Miami

Miami is the southern half of the South Florida superyacht corridor and the host city of the Miami International Boat Show every February (now the Discover Boating Miami International Boat Show, held across Miami Beach Convention Center, Herald Plaza, and Yacht and Brokerage Show sites). Miami balances Fort Lauderdale's refit-and-storage gravity with a stronger guest-facing and resident-fleet profile, particularly for sport-fishing chase boats and centre-console day boats that work Biscayne Bay and run offshore to the reef line. The February show is the city's primary tender brokerage window, drawing buyers and trade ahead of the spring repositioning.

Local stock leans heavily towards Intrepid, HCB, Yellowfin, and Boston Whaler in the chase-boat segment, plus Magnum and Cigarette in the high-performance category that has long been associated with the city. Resident programmes here run their tenders harder year-round than seasonal Med fleets, so the pre-owned market turns over steadily rather than in a single autumn pulse, and limousine tenders are mostly imported to order rather than carried as local stock. Most heavy refit work gravitates 30 miles north, which keeps the Miami market weighted towards sales, dockage and light service rather than full yard projects.

Miami's role in a tender programme is best understood as complementary to Fort Lauderdale rather than competing with it. The February show is the buying and reveal event, the city is where guest-facing day boats are operated and demonstrated, and the resident dealer and performance-boat trade is deep, but the serious haul-outs, repaints and systems refits move up the coast. A practical pattern for a South Florida winter is to base and operate out of Miami, close a tender purchase around the boat show, and schedule any structural or paint work into a Fort Lauderdale yard slot before the yacht repositions.

• RMK Merrill-Stevens (Miami River) runs the largest in-city yard with two travel lifts (the larger at 350 tonnes after 2022 expansion).
• Apex Marine and Jones Boat Yard (Miami River) for smaller refit and mechanical work.
• Universal Marine Center for chase-boat-scale work.
• For larger refit, most yachts move 30 miles north to Fort Lauderdale (LMC, Bradford) or two hours north to Derecktor Florida.

The Miami River yards suit tender-scale engine, paint and electronics work that can be turned without sending the boat to Fort Lauderdale, but the river's bridge schedule and shoaling dictate timing, so book transits and lifts against a firm date rather than assuming on-demand access. For chase-boat and centre-console work the local network is strong, with factory-trained outboard and rigging technicians available through the dealer base, which is the segment most resident Miami programmes actually run. The decision rule is straightforward: keep light service and any chase-boat work in Miami, and send full repaint, structural or major systems projects north where the lift capacity and contractor depth are greater.

Federal customs treatment matches Fort Lauderdale: HTS 8903 import duty of 1.5% for vessels over 5m, with TIB and Cruising License options for foreign-flagged yachts. Florida sales tax runs at 6%, capped at $18,000 per vessel transaction (Miami-Dade County adds a 1% surtax with the same cap). The City of Miami and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission enforce strict manatee idle-speed zones across Biscayne Bay; tender operators routinely receive citations for non-compliance, and brief crews on the zone boundaries before a charter rather than after the first fine. See our tender import VAT note for cross-Atlantic considerations.