D-Marin
Is a marine giant. It has 26 marinas throughout the Mediterranean from Spain to Turkey, via Croatia, Greece, Montenegro and Albania, and of course Italy. It turns over 150 million euros each year, but it is mainly wholly owned by CVC Capital Partners, a 186 billion euro asset fund that bought it in 2021.
D-Marin in Italy
D-Marin’s presence in Italy is expanding. On the Peninsula at the moment D-Marin operates Marina Punta Faro in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Marina degli Aregai in Santo Stefano al Mare and Marina di San Lorenzo of the Cozzi Parodi group, as well as Marina di Varazze of Azimut-Benetti.
Just in synergy Azimut within a few years should also be born the new
Marina di Livorno
, work on which has recently begun.
The D-Marin approach wants to lead the company to be like a “luxury hotel chain by the sea.” Definition, this one, that comes directly from Nicolò Caffo, general manager in Italy, interviewed exclusively by Giornale della Vela and Barche a Motore.
The interview with Nicolo Caffo:
“Right now we are working to expand our network of marinas both along the Peninsula and throughout the Mediterranean. Suffice it to say that from 2021, in just three years, we have more than doubled our facilities. The strategy is to continue, following the example of what the big world hotel groups did some 50 years ago. These acquired a large number of hotels and turned them into a chain. This in boating does not yet exist. For Italy in particular, I can say that we are in ‘well started’ negotiations with already two marinas. We are also starting to talk with ten others. In short, we are counting in the short to medium term on doubling the current marinas in Italy, precisely by making them living structures rich in experience. Not a parking lot, in short, but a real resort where people enjoy staying. Above all, we want to follow the trend of high-end hospitality that works so well in Italy today and expand it to the nautical sector also precisely by offering top services.”
So what kind of port target audience are you interested in?
“What we call ‘premium marinas’ and they are basically good-sized marinas, that is, with a few hundred berths, and they still have a few years of concession still ahead of them, so that they can make investments and amortize them. Invest then to provide services of a certain level, say for boats of at least 35 or 40 meters. To give an example, in the ports we have already acquired, we have invested about 10 million euros in technology. These range from wi-fi to a customer management system precisely for large luxury groups.
We have developed website and app from which one can choose and book berths remotely as one does for hotels and airplanes. An important service, in an industry in which people call with the VHF to look for a free berth and stand in line at the office to pay. And again we have developed smart columns with a Qr code that you scan with your smartphone so that you can activate, manage and pay your utilities. Each of our operators is then connected to our system to understand the needs of a shipowner coming from one of our ports and another.”
What do you think is the biggest critical issue for this strategy?
“In Italy, the marine market has historically been in the hands of local entrepreneurs who have a good management approach but very poor in relation to customer orientation. In fact, the yachtsman today also uses the boat as a second luxury home and thus wants to experience it in a real resort that offers services up to the mark. And on this today, unfortunately, Italian navies are still lagging behind. It is a transition that has to take place with an evolution of the market, the very one that we want to bring by creating a network of marinas that are of a high standard and included in a larger context, of a group that can make investments and thus grow in a virtuous circuit.
There is a great need in Italy for this approach to the quality of the tourism experience to help the movement. As is the case in a luxury hotel, the marina should be a central point of the vacation experience, perhaps even offering locations for fine dining and drinking or even tailored concierge services. The opportunity is huge, and we are also riding it to grow the industry. At the moment, moreover, there is excellent feedback from shipowners because they just discover the convenience of in-house managed services. Of course, a total restyling of ports needs to be done in certain cases. In fact we intervene on the structures, with works and with so-called beautification, to make the airports more beautiful and functional. And to do that you need not only capital, but also experience in the field, which we as a European network have extensive.”
