In continuing my efforts to verify the claim that the newly merged Ocean Independence-Cavendish White has the second-largest charter fleet in the world, I have come across two bits of information that are worth noting.

First is that the largest fleet of crewed charter yachts, by a margin of 20 or 30 boats, is under the control of Camper & Nicholsons International. Boats come and go, but as of Friday afternoon, CNI had 106 charter yachts in its fleet.

Second is that thus far, nobody at Ocean Independence or Cavendish White has been able to tell me exactly how many charter yachts are in their newly combined fleet, which is interesting given that last week’s press release about the merger stated unequivocally that the combined companies have the second-largest charter fleet in the world. I spoke again just now with marketing folks in the England and Monaco offices of both companies, and they both told me they are still looking into the actual numbers.

What I can say, based on information I’m getting from these companies and others, is that Ocean Independence appears to have had about 45 charter yachts in its fleet before the merger, with Cavendish White apparently somewhere in the same range.

So in theory, their combined strength would hurtle them into second place behind Camper & Nicholsons. If the newly combined fleet, however, numbers in the low 80s, compared with a company like Fraser Yachts Worldwide, whose fleet numbers in the mid 70s, then that number two spot is likely to shift back and forth continually as yacht owners move in and out of fleets (as regularly happens).

I hope to have this Ocean Independence claim verified or debunked for you, finally, as soon as the newly merged teams finish counting and get back to me.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 8:36 am and is filed under Boating Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.