Finding a Boat Dealer

It has become clear to us that some boat dealers are just not interested in setting up any decent technical capability to support the boats they sell. While there is nothing sinful about making a profit, these dealers are putting the industry in a bad light. New boaters are discouraged by the lack of support and perceived high cost of up-keeping their boats. They may have bought a "wrong" boat and regret their decision to rush into buying one. They may have bought a nightmare instead of a dream boat, not realising the cost of maintenance involve. These problems are compounded by the unrealistic expectation and sometimes misleading perception created by dealers eager to clinch that deal. However, not all dealers are bad. There are one or two good ones we come across in Singapore. Drop us a note if you are interested to find out who they are.

Manage Your Cost

A trip to visit customer could be less costly than you think, if you take some time to plan your route and visiting time. Here are some tips before your next visit:

If you travel eastbound along AYE, there is an ERP gantry between Portsdown Road and Alexandra Road. Go before 0800 or after 0930. Otherwise, expect to pay as much as $1.50.

If you travel westbound using KPE to connect to ECP, go before 0730 or after 0930. Otherwise, expect to pay as much as $3.

If you travel westbound along ECP, there is an ERP gantry after Tanjong Rhu Flyover. Go before 0730 or after 0930. Otherwise, expect to pay as much as $3.

If you travel southbound along CTE, there is an ERP gantry between AMK Ave 1 and Braddell Road. Go after 1100. Otherwise, expect to pay as much as $2.50.

Except for One15 Marina which charge on per entry basis, time your length of stay carefully to avoid extra parking fees. The average expenditure per visit (AEPV) for each marina is as follows:

One15 Marina: $9
RSYC: $5
MKB: $6.08

note: AEPV is defined as one trip, one vehicle with 4 hr stay.

It pays to plan before your buckle up!

Improving Volvo Penta Service in the Marine Leisure Market

Critical mass is absolutely essential in improving Volvo Penta's customer service in the marine leisure market.

Since we began our dealership towards the end of 2006, we have done a total of 30 PDC. However, only about 10 of these boats are still actively being used. 10 boats are just not enough to sustain the business. A good market size should be 25 - 30 boats, based on our current manpower set-up. A bigger overall pool of boats carrying Volvo Penta engines is therefore needed.

How do we increase the pool of Volvo Penta engines when we do not sell boats? In-directly, we could help the dealers through sales, technical and operational support. Starting this year, we will embark on a campaign to engage boat dealers to highlight to them the technology, operating features and benefits of boats fitted with Volvo Penta engines. These dealers may not be aware of Volvo Penta's green commitment; they may not be very familiar with new features available such as Dynamic Positioning, Low-speed & Sportfish mode; they may not know that Volvo Penta engines are more fuel efficient, have lower CO2 emissions, and are quieter.

Our current modus operandi is very reactive i.e. we react only to customer complaint. We are often one step behind, responding to a no-win situation because boat dealers have wrongly committed through ignorance, or over committed in the eagerness to close the sale. By engaging boat dealers out front, we could reduce if not eliminate this problem. After all, keeping good relationship with boat dealers should be helpful when we have to solve teething problem subsequently.

Apart from boat dealers, we will engage boat owners and set ourselves as KPI, owners' willingness to use Volvo Penta engines in his next boat. We have come up with customer loyalty programme to reward customers that stay with us. This could be extended to customers who owned boats with Volvo Penta engine before.

With sufficient market size, we could invest in more manpower (quantity and more importantly quality); increase our inventory for shorter turn-around time; and be more proficient in our work. All these will lead to improved service and greater customer satisfaction.

Buying a Boat

Buying a boat in Singapore has never been easier. There's plenty to choose from. Most of the top European and US brands are represented here. Before you buy, you could also rent or charter to have a taste of what it's like and find out what suites you.

A few important questions you have to ask yourselves before signing that cheque: will I be using the boat just around the waters nearby or cruising grounds overseas? how many people will I carry? can I handle and maintain the boat myself or I need to hire help?

Choosing a good boat dealer that provides objective opinion is therefore very important. A good dealer will also provide after sale support, which is critical during and after the warranty period.

If you have been thinking of a boating lifestyle, the coming boat show from 15 - 18 Apr should be a good place to start.

What's up 2010

Due to the difficult market condition, the company had to make some painful changes towards the end of 2009. Some of the staff were made redundant. Some were asked to take leave due to insufficient work. It was definitely a painful period for all.

The dreadful 2009 was finally over. So far, things seemed to be looking up after a busy Jan. We have a leaner but by no means less capable team, ready to tackle new challenges. Emphasis will be on productivity. We will continue to work on improving our core competency. We will continue to establish ourselves as a leader in the service and repair business for RIB; diesel engine for leisure boating; and yacht services for privately owned boats.

However, the recovery of our business depends very much on the economic condition. We hope that market will improve and more people will take up boating.

Where Do Old Boats Go

Have you ever wondered what happens to boats that nobody wants. When you are tired of your existing boat or done with boating as a whole, what do you do with your boat if you couldn't sell?

If the hull is made of steel or aluminium, there is a chance of selling the hull for scrape. If the hull is made of composite material such as fibreglass, the material of choice for most pleasure boats these days, you might end up paying some one to chop her into pieces before throwing into the city dump.

Alternatively, you could follow irresponsible owners by abandoning your boat at the marina and left for the marina staff to deal with. Just go around SAFYC and MCC and you will know what I mean.

If your boat has a classic look, its always much easier to find a buyer who appreciates its design. With some restoration, it is possible to make her look new again. My favourites are trawler and sailing yachts. They never look dated. Also, being in the RIB business, I naturally like RIB too. We do a lot of restoration work lately, putting new tubes on old RIBs and make them new again.

So before you make the choice of buying your dream boat, think about the environmental impact that your decision will bring.

Review 2009

2009 has been a very difficult year for all in the boating industry and Gemini Marine was not spared from the economic down turn. RIB project had come to a complete halt as customers across the board cut back on spending. Many shipyards we dealt with were in the verge of collapse. Whatever little enquires we received were treated with up most caution, fearing that subsequent collection might be a problem. Of all the business segments, leisure business was the hardest hit. New boats were not coming in and existing boat owners were not spending or using their boats as often.

Despite the slow down, we have achieved significant improvements in a few selected fields within our core businesses. Instead of building RIB, we responded to customers' demand to re-build their old RIB by making new tubes to replace worn out ones. Tube manufacturing was something unique that we were really good at. It became a viable business during the crisis due to the number of re-tubing jobs we got. It has greater export potential than building RIB so it has become our main engine of growth for the coming years.

Another area that we have done well was diesel engine servicing. Due to falling number of servicing assignments for Volvo Penta engines, we were forced to take on engines of other brands. We did a few Cummins, a few Yanmars and a lot of Kohler gensets. The experience we gained in these jobs were invaluable and definitely helpful in making us better mechanics in the long run.

The economic crisis had forced us to focus on things we do really well and we will work on being the market leader in these areas. The changes we made to cope with the hard times will make us emerge stronger than before. Fortunately, the worst seemed to be over and we should have a better year next.

We wish everyone a happy and better New Year ahead!