Korea is a water borne country of some 4,000 islands with only two functional marinas. Through our own industry research into Korean Maritime leisure, we find there will be an influx of marina development projects in the near future.

Marina development in Korea faces three problems.

- Available land
- Large tidal variation
- Long lead times for construction

A marina is more than just a pontoon system. A functional marina comprises a breakwater to protect the vessels, the pontoon system to house the vessels, a club house and retail tourism precinct, fuel reservoir and associated support facilities. The Ocean Space system provides for all of these in a turn key self contained unit.

Marinas are often located in prime port side locations. In Korea these locations are already developed and reclamation of the existing properties poses considerable political difficulty and financial overhead. The Ocean Space system allows a marina to be located anywhere there is clear portside berthing. The Ocean Space system can literally be berthed in prime locations with very little alterations required on land other than car parking space.

In many Korean cities water depths are in excess of seventeen meters with tide ranges up to six meters. To develop a standard marina would require considerable rock wall works needing long lead times and large SOC costs. The Ocean Space system is a floating static level system that does not require fixed location break waters. The entire marina floats with the tide giving a calm consistent berthing condition for vessels irrespective of the surrounding tide and weather conditions.

One of the major concerns facing Korea right now is the potential for organic growth of the domestic maritime industry. If you consider statistics alone, Korea has a population of 48 million people and only fifty nine vessels in excess of thirty feet. In comparison, Australia has a population of 22 million people and 660 thousand vessels, thirty thousand of which are over thirty feet. Regardless of the growth model you use, Korea faces the problem of providing enough facilities of a sizable nature to allow for that growth. A fixed break wall system such as is currently available in the market place would limit that growth and pose the difficulty of modelling marina's on-potential demand over a twenty year period. It is our opinion that gauging such demand would be extremely difficult. The modular nature of the Ocean Space system will mean that initial demand can be met with simple units and then further modules can be added quite easily without the related expansion difficulties and infrastructure mentioned earlier in this report.

Indications are that the Korean maritime leisure industry will grow fast. Building traditional marinas will not meet with the demand and may stagnate or at least hinder the development of the industry. The Ocean Space system production lead time is simply limited by the time required to build the civil structure. Lead times in this manner would be significantly reduced from years to months.

Other than visual appeal, it is our opinion that the Ocean Space system provides Korean Maritime leisure with the opportunity for rapid growth, reduced cost of development and a functional system that could be applied to any location in Korea.

With a successful track record in Korea this system also has the potential for export to locations where the cost of developing a standard system could not be considered.