We are pleased to announce that Safe Harbor Marinas has acquired Lauderdale Marine Center (“LMC”), a premier US destination and service provider for the superyacht industry in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The transaction, valued at approximately $340 million, closed on May 3, 2021.

In 1997, LMC brought a new vision to Broward County. That vision was to create the world’s premier superyacht facility right in the heart of Fort Lauderdale. Through years of investment in wet slip and dry storage infrastructure, the team developed world-class operational capacity and honed a unique marketplace model. Today, LMC has a total of 106 slips, employs more than 100 full-time professionals and is home to hundreds of marine industry tenants and contractors.

“We are excited to bring Lauderdale Marine Center and their talented team into the Safe Harbor family,” said Baxter Underwood, CEO of Safe Harbor. “LMC is now connected to our network of superyacht facilities at West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, Old Port Cove, Charleston City, and Newport Shipyard and will help us further grow along the East Coast by providing a world class 60-acre service and repair facility for our members.”

To read the official press release, please click below.

https://shmarinas.com/news/lauderdale-marine-center-joins-safe-harbor-marinas/

Any marina or boatyard owner/operator knows that finding good employees can be compared to searching for a needle in a haystack. But once a good team is established, the next step is providing the appropriate training. Marina Dock Age spoke with the operators of three marine facilities in the U.S. to learn about their employee training practices and programs in an effort to shine a light on why it is so important to find the right people, and then provide the right training, so they can help improve customer relationships and increase profit margins.

Lauderdale Marine Center

Lauderdale Marine Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is the largest recreational service and repair facility and shipyard in the U.S. The 60-acre complex has 200 in and out-of-water berths, can haul up to 485-tons, and provides dockage for yachts up to 200 feet in length. LMC has over 20 on-site tenants representing all primary shipyard trades and is home to several international builders’ aftermarket service centers, brokerage, a superyacht charter company, and more. With a full-time staff of 92, employee training is a key factor in LMC’s success. President Doug West shared details on the company’s training programs and why management feels that their employees are just as important as the customers they serve.

The Lauderdale Marine Center in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida has 200 in and out-of-water berths, can haul up to 485-tons and provides dockage for yachts up to 200 feet in length.

Lauderdale Marine Center developed and launched the LMCx training program in 2019. What makes this program different from a standard training course?

All our employees completed LMCx, a Customer Experience program, in late 2019. Last year, we did a refresher course, where we teach the difference between customer service and customer experience. We developed our training program to help our team members understand the entire customer journey and all the touchpoints along the way. We also wanted to demonstrate how each one of those touchpoints impacts the perception of the customer and may affect the likelihood of the customer returning.

Can you explain the difference between customer service and customer experience?

Customer service is more transactional and typically only aids in a specific area or situation. However, Customer Experience is the sum of every interaction a customer has with a company. It could be a visit to the website, a call to the office, a trip to the restroom, an interaction with a technician or even dealing with a sub-contractor.

Why is it important to Lauderdale Marine Center that employees learn these skills?

Our employees are our internal customers, and we are acutely aware that the level of external customer satisfaction will never exceed the level of internal customer satisfaction. With the foundation being our internal customers’ engagement, we couple that with customer experience training to expand our focus to external customers.

Lauderdale Marine Center launched its LMCx employee training program in 2019.

Customer retention is paramount for our success. If we do not build relationships with customers and see the experience from their eyes, we risk losing them. It is important that every team member understands they play a critical role in the perception of the customer and their decision to continue to return to Lauderdale Marine Center.

In addition to employee training, your facility also offers mentorship programs. Why does Lauderdale Marine Center feel it has a responsibility to maximize the potential of every team member?

We ask a lot of our people, and in return, we are committed to helping those individuals who want to increase their career advancement potential. This program gives them the opportunity to learn valuable lessons and obtain advice on dealing with the many challenges they face during their career.

The mentors are the senior leaders of LMC, and we meet in a group format with the mentees. The curriculum is developed during the first session with input from the mentees on the areas they want to improve upon. This initial session also works as a team-building exercise, as they get to learn about other team members that they typically do not work with on a day-to-day basis.

All sessions are conducted after hours. The mentors volunteer their time and the mentees are not compensated for the sessions.

You have also placed a lot of focus on the management team at LMC since satisfied employees start with good managers. How did you come up with the Leadership Training Program?

As we started building our team five years ago (2016), we brought in people from many different cultures. Some had formal leadership training, but many had not. We knew if we were going to achieve our vision, everyone needed to be on the same page.

We started by having our Employee Advisory Council develop our company vision, mission, and company values. Once we accomplished this, we conducted an employee engagement survey to see our strengths and weaknesses. Based on the results, we developed LMC’s Leadership Training Program.

The primary focus areas are acquiring a leader’s mindset, understanding, and practicing servant leadership, understanding the different social styles, building high-impact teams, and achieving high team performance.

There are 10 sessions in total, and each is between an hour and an hour and a half in duration. We are currently working on session six and hope to be complete with the first round by the end of the third quarter. Then we will do refresher courses. We have 24 participants.

How have these programs helped improve customer satisfaction at Lauderdale Marine Center?

The ultimate measure of this success is customer retention. In 2020, our repeat customers were 80% of our total customers. And of that 80%, 40% had multiple visits.

We receive a lot of feedback from our customers about how helpful and professional our team is and this is apparent when you look at employee engagement. Our team is very passionate about what they do and taking care of our customers.

Having put so much effort into employee engagement and our LMCx, we have extended the availability of our training to our tenant partners and our Contractor Advantage Program members through quarterly contractor seminars. We fully understand that as a facility with over 300 authorized contractors, they are also an essential touchpoint in the customer journey and have an impact on the overall experience. Our goal is to raise the bar for everyone in the industry. We need to provide support for these companies to ensure we all keep our mutual customers coming back to Ft. Lauderdale for their service and repair needs.

Full Article from Marina Dock Age: https://www.marinadockage.com/investing-in-employees-proves-beneficial-to-the-success-of-marinas-and-boatyards/

Boatyard is moving the boating industry forward by making it easy for boat owners to connect with their preferred marinas, dealers, or marine pros with a couple of clicks on their mobile devices. The company recently announced a new partnership with Lauderdale Marine Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL to create the LMC Customer Experience app.

Lauderdale Marine Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is one of America’s largest recreational yacht repair and service facility. Through the App, LMC customers can now request a reservation for in-water slips or dry dock, order services for their yacht, manage reservation requests, connect with client services, and much more.

Colin Kiley, EVP, Lauderdale Marine Center, comments, “We are constantly working to improve our customer experience, what we like to call the LMCx. Creating an App to provide our clients a seamless communication mode to save time and add efficiency to their busy yard periods was the obvious next evolution. We have already planned for the next round of App upgrades, which will provide customers with the ability to contact, request a quote, and schedule service with our authorized contractors, ever-increasing the LMCx.”

“The team at Lauderdale Marine Center shares our mission of delivering remarkable customer service experiences to their yacht owners.” said Nathan Heber, founder and CEO of Boatyard, “so it was a privilege for us to collaborate with LMC to develop their Customer Experience app.”

The most significant benefit to LMC’s customers has enhanced communication. The app allows LMC’s yacht owners and crew to connect with client services anytime whether their yacht is in South Florida or the Mediterranean.

To experience the LMCx today, download the app by visiting www.boatyardapp.com/lmc

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (June 10, 2020) Lauderdale Marine Center (LMC), the largest yacht repair facility in the United States, is pleased to announce that Emirates-based Gulf Craft has selected the shipyard as the location for its U.S. Accredited After Sales Service Center.

“As builders of award-winning brands such as Majesty Yachts and Nomad Yachts, Gulf Craft was seeking a service partner that could accommodate their range of yachts from 55 feet to 175 feet, which LMC is very well positioned to do,” said Colin Kiley, Executive Vice President of LMC. “We are proud to build upon our successful relationship with Gulf Craft, a builder we hold in very high regard. “

LMC has over 1600 total vessel visits and more than 1300 haul-outs per year.

“The United States is the most mature market in the world, with the highest number of boats in one country. Gulf Craft had a successful entry to the US market at the 2019 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show where our exclusive distributor, Majesty Yachts USA displayed the award-winning Majesty 140 and the Majesty 100.” said Nizar Tagi, Chief Commercial Officer for Gulf Craft. “As we continue solidifying our presence in the Americas, our partnership with LMC was crucial to our expansion and most importantly customer satisfaction. LMC’s facilities share the same ethos as Gulf Craft, and we are glad to have them as our US service partner.”

“We are happy to welcome Gulf Craft brands to a growing list of prestigious builders that choose to call Lauderdale Marine Center their Yard of Choice,” added Kiley. We at LMC are looking forward to being a mainstay of Gulf Craft’s expansion into the United States and are eager to support them and expand our partnership for years to come.”

To learn more about builder opportunities at LMC and leasing Marine Executive Office and workshop space, please contact Colin Kiley at [email protected], or +1 954-713-0333.

For media inquiries please contact Emily Burchwell, Marketing Manager at +1 954 527-0040 or [email protected].

About Lauderdale Marine Center

Located in Fort Lauderdale on the New River, visible from I-95 and close to Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport, LMC is a 65-acre facility consisting of a boatyard, marina and marine service center providing a complete offering of marine-related repair and services.  Featuring 10,000 linear feet of dockage, it accommodates boats up to 200 feet with 25 covered slips and 207 berths on property. The facility also has five boat lifts with haul-out capacity up to 485-tons. LMC’s business model includes leasing workshop space and commercial office space to approximately 20 on-site contractors providing a choice in all shipyard trades. Find us by water at 80˚.09.9 West
26˚.05.7 North.

For more information on Lauderdale Marine Center, please visit LauderdaleMarineCenter.com. Like LMC on Facebook at /lauderdalemarinecenter, follow LMC on Instagram @lauderdalemarinecenter, Twitter @lmcboatyard  and subscribe to the LMC YouTube channel, YouTube.com/lauderdalemarinecenterfl.

About Gulf Craft

As Emirates pioneering shipyard set up in 1982, Gulf Craft continues to captivate the world with the finest “Made in UAE” luxury yachts and leisure boats. The growing portfolio features the ultra-luxury series of Majesty Yachts, the oceangoing Nomad Yachts, Silvercraft fishing boats and family cruisers, Oryx sport yachts and cruisers, and the Utility Series of Touring Passenger and multipurpose transportation vessels.

With great emphasis on advanced technology, naval engineering, research and development, Gulf Craft builds ocean-going crafts ranging from 34 feet to 175 feet in length at its state-of-the-art shipyards in the UAE.

A work ethos of ‘innovation with passion’ has been influential in making Gulf Craft one of the top seven shipyards in the world, backed by a strong global network spanning Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

Gulf Craft envisions success not as the reward for its innovation, but as a motivation to set out on a path of difference, with dedication and commitment, while creating ocean-going masterpieces that truly belong to the waters of the world.  www.gulfcraftinc.com.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (June 1, 2020) Lauderdale Marine Center (LMC), the largest yacht repair facility in the United States, is pleased to announce the expansion of its partnership with The Ferretti Group.

The Ferretti Group, a member of LMC’s Builder Alliance Program, has designated LMC as the location to develop its North American Headquarters for its American Service Department. LMC has been home to The Ferretti Group’s Service Center for its North American after-market warranty work since April 2017.

“Having collaborated with Ferretti Group for many years, we are pleased to see the company’s continued expansion into South Florida and we are proud that they have chosen LMC to be the home of their worldwide service center,” said Colin Kiley, Executive Vice President of LMC.

The Ferretti Group has expanded its space at LMC to 30,000 square feet which includes additional office space, a parts and service warehouse, workshop space, dockage, lay day space and full covered sheds allowing the company to provide a full-service “boatyard within a boatyard.” Ferretti Group will now have 16 in and out-of-water slips at LMC to service their existing and new customers, regardless of what brand vessel they own.

“We are very pleased with this fantastic opportunity presented by LMC and we believe our company is an excellent fit at the boatyard,” said Ferretti Group Chief Commercial Officer, Stefano de Vivo. “LMC has clearly invested a lot in the quality of the facility, with a focus on delivering more to the elite customer experience with regard to refit, parts and services.”

“Among the factors in The Ferretti Group’s decision to expand at LMC is the overall size of the facility, our attention to a positive customer experience and our ability to accommodate the needs of the company’s fleet at any time,” added Kiley.

The Ferretti Group brands include Riva, Ferretti Yachts, Pershing, Custom Line, Itama, Mochi Craft, Wally and CRN.

To learn more about the LMC Builder Alliance Program and leasing Marine Executive Office and workshop space at LMC, please contact Colin Kiley at [email protected], or 954-713-0333.

About Lauderdale Marine Center

Located in Fort Lauderdale on the New River, visible from I-95 and close to Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport, LMC is a 65-acre facility consisting of a boatyard, marina and marine service center providing a complete offering of marine-related repair and services.  Featuring 10,000 linear feet of dockage, it accommodates boats up to 200 feet with 25 covered slips and 207 berths on property. The facility also has five boat lifts with haul-out capacity up to 485-tons. LMC’s business model includes leasing workshop space and commercial office space to approximately 25 on-site contractors providing a choice in all shipyard trades. Find us by water at 80˚.09.9 West
26˚.05.7 North.

For more information on Lauderdale Marine Center, please visit LauderdaleMarineCenter.com. Like LMC on Facebook at /lauderdalemarinecenter, follow LMC on Instagram @lauderdalemarinecenter, Twitter @lmcboatyard  and subscribe to the LMC YouTube channel, YouTube.com/lauderdalemarinecenterfl.

YOT BAR & KITCHEN, a unique Fort Lauderdale Dining Destination on the New River

Service is always the first priority when it comes to YOT, everything else is second. When the service and food are spot on and excellent, the next step is to find a unique and desired location: YOT Bar & Kitchen located at the Lauderdale Marine Center.

Guests can enjoy gorgeous waterway views and South Florida’s sunny weather while being surrounded by stunning yachts. The next best thing to being on the water is being at YOT: Fort Lauderdale’s new Bar & Kitchen with gorgeous waterway views offers its own brand of unforgettable hospitality with irresistible food.

“Here at YOT, we don’t treat people as our client or customers, we treat them as our guests, as if they were coming into our home. We treat them with the utmost respect and make sure our service is unforgettably positive. Guests will enjoy our unique and classic menu filled with comforting food with a sophisticated twist. Our Executive Chef calls it “clean eating”. We have menu items such as Fig & Truffle Pizza, our famous Silver Lining Salad, Sticky Toffee Pudding, Mussel & Frites, and our award-winning Smoked Fish Dip. Our success comes from the manifesto of SFL. Service. Food. Location.”

Mike Linder is the restauranteur and owner of Jet Runway Café, Silver Lining, and YOT Bar & Kitchen. Mike Linder has been in the business for over 20 years catering throughout South Florida. His company, Silver Lining will be celebrating 20 years of catering the skies via private aviation from Orlando to Key West. Jet Runway Cafe, located at the FXE airport in Fort Lauderdale is also celebrating 10 wonderful years!

YOT BAR & KITCHEN
2015 SW 20th Street | Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315
(Inside LMC, West Entrance, Valet Parking Available)

954-953-9000 | www.yotlmc.com | [email protected]

RESERVE A TABLE!

2018 was a great year for LMC. We got a lot accomplished, but we still have many items on our list for 2019.Our largest project in 2018 was the complete reconfiguration of our west dockage area. The area previously primarily served vessels in the <60’ range. We began the demolition of these docks in March. When the new Bellingham docks were installed by October, we had dockage for more than 30 additional vessels in the 100’ + range.

Nothing is worse than a crew with no WiFi access – at least that’s what some captains have told us. We made a significant investment into our WiFi system and now have great connectivity across the entire 65-acre facility.

We opened our crew gym initially in 2017, but very quickly it became apparent that the gym wasn’t large enough to accommodate the demand from our visitors. We were able to swiftly expand the gym to meet that demand in early 2018.

In 2019, we aren’t taking a break from making improvements. In fact, we’re very excited about the plans we have for this year.

The much-anticipated restaurant Yot is beginning to take shape. We expect the restaurant to be opening in March. We know that once open, Yot will become a great spot for captains, crew, owners, and industry folks to gather – and we can’t wait to see you all enjoying the beautiful waterfront space.

We are also in the permitting process for a new lift. In 2017, we welcomed Brutus and the Beast, our 220- and 485-ton Cimolai machines, and in 2019, we will be welcoming a 140-ton machine. This machine will service our Riverbend Marina and be wide enough to accommodate catamarans. We’re excited to become the only facility in town with a dedicated lift and space for these vessels when they need to be hauled out of the water.

2019 is already shaping up to be an excellent year at LMC. We look forward to seeing all of our “regulars” this year and meeting a few new friends as well. If you’re in town, give us a shout or stop by – we always love giving a tour of our updated facilities!

Summer may be our “slow season” at LMC, but we haven’t been slowing down. We’re excited to share updates on our numerous summer projects:

Progress continues our dock reconfiguration. Once complete, our west dock area will have spaces for vessels 80-150’ and we will also have dockage on the river for vessels 200’+. To complement the updated docks, we have also nearly completed dredging of the entire marina to 12’ so that we can accommodate the draft of larger vessels.

We are also adding a restaurant/coffee bar to our facility, and a new floating platform will serve as a bar. The restaurant and bar will be located adjacent to the newly reconfigured marina, offering a convenient option for coffee breaks, lunch on the run, or a relaxing place to meet friends for a drink after work. LMC is also excited to host events for our customers and industry events at this new space.

Additional upgrades to crew amenities include an expansion of our current gym, and renovations of restrooms and showers near the new marina.

We expect the projects listed above to be fully completed and ready for business for our busy fall season at LMC, and we can’t wait to share them with you. If you’re new or returning to the area in fall, contact us today to book your space and take advantage of our great new amenities!

Lauderdale Marine Center has announced that it has received Production Authority under its existing Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ),  the first of its kind for the recreational marine industry in the United States. The designation, provided by U.S. Customs & Border Protection, allows work to be performed on vessels while they are in the FTZ.

Whether the project is small in scope or a full refit, there are numerous financial and logistical benefits to completing work within the FTZ at LMC. Owners and contractors for foreign flagged vessels entered into the FTZ will now be able to ship parts into the FTZ without paying duty, and these parts will not have to clear U.S. customs before arriving at the FTZ, as these zones are considered territory not in the commerce of the U.S. and these articles are considered an export for the purpose of commerce.

Providing an example of how the production authority could be used, LMC President, Doug West, said, “A foreign-flagged vessel could arrive to the FTZ and replace anything from seals to entire engines, saving up to 8.8 percent duty on these parts. Large refit projects will certainly see immense savings, but smaller projects will see cost savings as well when conducting work within the FTZ. ”

Vessels which wish to utilize the benefits of the FTZ with Production Authority also retain the benefits of the standard FTZ entry, which include the ability to show the boat for sale to U.S. citizens, and travel for exhibitions or sea trials within U.S. waters for up to 120 days. This means once a vessel completes repairs it could remain in the FTZ for sale, eliminating the need for boat show bonds.

Vessels that have utilized the FTZ since it was introduced in August 2017 include M/Y Cheers 46, M/Y Ninkasi, and M/Y Clorinda, among others, to exhibit to American citizens both in and out of boat shows.

“Anything with a wire connected” – That’s Nauti-Tech’s specialty and what we do every day. Our ability to understand the most complex hardware/software systems is second to none. We are a solid team of well rounded electrical, electronics, software engineers and administrative executives working for over 20 years towards our ultimate goals:  innovation and customer satisfaction. Nauti-Tech is also the designer and manufacturer of electronic products for the yachting industry such as the YQ100 SmartY and the automatic isolation/boost transformer both distributed by Hubbell.

Nauti-Tech’s service and installation departments moved to LMC mid 2017 allowing for the expansion of the R&D and electronic lab departments at our Andrews Ave facility.

As a service company we are mobile, tri-county or world-wide, but we invite our customers with larger repairs to LMC as we did recently with:

Annamia, 140′ Baglietto:  At arrival from Europe, shore power hook up & Glendinning cable master was installed. We updated the navigation system and added a MiniC. Just before the owner’s vacation, the fresh water system stopped working, and we had to design a replacement from locally sourced analog pressure sensor and PLC, programmed to keep the pressure stable by staging pumps and adjusting speeds dynamically. Later we repaired the automatic doors, monitoring and control system, seamless transfer, DMX lighting and wireless network. We also installed a new camera system,  a cellular modem, TVs and audio systems, electrical upgrades and switchboard repairs. The 100Kva frequency converter failed just a month before the owner’s second trip but we were able to get a new one installed in time.

Victory, 72′ Mangusta: Complete electronics refit, New E-Plex Monitoring & Control, Simrad Navigation, A/V, Kymeta Vsat antenna, Electrical, Security, Lighting and more.

Antelope, 141′ Leopard: updates to Navigation, A/V, Kymeta Vsat antenna, Electrical, Custom TV lift fabrication and A/V automation among other projects.

www.nauti-tech.com

954-527-0716