The Catamaran Company (Catco)

Since 1989 The Catamaran Company (Catco) has consistently been the world’s biggest and best catamaran retailer, consistently selling over 100 catamarans per year.

Additionally, Catco also operates one of the world’s largest exclusive catamaran fleets in Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Our head office, midway between Oakland and Commercial Blvds off North Federal Highway, is the nerve center for our sales, marketing, I.T. and accounting operations.

This location also houses our sales documentation department called Details Details which helps with paperwork relating to closings, loans and financing.

We welcome all buyers, owners, sellers and charterers to this location but suggest you contact your broker prior to visiting to ensure a smooth trip to HQ.

The Catamaran Company specializes in catamaran sales, charter, services and offers a one-stop destination for buyers, sellers, people looking for a sailing vacation and owners. The company also offers a range of value added services including insurance, documentation, delivery, dockage, financing, and yacht placement options. The Catamaran Company has 18 licensed and experienced brokers.

History

The group began operations in 1989 as Catamaran Charters and Sales. The company has 2 main functions and businesses, firstly the sale of new and used catamarans (Catamaran Sales Inc.) from their Florida Sales Offices in Ft Lauderdale, Key Largo, Miami, St Petersburg and St Augustine along with their office in Annapolis, MD. and secondly the provision of catamaran charters (Catamaran Charters Ltd) out of their charter base in Tortola, BVI.

Catamaran Sales Inc. (CSI) was the original importer of the first Privilege 39 into the USA in 1989 and signed on as the exclusive representative of Jeantot Marine for North America. Over the next decade CSI grew to become the largest Privilege dealer in the world, representing sales of 25% of all the new catamarans they built. The group was founded by and managed by Eric Paris Martel and was, and continues to be owned by Ron Esserman, a large new car dealer with 9 dealerships in Miami, Florida.

Catamaran Charters Ltd. (CCL) started with 3 bareboat and 1 crewed catamaran operating out of Village Key, Tortola, BVI. From where they still today operate around 20 bareboat and 15 crewed yachts out of their base and are renowned as the largest catamaran center in the Caribbean from which they provide facilities for catamaran repairs, dockage, guardinage, sales and marine equipment.

In 1996 a new management team was brought in, headed up by charter industry veterans Hugh Murray and Gisela Cuadros, the former President and Financial Director of Sunsail USA. The following year, the company name was changed to The Catamaran Company. Marianne Doux-Laplace was appointed manager of all charter operations, a position she retains to this day from her base in Tortola, BVI.

In 1998 The Catamaran Company became the dealer for Lagoon in Florida and the Southern states. Lagoon at that time was the second largest catamaran builder in the world with around 25 dealers throughout the world. Within 5 years Lagoon had grown to become the largest catamaran builder in the world and The Catamaran Company had grown to become its largest worldwide dealer, a position it maintains to this day.

In 1999 the company purchased the domain name www.catamarans.com.
Following this purchase The Catamaran Company hired Jason Stevens to build a web team to develop the company’s websites. Since then Jason has expanded this department to a full time staff of 6 web tecchies and currently www.catamarans.com is the highest ranked catamaran website on the internet and has ranked # 1 in the top 3 search engines for the past decade.

In 2004, The Catamaran Company embarked on a growth spurt with its acquisition of 2 Hulls Inc., their largest competitor in the used catamaran market in Florida. 2 Hulls were very specialized in used catamarans below 40 feet whereas The Catamaran Company tended to concentrate on larger cats over 40 feet so the acquisition gave The Catamaran Company a much broader coverage of the entire market. 2 Hulls also owned and operated www.2hulls.com which was the first and leading catamaran website since the mid 90’s. The Catamaran Company has continued to use and market this site and it currently ranks as the second highest rated catamaran website behind only www.catamarans.com.

In order to be able to handle the increased need for dockage, service and maintenance the company signed long term leases on 5 separate dockage locations throughout Ft Lauderdale with dockage for up to 25 catamarans.
In 2005, The Catamaran Company continued its expansion with the opening of Annapolis Catamaran Center and was appointed the Lagoon dealer for the Mid-Atlantic States. This office has 3 full time yacht sales brokers and a full time charter broker.

Due to a large increase in the number of sales and the growth of its business in 2005 The Catamaran Company set up a new company to handle this side of the business, Details, Details to handle the paperwork side of all of the transactions. This division handles around 250 transactions annually and now employs 3 full time staff, led by Gaida Cabral.

In 2008 The Catamaran Company took over the control and operation of the leading catamaran magazine in the US, MULTIHULLS Magazine and now produces this out of their head office in Ft Lauderdale in addition to having editorial staff remotely in New Hampshire.

In 2009 The Catamaran Company purchased Gemini Catamarans. For the past 2 decades more than 1,000 Gemini Catamarans have been manufactured in the US. The Catamaran Company’s partner in this venture is Laura Hershfeld, whose father designed the Gemini. At the time of purchase, The Catamaran Company – Annapolis was relocated to the Gemini headquarters and the management of that entire location was taken over by Laura Hershfeld.

In early 2010 The Catamaran Company expanded its charter reservation department with a new marketing name of Catamaran Sailing Vacations with remote reservation staff in Montreal, Canada, Charleston, SC., Ft. Lauderdale, FL. and is managed by Kimberly Lee remotely from Dubai.

The Catamaran Company and it’s related businesses continues to be the world’s largest new catamaran dealer but is also the world’s largest retailer of used catamarans, achieving sales of over 100 used catamarans on an annualized basis over the last 10 years.