When Bogense Marina in Denmark needed a trolley for its customers, one of the berth holders snapped into action. Per Østerhaab, a blacksmith, entrepreneur and owner of Bogense Yacht Services, designed a trolley, sold the solution to the local council (the marina operator), and the rest, as they say, is history.
MarinaTrolley customer Hans Lindum Møller, harbour master at Marina Minde in Denmark, with his line-up of trolleys.
“I simply wanted to see a trolley that was robust, durable and simple in design, with no need for cleaning,” he recalls. “We produced them with the same quality as stainless steel parts on our boats. So, they last forever and really need no cleaning.” The company uses the tag line “joyful boating – organised marinas” to sum up trolleys that perform as they should, are maintenance-free and can be stored in special parking areas for everyone’s convenience. Østerhaab, now aged 74, is still actively involved in designing special solutions and coordinating production and quality assurance, but the next generation now manages the MarinaTrolley business.
Over the past 30 years, the trolley has become the market standard in Denmark and, via nothing more than word of mouth, found its way to marinas in Germany and Sweden. In 2022, however, recognising that growth opportunity was focused on developing new wheels for the trolley, the company rebranded the product and started to look at further developing its export potential. Bigger marinas across Spain, Greece, Croatia, Malta and Montenegro became new customers. “We knew we had a fantastic product with huge global potential and it is great to see how well this simple concept works in every market we enter,” says managing director Henrik Østerhaab.
Per Østerhaab in the workshop.
MarinaTrolley is an elegant and minimalistic solution, offering a range of features and benefits and retaining the high quality electropolished stainless steel upon which it built its reputation. The centre-placed wheels make it well-balanced and easy to manoeuvre, and puncture-proof air-filled tyres ensure it floats on the water if it ends up in the marina basin. It has a self-cleaning grid bottom, weighs just 18kg (40lbs) and can easily carry loads of 100kg (220lbs). A coin lock encourages users to return it to its designated place. In addition to a large tailor-made name plate cut into the side of the trolley (making it less attractive to steal), there is space for advertising, which the marina operator can sell so as to offset the purchase cost. Several MarinaTrolleys for new customers are currently in production and the company is building a network of agents to promote and sell the product in different countries. www.marinatrolley.com
