WE ARE sailing into uncharted waters and uncertainty lies ahead.

Business leaders from the maritime and marine sector seem broadly in favour of Britain remaining in the EU but fear the nation is heading for a Brexit.

The Echo spoke to bosses exhibiting at the opening day of Seawork International – Europe’s largest commercial marine and workboat exhibition – taking place in Southampton’s Mayflower Park.

Leaving Europe would not sink the marine and maritime sector but it would create difficulties for the industry which, according to the Solent Local Economic Partnership, employs 40,000 in 3,000 businesses in the region, Exhibition organiser Andrew Webster, chief executive of Fareham-based Mercator Media Ltd, was firmly in the remain camp.

“The EU is fantastic place to trade why would want put that at risk?”

Mr Webster pointed to the fact that around 150 of the 500 exhibitors at the three-day event were from Europe.

“We have European clients here that can get in their van, drive here without having to bother with customs or filling in forms,” said Andrew. “Likewise we run events in Germany and we don’t have to worry about VAT, immigration and frontiers.”

“We could cope with it if we had to come out of the EU but would it be as easy to do business – no!”

Stephen Roper, managing director of marine electronics company SES, which has offices Southampton, declared that he was “firmly in” as much of their business was European based.

“We could be facing up to 10 years of uncertainty while we set up a whole new set of trade agreements,” he said.

Gavin Hussey, managing director of Righton, a national company with offices in Portsmouth, who supply imported stainless steel and aluminium to the marine sector for ship building, said he was neutral and did not feel a Brexit would have a negative impact on trade.

“I think life would go on as before,” he said. “The UK is a market that the Europeans want to sell into.”

Frank Dixie, managing director of Fareham based freight-forwarding firm PSP Logistics, said that Britain was strong enough to survive outside the EU.

“Of course we can negotiate an exit which will be in favour of us,” said Mr Dixie, who believed a Brexit might have a disabling effect on the EU.

PSP director Shaun Parsons was not so sure. “I don’t think the government are capable of brokering a good deal for the country if we come out.”

Ben Metcalfe, managing director of Swanwick--based Landau UK, which supplies and fits electronics and other equipment to vessels in the commercial, defence and leisure sectors, said that his “heart said ‘out’ but his head said ‘in’.

However, he believed his company, which employs 32, could weather any post-Brexit financial storm. “If we do come out it can’t be any worse than the last recession,” he said.

“Businesses will survive but we shouldn’t just be thinking about surviving we should be doing better than that.”

Mr Metcalfe criticised the level of debate in the campaign and said that was lack of unbiased information to help voters decide.

Jeremy Dale, managing director of Seasafe Ltd, which has a workforce of 16 in Cowes making waterproof jackets with built-in lifejackets, agreed that politicians had clouded the issues.

He believed remain was the safer option and raised the issue of security. “I think the EU countries working as one is better than them making war with each other. To me the money we pay into the EU is cheap security.”

Several bosses feared the biggest impact of a Brexit would be a fall in the value of sterling.

Ian Bayliss, managing director of Seacat Services, a wind farm support vessel operator, said that firms who had exposure to the Euro through loans would have to earn more to make their repayment if sterling weakened.

Seacat, based in Cowes, has dealt extensively with German firms in recent years and he was confident that the relationships that had been built up would be unaffected by a Brexit but he cautioned against leaving the EU. “I don’t think we should be trying to fix what isn’t broken.”

Richard Winter, sales director of engine and equipment supplier Ventis Ltd in Southampton, said that as a subsidiary of a Dutch company, they were at the mercy of the exchange rate and would suffer if sterling crashed.

Neil Chapman founder of Boatshed.com , the world’s largest franchise yacht brokerage, said a Brexit could make the sale of used yachts between Britain and Europe more complicated. He also believed uncertainty caused by a Brexit would hit the sale of yachts as they were a luxury item.

Michael Vulliamy, managing director of Southern Ropes, based in Park Gate, was keen to sever ties with the EU.

He believed trade would be unaffected by Brexit and that migration was the deciding factor him. Mr Vulliamy accused the remain camp of dodging the issue. “We are already overcrowded – I have spoken to people have been directly affected by this in a way that politicians haven’t grasped.

“I employ a lot of Polish people and they say the same thing!”