INCHCAPE SHIPPING SERVICES ACQUIRES GLOBAL MARINE TRAVEL

12 May 2010

Inchcape Shipping Services is to acquire Global Marine Travel, effective 31 May 2010.

Global Marine Travel is a specialist travel agency and related service provider to the marine, offshore and yachting industries providing a global travel solution to its customers from its head office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and from offices in Vancouver and the Philippines. The business will be re-branded as ISS GMT and will continue to operate from North America and Manila.

GMT Holdings will retain a minority stake in the business and Tim Davey, current President of GMT, will become head of ISS GMT moving forward. 

Jon Corner, Executive Vice President Group Commercial for ISS, says: “We have been looking to enter the marine travel business for some time and see the acquisition of GMT as an ideal way to move into the sector. The values and vision of GMT fit very closely with our own and we see strong scope for using the ISS network to build on GMT’s current office footprint. We share many common customers with GMT and have no doubt that bringing together the services of the travel provider and the agent providing marine husbandry services, will lead to a stronger value proposition and increase the strategic partnership value to our customers.”

Tim Davey, founder and President of GMT, says he and his staff are looking forward to the new opportunities for growth with ISS: “This new relationship strengthens our ability to buy into volume-based air, car and hotel contracts and will benefit our existing customers in both the commercial marine/offshore and private yachting sectors,” says Davey. “ISS also brings strong IT and finance expertise which will further enhance GMT’s current services.”

Terry Gidlow, FICS, Executive Vice President Group Strategy at ISS, added: “The acquisition of GMT is the first we have made this year and we see this as the first of several acquisitions we plan to make as part of our 2015 Strategy Plan to increase our Enterprise Value Proposition by expanding both the scope of our proprietary office network of some 250 offices in 63 countries, and by increasing the scope of services that can be offered through our global footprint

A bright red and white plane was waiting for us on the tarmac, it was a brand new Brazilian Embraer E190 X 3. The flight attendants and the pilot greeted each passenger and we were shown the way to our brand new leather seats each with their own satellite TV in the back of each seat. Did I mention the  flight attendants? An all female crew on my flight to Zurich, all of whom could have easily been a Victoria Secret model smartly dressed in a semi formal business suit with a bright red tie. They were friendly, authoritative and very efficient what a difference from some other low cost carriers.

We departed on time and even though our flight was short our Victoria Secret models were serving food ! A delicious Sandwich, followed by a Tiramisu washed down by a complimentary beverage service. I couldn’t believe it! I was very comfortable in the leather seat, fed and watered so to speak and feeling very safe and secure on an Air Line few of us had ever heard of.  Right before the flight ended we all got a bar of Swiss chocolate to take home with us. A memorable flight and if I get the chance I’ll definitely hop on Baboo again.  It’s great to see a carrier bring back the joy of travelling again. I got no sense of cost cutting to the bear bones and the service was great.

Give us a call at GMT and we’ll happily set you up on a flight with Air Baboo.