boat trailers take 25 percent, non-portable stoves and ranges built for boats take 25 percent, and certain iron and steel articles used to build and repair engines for commercial fishing vessels take 50 percent. NMMA flagged a wider group exposed because the tariff codes are written broadly: aluminum, steel, marine electronics, hardware and pumps, seating, lighting, refrigeration, onboard appliances, and manufacturing tooling.
• New US Section 338 tariffs catch some Canadian marine goods, including floating docks, certain vessels, and electronics.
• Express Fasteners sued in the US Court of International Trade in January, arguing Customs applied Section 232 steel tariffs to the entire value of an imported fastener instead of the steel inside it, acting on an unpublished December internal memo rather than proper rulemaking. Those tariffs hit 50 percent in June. No ruling yet.
• 55 idle container ships worldwide. Verify part lead times instead of assuming them.
• Panama Canal drought has the canal rationing daily transits and cutting maximum draft. One operator paid a record $5.3 million at auction to jump the queue for a September 1 slot, beating a $4.6 million record set earlier the same month. Ships arriving without reservations have waited up to 11 days.

Business desk

• Kadey-Krogen Yachts and American Tugs filed Chapter 7 liquidation in July, taking down both brands. Court filings show more than $1.5 million owed to the Taiwanese yard building the hulls going back to October 2024, plus $327,000 in Washington state back taxes reaching to November 2024.
• West Marine announced on August 24 that it completed its Chapter 11 restructuring. One vendor, David Kelton of American Blue Claw, was owed about $12,000 and received 6.6 percent of it, roughly $800.
• MarineMax agreed to a $1.5 billion all-cash sale involving Safe Harbor and its parent Blackstone.
• Sundance Marine in Grand Junction, Colorado changed hands this month. Vision Marine entered a letter of intent structured as a reverse takeover.
• Info-Link data through May shows new boat registrations for boats 15 feet and over running 4.3 percent below the 12-month rolling average at 213,549 across all segments. Freshwater fishing boats are the only segment up, at 1.2 percent.
• Yamaha's marine connected boat division brought Skipperi into its boat club lineup, aimed at helping dealers build recurring revenue instead of relying on unit sales.

Policy and workforce

• Senator Tim Kaine and Representative Bobby Scott toured Volvo Penta's North American headquarters in Virginia to look at how the company trains its skilled workforce. NFIB reports 32 percent of small business owners cannot fill positions and 19 percent name labor quality as their biggest problem.

Waterfront

• Northwest Marine Trade Association's Marina and Boatyard Conference runs October 6 to 8 in Washington. Early pricing ends September 1.
• Fall show season is on track: Fort Lauderdale in October, IBEX in Tampa, Miami early next year. Marine Diagnostic Tools will be at IBEX and Miami.

What it adds up to

1. Finding work...

• (00:00:03) - The Current
• (00:01:54) - Marine Business: Two Builders Go Under, West Marine Res
• (00:04:38) - Canada's Counter-Tariffs on US Marine Goods
• (00:06:32) - 3 Ways Customs Is Overcharging for Steel Products
• (00:07:20) - Marine Mechanics: Boats Sales Down
• (00:08:21) - Yamaha Expands Boat Club Platform, and More
• (00:10:26) - Marine Max Sale, Bulk Carrier Goes Down in the Bay of
• (00:12:28) - Marine Diagnostic Tools
• (00:14:36) - Three Things to Watch Out For in the Boat Industry
• (00:15:46) - Fourth Takeaway: Canada's Counter Tariffs on Trailers,
• (00:17:16) - The Current