In Catalonia, we have an online radio, specifically emitting for the nautical community. This is www.360radio.info. During the Boatshow in Port Ginesta, an interview was recorded with Gert Van den Bergh, owner of Boatshed Barcelona on this radio station. Here is a translation/transcript of this interview. To hear the interview in Spanish, click here

360Radio: Let’s continue our program here on 360 Radio. We’re the radio station for the nautical community here in Catalonia and right now we are coming to you live from the 3rd boatshow for second hand and charter boats in Port Ginesta. You know that during the whole day, Sunday, but also Saturday and Friday, several personalities of the nautical world drop by at our stand, who are exhibiting their products at the boat show. One of these people is our old friend Gert Van den Bergh, welcome and thank you for being here. How are you?

Gert Van den Bergh: Thank you, I’m fine.

360Radio: I hope I have said your name correctly.

Gert: That’s more or less correct, but many people here also know me as Gerardo or Gerard in Catalan.

360Radio: Ok, let’s start by telling our audience that you are a boat broker for a company called Boatshed Barcelona.com, is that right?

Gert: Yes, that’s right. Boatshed Barcelona is the local office here in Barcelona of a franchise chain, Boatshed, that on a global scale has more than 50 offices all of which work according to the same principles. So this is a well established concept that we are representing here in Barcelona since almost 7 years, selling boats.

360Radio:And what you have come to this edition of the boat show for second hand boats for? To introduce your company? The boats you have for sale? What will we find if we visit you on your stand?

Gert: On our stand we have a sample of some of the boats we have for sale at this time. There are many more than what we has space to exhibit. We have about 100 boats in portfolio and on the stand everything would not fit. But moreover, we also do insurance for boats and we assist a lot with certain legal matters. Me as Belgian and our company being an international group, we get confronted often with flag issues: we have lots of foreign boats for sale, for which Spanish buyers show an interest and we have lots of foreign buyers who are wondering what to do if the boat they like is Spanish flagged. So we act as consultants towards these customers, as this is a complicated matter.

360Radio:So basically I see that you offer your customers a complete service package, a service 360.

Gert: Indeed.

360Radio:And what is the profile of the customers that you serve in your business? Are they mainly people from here? You have mentioned that you work with foreigners as well. Can you draw us a profile?

Gert: Well, it depends, we have to differentiate 2 types of customers. On one hand there are those who wish to sell their boat, the owners. On the other hand, there are those who want to buy a boat, the purchasers. Typically among the owners who wish to sell their boat, there are about 70 to 75 % Spanish people, mainly from Catalonia. For the purchasers, it is slightly different, in that about half are Spanish and the other half foreigners.

360Radio:A very important aspect of your company is the information that you facilitate to those who enter in your website. What do we find on your website?

Gert: Thank you for this question, because this is really what sets us apart. For every boat that we offer for sale, we can guarantee to the purchaser, that we have personally been on board, we have felt the boat. We make a standardized but very extensive description of every boat. Something else that differentiates us from the competition, is that we make up to 80 pictures of every boat, that we publish on our website. The idea behind this is that the purchaser can already get a good impression of what he will find if he decides to go and view the boat physically. For these photos we crawl into every nook and cranny: we make a photo of the bilge, the engine, an engine detail without forgetting any detail that is important, but that typically you will not find in a boat advert. Mostly you’ll see 4 or 5 photos, but no detailed pictures. That is where we give a lot of visual information to the potential purchaser of a boat. Consequently, when the purchaser decides that he wants to have a physical viewing, it is more a question of confirming the impression he already had from the photos and that way he avoids lots of useless viewings.

360Radio:The boats in these photos, where are they located? Where is the greatest concentration of boats you offer for sale? Or are they spread out over all of Catalonia?

Gert: Well, not all of Catalonia. I have the franchise for the area from Arenys de Mar to Cambrils. Within that area, the majority of the boats I offer for sale are located between Barcelona and Vilanova, where I have my office. Another strong point is Tarragona, where I have several boats for sale. But the north of Catalonia, Costa Brava, is being served by our local delegation in Empuriabrava, Boatshed Costa Brava.

360Radio:OK. Today on our stand in the boat show for second hand boats in Port Ginesta, it was a pleasure to speak with Gerard, Gerardo, Gert Van den Bergh. He is in charge of Boatshed Barcelona. We haven’t mentioned the website. That’ll be www.boatshedbarcelona.com, right?

Gert: That is correct: www.boatshedbarcelona.com. Thank you.