Ocean Independence is a privately owned superyacht brokerage, charter and management company who have made it their policy to be frank and open about their business. This means that all of their clients benefit from full transparency and clear information about who they rely on as well as maximum discretion when it comes to how they choose to conduct their yachting activities.
At the end of 2009, with a company that had grown rapidly from it’s definitive inception as Ocean Independence (OCI) in 2005, the two managing partners decided to put pen to paper to create a factual article in the company newsletter, one that could be easily referenced by the over 70 strong team worldwide and clients alike, and they are happy to share some of these insights with you in this article.
Company ownership
OCI has seven shareholders, the two managing partners Peter Hürzeler and Nicholas Dean hold a clear majority of shares, one major shareholder has a 20 percent stake and four further shareholders together hold just above 10 percent. All subsidiaries and agencies are 100 percent owned and/or controlled by Ocean Independence (except where local laws require a specific shareholding). True to their motto their worldwide office network offers ‘global vision. local insight.’ but, and this is where it counts, their ownership structure allows them to speak with one voice.
A little history
Managing Partners Peter Hürzeler and Nicholas Dean both have fond childhood memories of sailing, Nicholas on the beautiful coasts of his native southern England and Peter in dramatic Scandinavia on annual holidays from his Swiss home. They both came to the maritime industry early in their careers; Nicholas at the age of 19 started as a berthing attendant at the newly completed Brighton Marina, a position which almost instantly led also to yacht broking, and Peter aged 21 became a merchant deck officer, a post which saw him circumnavigate the globe, complete his Dutch Master Mariner certificate and clock up thousands of sea-miles.
Over the next 10 years each worked hard, learnt a lot and grew ever more knowledgeable in the maritime field and then along came the 1980s and a desire for something different, something bigger – in short, ambition.
In 1987 Nicholas joined a large yacht brokerage firm where over the next 17 years he saw the incredible growth of the industry, for seven of these years he was on the board of MYBA (Mediterranean Yacht Brokers Association), where he twice assisted in rewriting the standard MYBA Charter Agreement and as head of the Tax and Law Committee, concluded negotiations with the French government to facilitate chartering in French territorial waters. Then in April 2004 he decided it was time for a break which led to the start of his own venture Port Folio Yachts.
For Peter this was also a time of change when with his brother Hans (a maritime lawyer) and some friends, they created one of the first owner-operated commercial sailing charter operations. The fleet’s first vessel, SV ‘Colombaio’, was commissioned and constructed in Holland, breaking new ground for all and hampered by a very tight budget, meaning a lot of mistakes were made, but as Peter says “the exercise had two major benefits; one, he learnt a lot, and two, he met his wonderful wife.” He captained Colombaio from her launch in 1987 until the charter operation grew to three yachts, making him the manager of a small fleet. He then moved his working life ashore forming Ocean Cruise in his home town of Zürich, where with patience, hard work and positive word of mouth he began to grow a charter and brokerage business.
The pair were now long standing colleagues in the intimate world of superyachting and also good friends. Both endeavouring to provide their clients with well-balanced, informed advice and an exceptionally high level of personal service, so inevitably when Peter decided that the time was right to expand on Ocean Cruise it was to Nicholas that he turned in early 2005 and together they masterminded the merger of Ocean Cruise, Sea Independence and Velonà Yachting, to form Ocean Independence, then in 2008 came the further friendly acquisition of long-standing industry associate, Cavendish White meaning that today they manage a 17 location multinational
business.
Today OCI consider themselves to be one of the leading yachting companies worldwide – but are they really? Perhaps not if you only look at marketing expense or overall company running cost, however when it comes to the important facts: sales and charters concluded; exclusive listings and overall performance, the conclusion is different.
OCI has the second largest charter fleet of crewed luxury yachts worldwide, or if you look at the total length of the fleet they are fourth, with the fourth largest fleet of yachts for sale worldwide, both in number and length.
Do these large numbers stand in the way of quality of service? OCI strive to retain their high standards in parallel with the growth of their fleets, and owners are voting with their feet with both sales and charter fleets growing in 2009. The charter fleet lost only 12 existing yachts (known as Central Agencies or CAs), four of which were sold; retained 67 and gained 28, meaning that 90 percent of their yacht owners give them a strong vote of confidence, many also recommending them to other yacht owners, a major factor in the 35 percent growth of the fleet. Then looking at their sales fleet, they started 2009 with 70 vessels (50 motor yachts and 19 sailing yachts). During 2009 they sold six of these (along with 11 other yachts), 17 were withdrawn from sale and they gained 48 new listings. The increase alone in the value of their sales CA list was €266,000,000. Nicholas and Peter continue to run the company as equal managing partners from their respective bases in the UK and Switzerland and instil enthusiasm, loyalty and a desire for excellence in both their team and their discerning clients.
Contact: Tel: +41 44 390 25 75; info@ocyachts.com; www.oceanindependence.com