Grand Harbour Marina plc exploring expansion prospects

The Grand Harbour Marina, which operates the marina at Vittoriosa, believes there are other opportunities in Malta worth exploring, according to general manager Ben Stuart.

"We would like to expand the marina operation, and we believe there are a couple of other sites that could be useful to the yachting industry. We are also looking to expand overseas and together with Campers and Nicholsons, which owns 70 per cent of Grand Harbour Marina, we have placed a bid for a marina in Greece," he tells The Times Business in an interview.

The company's bid for the Kalkara marina earlier this year was unsuccessful, however he says he was comfortable with the bid proposal put in and the figures they were talking about.

"Anything beyond that we do not think would have been feasible for us. However there is a certain amount of synergy with the people who won the tender and I think that's an important aspect."

Mr Stuart says the company has performed well so far this year, despite a challenging environment.

"We've done well even though the environment has been difficult. We don't have much movement of yachts above 40 metres but there's been more this year than last year. One of the big issues we can't control is facilitating these boats to arrive. We had an issue last week when a significantly sized yacht didn't arrive because it was unable to get customs to deliver duty free fuel, even though it was perfectly entitled to it.

"The local agent was very frustrated with the lack of response he was getting from customs and I think there needs to be an understanding at a certain level of the authorities how important it is to have an immediate response to certain requests. In certain areas there is a great response such as the ship registry, which is terrific. The yachting industry can do business in Malta that can't be done in other countries. They almost operate 24 hours a day. It's that kind of flexibility that's needed and I don't think it's good enough to say 'I'll get back to you in two days', because you lose opportunities," Mr Stuart says.

He says the global economic crisis affected the company's performance last year.

"In the winter of 2009 there were very few boats moving around. In the winter of 2010 we saw many more boats moving. They tend to come for a shorter period, an average of 3.2 days at the moment. What we need to attract is a longer stay here, so that's my target now. We market our company intensely and we have a person who specifically markets Malta in the south of France."

He says marketing Malta includes selling the logistical support yachts can expect, the fact that the country is English speaking and that Malta has great connectivity in terms of scheduled flights, which he says are all "great assets".

"One can almost say that most flights south of Rome are seasonal flights, while here they are almost all year round, which is fantastic. The airport is 15 minutes away from the marina, so we have a lot of advantages in terms of our size compared to mainland Europe."

He says the synergy between Campers and Nicholsons and Grand Harbour Marina "works very well".

"Grand Harbour Marina runs the operation here. In terms of looking at appropriate investments abroad Campers and Nicholsons have a business development team who are constantly on the move and they know every business opportunity available. They've done a certain amount of appraisals which means they know where the good opportunities lie.

"It's quite a job to run a marina and so very few individually owned marinas have the ability to market themselves worldwide. We can make use of Campers and Nicholsons' infrastructure worldwide, and that is a huge benefit. They recently brought over a Chinese delegation to visit Grand Harbour Marina and if we were not part of this huge group such a business delegation would never have come here," he says.

Mr Stuart believes Grand Harbour Marina offers clients an excellent service. He emphasises that he has been to many marinas in the Mediterranean and Malta and Grand Harbour Marina have an advantage over these places in terms of the infrastructure.

"Some of the services we provide here can't be found in many other places. For example we give complimentary WiFi to all our customers in the marina and it's a very good quality WiFi. We also do black and grey water pump out which means that people can use their bathroom facilities on the boat and waste is then pumped out discretely into our infrastructure which is inlaid into the quay. That makes a big difference. It's obviously very unattractive to have a bowser and a big pump doing the job.

"We have excellent electricity and it's monitored every day, and we invest a lot of time and effort in that. However, electricity is expensive in Malta, and that's something that is of concern to us. In fact we lost a couple of boats last year because of electricity prices. We provide a telephony service as well, so every boat that comes in receives a phone and it's similar to a hotel exchange where clients can phone the reception and can make outside calls."

Mr Stuart says that this year the company has invested in a lot in staff training with a view to adding value to the service provided to clients.

He says the value one gets for what he pays at Grand Harbour Marina is "fantastic" and the feedback from clients has been "terrific". Mr Stuart shows me a batch of Guest Satisfaction Questionnaires which all clients fill in prior to their departure, all of which rate the services offered by the marina as well as the overall marina experience very highly.

He also shows me the latest copy of the Yachting Monthly magazine, which published a letter from a certain Nigel Eden, the owner of the Peace Of Eden yacht which berthed at Grand Harbour Marina earlier this year, and which was full of praise for the marina.

Mr Eden began his letter by saying: "I have been a Yachting Monthly subscriber for maybe 30 years but until not have not had sufficient cause to write in; from time to time however you have published 'letters of praise' which is why I am writing now!"

Mr Eden, whose yacht encountered some technical problems, heaped praise on Mr Stuart and his staff for the help he received while at the marina.

"The help, patience and professionalism was outstanding and has continued throughout my stay in what is a wonderful location. Happily all jobs are now complete which brings me on to mention also the contacts given by Ian and his equally helpful boss Ben Stuart.

"By far and away this has been the best experience in the Med from Ray the engineer to Mario the electrician come magician to Kurt for instruments, Christian the rigger and the list goes on," Mr Eden wrote.

Mr Stuart says such a letter is a great credit to the staff at Grand Harbour Marina. "I am proud to say that is part of our normal conduct with all our clients and is a good example of why Malta can be great."

He says that while feedback from clients is positive, there are always improvements that can be made.

"One is the provision of trolleys for boats, which we intend to implement. Also, we need to separate our waste. At the moment Malta as a nation doesn't really do a good job of separating waste. I am personally reluctant to do anything until the infrastructure is in place, but we have already done the designs of the waste separation area, and a soon as the infrastructure from Wasteserv and the government is in place as a nation, then in a couple of weeks we will get the ball rolling."

He adds that Grand Harbour Marina takes its social responsibility very seriously.

"We have three councils in what was a very hard done by area of Malta. We get on very well with all three councils, especially the Vittoriosa council, and I recently met the mayors of Cospicua and Senglea to discuss ways of co-operation. They are terrific.

"We support all three local councils, we fund the Vittoriosa football nursery, we assist the boat owners and people of Senglea in areas including the welfare of their children, and we're currently discussing how we can help Cospicua. In terms of social responsibility we believe in investing in children and education," he points out.