CASE STUDIES
Beaulieu River
Six miles of privately-owned river with marina and moorings
Beaulieu River is one of only three privately-owned rivers in the UK, owned and run by the Montagu family. The Harbour Authority manages all aspects of the six-mile river, including the award-winning 180-berth Bucklers Hard Yacht Harbour, over 300 moorings, the boatyard and management of the river environment. Beaulieu welcomes almost 8,000 visiting boats every year alongside the 500 annual berth holders.
A £2m investment in the reconfiguration of the marina, creating almost 100 new walk-ashore berths, will take place between 2019 and 2021.
WE LIKE BEST
Management oversight & control
Improved customer communications
Targeted marketing via Smart Lists
Accessible by all staff
Maintenance tracking
WHY HARBOUR ASSIST
Harbour Master Wendy Stowe was appointed in 2016 and inherited a management system based on 65 spreadsheets. Although information was captured, it was not easily accessible, leading to a lack of transparency. Beaulieu required a solution that could handle a high level of visitors and management of mooring maintenance alongside the more traditional marina and boatyard functions.
“It was important to us that Harbour Assist was used in ports like Fowey as well as for leisure marinas,” stated Beaulieu River Harbour Master, Wendy Stowe, “plus Nick and Graham listened to our needs.”
“It is off the shelf, yet customisable and responsive.”
IMPLEMENTATION & SUPPORT
After considering Havenstar, Harbour Management System and Pacsoft, Beaulieu River signed with Harbour Assist in winter 2016 and went live on 1 April 2017. Moving from multiple spreadsheets to a single system was a challenge for the team; however, Wendy Stowe said “In the end it was straightforward, and the training was great.”
More than two years later, everyone in the Beaulieu team uses Harbour Assist – marina, river patrol, boatyard, maintenance, finance and management – and it is a vital communications tool for the redevelopment project.
BENEFITS
Harbour Assist is the single management system for the Beaulieu River, used by all team members. Wendy Stowe confirmed, “Everyone has the answer to questions and knows what’s going on.” Even seasonal staff with less knowledge of the river can confidently allocate the correct berth to visiting boats.
Now that maintenance records for the 300-plus swinging moorings are in Harbour Assist it is easier to plan maintenance schedules “The information is accessible to all staff, not written in a notebook onboard the work barge,” said Deputy Harbour Master, Adam Lewis.
All marketing communications are delivered through Harbour Assist, segmenting customers using smart lists. Management can quickly check that staff are obtaining customer permissions to remain compliant with GDPR.
Harbour Assist has delivered the transparency and oversight required in the brief, improved communications and increased staff effectiveness. “It has changed our business and been a fantastic improvement.” Wendy Stowe concluded.
“It made us review our business processes, which has resulted in a more efficient and professional business, providing the best customer service.”