Marine facilities are responsible for keeping state waters and shorelines clean, healthy, and vibrant. The impetus to maintain safe shorelines rests wholly in the hands of marina property management bodies, both private and public, and is critical to the safety of all stakeholders in the marina.
Keeping track of maritime vessels is no small feat. Prioritizing employee health and safety, awareness of local legislation, tracking and maintaining your fleet, and maintaining a stormwater management plan that minimizes pollution are all critical to the success of your marina property management organization.
In the following sections, we outline some best practices to ensure your maritime endeavors are compliant with industry best practices.
6 Marina Management Best Practices
Managing a fleet of watercraft and keeping your customers and staff happy and safe requires a lot of resources. Follow these best practices so you can protect your marina investments and build a secure, compliant community for boaters:
1. Prioritize Employee Health and Safety
Employee health and safety are critical to fleet management, and require the proper equipment, which includes:
- High-visibility clothing;
- Life-jackets;
- Gloves;
- Overalls;
- Non-slip footwear;
- Safety helmets; and
- Intrinsically safe (IS) torches or working lights.
Health checks, training, and regular refresher training are also incredibly important to maintain safety on deck.
Ensuring employee health and safety can also be facilitated by cultivating a safety-first culture within your fleet. Encouraging employees’ active contributions to that culture is one way to ensure buy-in and participation.
When employees are empowered to monitor the workplace and contribute to safety efforts, they are more likely to comply. Implementing positive reinforcement programs can encourage employees to make health and safety the number one priority.
2. Be Aware of Local Legislation
In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates vessels, marinas, and ports. Specifically, they monitor vessel discharges, marine engines, marinas, ports, international waters, and cross-cutting issues like vessel disposal or aquatic nuisance species. For overall United States regulation, they are the point of information.
The United States Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration is also a good place to look for staying up to date on the latest marina management news. They provide information on the legislation concerning deepwater ports licensing, emergency preparedness and response, the national port readiness network (NPRN), cargo preference, domestic shipping, the American Fisheries Act, the Marine Highway Program, international activities, agreements, and maritime industry advisories, among other things.
Additionally, make sure your vehicle fleet is ready for the new Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) rule mandating the use of Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs). Download our fact sheet to learn more.
In short, there are a lot of rules surrounding marina management best practices. Be sure that you and your employees are all aware of the national and local legislation to avoid any penalties and remain in operation.
3. Install Tracking GPS Devices to Your Fleet
Installing GPS tracking systems and devices to your fleet will help keep your marina management operations secure and efficient. Whether you are using location tracking to monitor a vehicle, employee, or other high-value assets, you’ll be able to monitor the exact location of every vehicle in your fleet. This can contribute to reduced fuel costs, improved maintenance scheduling, minimized risk of theft, lower insurance costs, and overall increased accountability.
Tracking GPS ensures that you have complete control of your fleet 24/7. You can have a holistic view of where all of your fleets are and ensure they are able to communicate amongst themselves. This allows for the optimization of real-time routes, saving fuel and time.
4. Provide Regular Maintenance to Your Fleet
Installing GPS technology will also allow you to identify when a vehicle may be experiencing technical difficulties, which can be avoided through regular fleet maintenance. Investing in preventative fleet maintenance measures will save you big money in the long term. Well-maintained vehicles burn less fuel overall. They are less likely to break down, and will generally minimize your operating costs.
Be sure you have a rigorous inspection schedule, and a dedicated person to ensure vehicle inspections are up to date. GPS monitoring and telematics can assist here by providing information about devices that aren’t reporting, idle time, and accidents so you can address maintenance issues as they occur.
5. Have a Stormwater Management Plan
The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) provides a part of the EPA’s stormwater program, which includes areas like discharges from construction activities, industrial activities, municipal sources, transportation sources, oil and gas, maintenance and long-term stormwater planning.
Having a stormwater management plan in place is key to maintaining high-level marina management best practices. Urban stormwater is a major source of water pollution and can lead to public health concerns.
Planning for and managing stormwater in the marina will provide you with significant long-term savings and will serve to support a resilient marina that benefits from economic growth and overall quality of health and life for the community.
6. Stop Pollution at the Source With Waste Management and Recycling
Marina pollution prevention and control strategies minimize the generation and transport of pollutants through the replacement of toxic materials and undesirable work practices to mitigate the frequency of spills. This goes beyond having standard operating procedures in place. It involves having a comprehensive strategy, much like devoting time and resources to employee health and safety.
Every marina should inform employees and contractors regarding operational best management practices through continuous orientation and training. Copies of waste management and recycling policies and plans should be readily available in all applicable work areas, and employees should undergo specialized training regarding the handling of fuel, handling of waste, and toxic material use. This helps your team focus on keeping waterways around your marina clean.
Specific best management practices should be included in all marina user contracts, and advisory and warning signs should be posted in all relevant locations. The marina should also have contingency plan materials readily available in the emergency case that a spill occurs. While prevention is ideal, mitigation is also critical to the safety of the marina and the community at large.
Other Fleet Management Tips to Keep in Mind
While the above marina property management principles are extremely important to keep in mind, here are a few more tips to ensure marina property management best practices.
Leverage Geofencing Technology
Protect your marina’s investments with geofencing. Marina water sports and watercraft vessels are expensive and can be associated with many risks. Through the use of GPS tracking, you can create geofences in areas of the marina where certain vessels should not enter.
If a vessel enters a prohibited area, GPS technology can alert you and any associated stakeholders with a warning that the vessel should leave the area. You can even trigger an alarm on the vessel if it overstays its welcome.
This technology can be used to protect vulnerable parts of the marina that may be affected by certain types of motors or vessels. It can also be used to coordinate with law enforcement in case certain vessels are entering private or unauthorized areas of the marina.
Geofencing lets you monitor:
- Arrivals and departures;
- Vessel speed;
- Vessel location;
- Accident location;
- Vessel turns;
- Update rates;
- Water depth.
Require All Customers to Sign Waivers
When it comes to marina property management, marina waivers are a great source of security for marina management. Waivers provide protection for all parties involved in renting vessels in the marina. Marina visitors that charter vessels can be held accountable for any theft or damages that may occur while they are renting, and the waiver is a signed, legal document that confirms their understanding of their responsibility.
Waivers may protect vessel owners from any loss or damage to inventory items, boat propellers, outdrives, charter property, additional users, and other parties. They can also protect vessel owners from responsibility for damage from improper beaching, interior damage from negligent behavior, and anything else that would not normally be covered by marina management insurance.
Use Fleet Management Software
Fleet management software is another way that marina management can protect themselves, vessel owners, property owners, and renters from any unforeseen damage or disputes regarding vessel treatment. Fleet management software is a great asset for marina property management, as it allows managers to track vehicles and drivers whether on land or in the water.
Most fleet management solutions provide a single real-time dashboard to fleet managers to oversee performance and maintenance, so that fleet operations run smoothly. Investing in this software for your marina management can ensure vessel compliance with local regulations (as mentioned above), boater safety, fuel consumption optimization, reduced paperwork, and improved stakeholder satisfaction overall.
There are a lot of considerations when it comes to marina property management. From legislation to logistics, managing a fleet, especially in the marina industry, involves a lot of stakeholders, precautions, and smart investments for accident prevention. Check out Rastrac’s fleet management solutions backed by GPS fleet tracking technology to maximize your marina property management now.
Like what you're reading? Subscribe to our blog.
Get our latest posts straight to your inbox.
Subscribe to Our Blog
