Boats break. That means replacement parts are a fact of life. Chandleries provide this lifeblood and more. The Budget Marine Group, a major chandlery group headquartered in St. Maarten with 12 Caribbean locations spanning from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Trinidad & Tobago and Aruba, announced a shareholder change. The Aruban retail specialist, Smart Industry Business Solutions, has purchased a significant share in the main shareholding of the Group and has provided retail and IT consultancy and facilitated improved financing. This has enabled the Budget Marine to recover from the recessionary period caused by the damages to some of its locations by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and to enjoy an excellent winter season.
“The story of chandleries in the Caribbean is about getting the best possible inventory to match each of the small markets in the region who are divided by complex customs arrangements,” says founder, Robbie Ferron, who continues to lead the flagship store and the Group’s main distribution center in St Maarten. “Budget Marine has harnessed numerous systems to optimize this complex calculation. A new system introduced in 2015 was just starting to move to a high level when Hurricane Irma presented a totally different set of problems. The beginning of 2019 finds the Group putting these problems behind us with a new shareholder with deep systems experience in retail and the Caribbean business environment, which is giving a huge boost to the effective implementation of these systems. This in turn will optimize the best inventory that can be economically made available.”
Thank you to All at Sea for the article.
