Occupancy is the number every marina owner asks for and the number most likely to mislead them. A facility can report 94 per cent occupied and be leaving six figures a year on the table, because the empty pens are the big ones and the full ones are the small ones. Occupancy by berth count treats a 10-metre pen and a 24-metre hammerhead as equal units. They are not equal units — they are not even in the same business. This article sets out how to measure occupancy honestly, the four numbers that sit alongside it, and what a monthly marina report should contain before an owner or asset manager signs it off.
Measure metres, not berths
Berth-count occupancy is occupied pens divided by total pens. Metre occupancy is occupied berth metres divided by total berth metres. In a mixed-length facility the two diverge sharply, and the gap is where the money is.
Take a 200-berth marina reporting 94 per cent by count: twelve empty pens. If eight of those are 18 metres and above, the metre occupancy might be 88 per cent, and because the long berths carry the highest rate per metre, the revenue occupancy could be closer to 84 per cent. Same marina, same month, three very different conversations with the owner.
- Berth occupancy: occupied pens ÷ total pens. Useful for staffing and amenities load.
- Metre occupancy: occupied metres ÷ total metres. The honest measure of space utilisation.
- Revenue occupancy: contracted revenue ÷ revenue at full tariff. The measure that maps to the P&L.
- Report all three, every month, and never quote one without the others.
Revenue per metre is the comparison metric
Revenue per berth metre per annum lets you compare a 120-berth river marina with a 400-berth harbour facility, compare this year with last, and compare one arm with another. Calculate it on total berthing revenue including casual, divided by total available metres, so that unsold capacity correctly drags the number down.
Split it into contracted and casual. A marina with strong contracted revenue per metre and near-zero casual revenue is not full — it is simply not selling the gaps when owners are away.
Arrears ageing tells you about management, not customers
Every marina has arrears. The distribution matters more than the total. A clean facility has most of its arrears inside 30 days and almost nothing beyond 90. When the 90-plus bucket grows, it is nearly always a process failure: invoices issued late, no automatic reminders, no escalation point, and no one whose job it is to make the call.
Report arrears as a percentage of monthly billing, aged in 30, 60, 90 and 120-plus buckets, with the number of tenants in each. Then report the movement since last month. A static total hiding growing old debt is the classic warning sign in a marina about to have a bad year.
The four leading indicators
Occupancy and revenue are lagging measures — by the time they move, the decision that caused it was made months ago. These four move first.
- Enquiries received and enquiries declined, with the reason: no depth, no beam, no availability, price. This is your capital works business case.
- Waitlist depth by length band. A deep waitlist at 12 metres and an empty one at 20 metres tells you exactly what to do at the next reconfiguration.
- Casual nights sold and casual conversion to contract.
- Notice given and departures by reason. Three departures citing amenities is a maintenance decision waiting to be made.
What belongs in the monthly owner's report
A marina report should be short enough that the owner reads all of it. One page of numbers, one page of narrative, and the evidence attached.
- The three occupancy measures with movement against prior month and prior year.
- Revenue per metre, contracted and casual, against budget.
- Arrears ageing with movement and the specific actions taken on the 90-plus accounts.
- Work orders raised, completed and overdue, with any safety-critical item called out.
- Compliance evidence for the month: dock walks completed, fire equipment servicing, incidents and near misses, insurance certificates expiring in the next 60 days.
- Capital and condition items identified, with an indicative cost and a recommended timing.
- Enquiries, declines and waitlist by band.
Why this matters more when the owner is a fund
Marinas increasingly sit inside property portfolios managed by people who are excellent at real estate and unfamiliar with tidal water, condition risk in marine structures and maritime compliance. Reporting that only shows occupancy and rent looks reassuring right up until a pile survey or a fire audit lands.
Give the asset manager the operating numbers and the condition evidence in the same monthly pack. It protects the asset, it protects the manager, and it makes the profit case for maintenance far easier to argue at budget time.
We report Australian marinas on this exact set every month. Ask us for a sample owner's report built on your facility's berth mix.
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