South Florida Marina Slip Rates Hit New Highs in 2026

Premier marina facilities from Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach are charging slip rates that would have been unthinkable five years ago, with some dockage for vessels over 150 feet now running north of $100 per linear foot per month at the most sought-after locations along the coast.

The numbers tell the story of a market that refuses to cool. Broward County alone has more than 50,000 registered vessels competing for finite water access, and the largest of those boats — the 100-foot-plus superyachts that drive outsized revenue for marinas — are booking seasonal berths earlier and staying longer. Operators at Lauderdale Marine Center, one of the largest full-service superyacht facilities in the world, say occupancy for the first quarter of 2026 has been running at or near capacity.

“We’re not just full — we have a waitlist for refit work that stretches into the fall,” said one senior operations manager at a major Fort Lauderdale yard who spoke on condition of anonymity because the facility doesn’t authorize public rate disclosures. “The boats that came in after the show last year, some of them haven’t left.”

That show is the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, the world’s largest in-water boat show, which draws tens of thousands of buyers, brokers, and tire-kickers to multiple marina venues across the city each fall. FLIBS has long served as the unofficial starting gun for South Florida’s marine season, and the 2025 edition, held in late October, generated strong contract activity on both new builds and brokerage listings, according to multiple yacht brokers working the docks.

The ripple effects land squarely on the 17th Street Causeway marina corridor, one of the densest concentrations of marine services anywhere on earth. The stretch between the Intracoastal Waterway and the ocean inlet is home to shipyards, brokerage offices, marine electronics shops, rigging lofts, and fuel docks — an entire supply chain packed into a few waterfront blocks. When business is good on that corridor, the numbers show up across Broward County’s marine economy.

Bradford Marine, another legacy Fort Lauderdale yard on the corridor, has been investing in haul-out capacity and covered work bays to handle demand. Farther north, Rybovich in West Palm Beach continues to attract the largest yachts on the water, with its deep-water basin and proximity to Palm Beach’s high-net-worth client base giving it a competitive edge for vessels over 200 feet.

IGY Marinas, which operates multiple locations along the South Florida coast, has similarly tightened its rate structure. Transient rates at IGY’s top-tier facilities have climbed steadily, with daily rates for megayacht slips reflecting both the real estate value of the waterfront and the limited supply of deep-water berths able to accommodate modern superyachts with beams exceeding 35 feet.

Charter activity is adding another layer of demand pressure. Superyacht charter itineraries through the Florida Keys and into the Bahamas run year-round now, not just during the traditional winter season. That means charter yachts that once freed up summer slips by heading to the Mediterranean are increasingly staying put, basing out of South Florida marinas for Caribbean pickup charters that keep them on this side of the Atlantic through September.

“The days of cheap summer dockage in Fort Lauderdale are behind us,” said a veteran yacht broker with offices on Southeast 15th Street. “If you’re looking for a 200-foot berth from May to October, you’re paying close to what winter rates were three or four years ago.”

None of this means the market is without risk. Insurance costs for waterfront marina properties continue to rise after recent hurricane seasons, and some smaller operators along the New River and in Dania Beach have questioned whether rate increases can continue without pushing mid-market boaters — the 40- to 60-foot crowd — toward trailer storage or dry stack facilities farther from the water.

But for the superyacht segment, the math still works. South Florida has the infrastructure, the climate, the proximity to the Bahamas, and the concentration of marine trades professionals that no other region in the Western Hemisphere can match. As long as that holds, the slip rates are going in one direction.