Marquis Yachts Partners with Chinese Company
Marquis Yachts, LLC, announced that it has formed a joint venture with Poly Technology Company of China for the sales and distribution rights for Marquis Yachts throughout China. The joint venture, called the Poly Marquis Yacht Company Ltd., will open a sales and service center at Serenity Marina and Yacht Club in Sanya, China, where it will maintain an inventory of Marquis Yachts. Irwin Jacobs, chairman of Marquis parent company J&D Acquisitions, LLC said, “It is anticipated that over the next few years, China’s recreational yachting and boating market is emerging to become one of the largest recreational yachting markets in the world.” State-owned Poly Technology also holds distribution rights to luxury brands such as Mercedes Benz and Ferrari.
MarineMax Vacations Adds New Catamarans
MarineMax Vacations has expanded its British Virgin Islands charter fleet with ten new 38-foot power catamarans. The Clearwater, Florida-based charter service said its new MarineMax 382s—which are customized Aquila 38 powercats—will be available for charter in June. “With a forward walk-through from the huge flying bridge, electric stove, watermaker, electric barbecue grill, wireless connectivity, genset, and air conditioning, we are confident that these two-cabin, two-head power cats will deliver the comfort standards that MarineMax Vacations demands for our customers,” says Raul Bermudez, VP at MarineMax Vacations. With the addition of the new MarineMax 382s, the company will be offering more than 30 boats to choose from.
Iridium, KVH Form Global Satcom Service
Iridium Communications and KVH Industries have teamed up to create a seamless broadband satcom service for boaters. The package combines KVH’s mini-VSAT and Iridium’s OpenPort broadband services. “The VSAT/Iridium solution eliminates the coverage gaps, data-rate limitations and comparatively high prices of other L-band mobile satellite service providers,” says Greg Ewert, Iridium executive vice president. The onboard system combines the Iridium OpenPort and KVH TracPhone V3 or V7 terminals. If mini-VSAT Broadband service is ever unavailable, the system immediately switches over to the OpenPort service without operator intervention.
