November 14, 2024 • 17 mins
Celebrate a milestone with us as we recognize the 65th anniversary of the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show and the 75th anniversary of Wards Marine Electric, featuring the inspiring journey of Dean duToit, president and owner of National Marine Suppliers. Dean uncovers the secrets to his dual success as a business leader and philanthropist, from organizing community-centered events like spin-a-thons and poker runs to supporting causes such as breast cancer and children's charities. Hear about the fun and camaraderie that defines the marine industry and how Dean turned his passion for yachting into a thriving business with locations across the Caribbean and Europe over the last 35 years.
We also set sail towards a sustainable future, highlighting the strides to make the yachting industry more eco-friendly. Discover innovations like swapping traditional plastic Fiji bottles for paper and aluminum alternatives and launching yacht wear made from recycled plastics. With technological advancements like inverted power now at the forefront, we discuss the industry's commitment to environmental responsibility despite turbulent economic and political climates. As we wrap up, we toast to the resilience and adaptability of U.S. businesses, cherishing long-standing partnerships and looking forward to future success with optimism and gratitude.
Wards Marine Electric
https://www.wardsmarine.com/
Wards Way YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@WardsWay75
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kristina Hebert (00:32):
Welcome to the W Lauderdale Boat Show 65th
anniversary.
I'm not sure how that happenedand it's the ward's 75th
anniversary and I'm here with myfriend Dean Dutrois, president
and owner of National Marine,and what's going on?
How are you doing?
Dean duToit (00:46):
How's business?
Another boat show, another year.
Kristina Hebert (00:49):
Another year, absolutely.
I know.
I know we've been doing somethings together.
You've got you guys have done alot of charity work.
You always do, but you've had alot going on recently with you
had the spin-a-thon.
It was the first annual that wegot to be a part of.
You just finished your pokerrun.
Talk to me about that.
How, with everything you havegoing on, do you manage to do
(01:10):
all these charity functions?
Dean duToit (01:12):
I think I was talking to Johnny Allen and AJ
from Bright Maritime and it'sthat all of us have been in this
industry for so long and if wehave such a following as far as
longevity, for us to gettogether and do and make a
difference and to give to andpick a charity and make a
(01:32):
difference is probably, I wouldsay, one of the most rewarding
things of whether you thinkyou're a success or not, when
you can give back to a charityand we can combine all our
efforts like that.
No, the charitable work justkind of falls in line.
We're passionate about it, frombreast cancer to task force
dagger, to the kids in distress,et cetera, et cetera.
It's awesome.
Kristina Hebert (01:52):
And I think you do a good job of bringing it
home to people because on yourbreast cancer, I like how you
know I go to your events but Ilike how you're like we were
able to give 200 mammograms thisyear to that.
But I mean that's a huge thingto be able to provide to a
community and you know that itwent to the community.
I think that that's important.
Dean duToit (02:14):
Well, all of us, as I told you earlier, we're as
good as our staff, and we staffa lot of people.
Our staff is what makes ourcompany, but when we look at the
community around us and we canmake a difference as companies,
it's awesome.
Yeah, it's where it actually.
It's probably the mostrewarding thing in business.
It makes a lot of fun, and wehave we, when we do a charity
(02:36):
event, we have a good time you.
Kristina Hebert (02:37):
You know what I have to say.
That too, all the ones that Igo to, even if it's whether it's
on that bike, which the firstfew minutes are okay.
Dean duToit (02:47):
Oh, the spin-a-thon .
Yeah, that's brutal.
Kristina Hebert (02:49):
And then the last rider, they came around
with tequila shots, whichfortunately, was my 21-year-old
son.
I was like you need to docleanup because this is not
going to be.
But in fairness though, I lovethe camaraderie, I love how
everybody comes together and Ithink that that's you know.
When you look at that group ofpeople, it's your company, it's
Quantum, it's our company, it'sAJ Wright Maritime.
(03:11):
We're all very different inwhat we do, but I do think that
we all have a very similarculture and work together that
way, and I think that's part ofthe success.
Dean duToit (03:20):
You got to keep business fun.
We all work really hard we doan industry that demands a lot.
Um, it's an industry that we'vepoured our heart and soul into
it.
You guys you know from your dadmeeting him 35 years ago.
Um, I mean, you guys are long,lot longer than we have, but
we've all poured our heart andsoul into it and it's it's all a
(03:41):
lot of work, but it's a greatindustry and it's a lot of work.
Kristina Hebert (03:47):
So how did you and Mary start National 35 years
ago?
Is it 35 this year?
Dean duToit (03:53):
November will be 35 .
But I basically I was on yachtsprior to Started, from a deckie
to a first mate all the way upto being a captain Saw kind of a
need out there and left boatsIn one aspect tongue in cheek,
regret it because I missed theocean.
But I had a great run In theearly days when yachting was fun
(04:16):
.
There was no AIS, you know.
You could tuck the boat into ananchorage and you could spend a
week or two there and tell theboss.
Kristina Hebert (04:24):
You might have injury.
No AIS.
Yes, tuck the boat into ananchorage and you could spend a
week or two there until youmight have.
Dean duToit (04:27):
Boss, we have a little delay here.
So, no, it was always uh, butthere was a need.
Uh, I couldn't believe thatthere.
It was like almost impossibleto find stuff, and if you did
find it you would get rapedbecause you were on this big
white yacht, sure, um.
And then, when I kind of justleft yachting, got a truck and a
beeper, which most people don'tknow what beepers are.
Kristina Hebert (04:47):
Hey, when I first started with our company
in 1996, we had pagers, pagers,beepers and the keyboard that
you could type all the messageson.
Oh, that was high tech.
Dean duToit (04:59):
I remember buying my first fax machine.
I thought I hit the big time,big time, when I did that.
So no, it's been's been a longroad.
I couldn't, I don't think Icould ever do it again.
Kristina Hebert (05:10):
um how many employees do you have now?
Too, many, okay, but I do knowthat you guys are in a lot of.
How many locations do you have?
We have that.
Dean duToit (05:19):
I'll ask that yeah, we have, uh, we've.
We've got strategic locations,obviously St Martin, st Thomas,
antigua, covering the Caribbean,and then we fall in line into
Europe.
We have an office in Ellesmere,right across from De Vries,
which really covers most of ournew build sector.
And then Milan, in our fueling,our fueling that we've been
(05:43):
going on now for 22, 23 yearswith Aminta and we've just got a
group of people and strategiclocations, and one of the newest
ones is the one in the Pacificwith the National Pacific, which
is based out of New Zealand andcovers most.
Once the boats get to thePacific, our office there can
(06:04):
strategically help them out withpretty much A to Z, while we
tie in the synergies between allof us working together.
The boats have the best of bothworlds in the different
geographical locations.
It's the agents, it's thecontacts, it's the logistics of
following the boats around theworld and, most importantly,
getting the stuff.
And that's kind of led into whydid we do this.
We did this really to helpourselves, but mostly to help
(06:28):
the industry and for us to.
We used to ship all over theplace, which we obviously we do
that for a living, but if wetied into our offices and had
somebody on the ground, thesuccess of making sure that we
guaranteed our own stuff.
We made sure when the boatneeded it.
When it was Christmas Eve, whenit was New Year's Eve, we were
(06:49):
going to make sure, no matterwhat.
We had people on the ground andI think that's the probably the
biggest thing that's changedwith us in the last couple of
decades, but it's still.
It's an industry that neversleeps.
We go 100 miles an hour.
Kristina Hebert (07:02):
Is there anything you don't provision?
Dean duToit (07:04):
No, I was going to say.
It's like you look at a captain, you can speak to any captain,
any crew member or seniorofficer, and when the owner asks
, there's no such thing as noRight.
Which means that when the ownerasks them, we want this, we
want that, we want to go here,we want to go there.
They have to figure it out, andwhen it comes to the supply
chain, they turn to us and thenwe have to pull off the miracles
(07:26):
and we have to figure out howto do it.
Anybody can go out and buysomething, but it's getting the
stuff to the locations, puttinga body on an airplane, sticking
it in a bag, you know, or doingwhatever.
Kristina Hebert (07:43):
But the other thing is, you guys don't just
somebody doesn't say you know,for example, we're having a rosé
tasting here, you know youdon't just go.
Dean duToit (07:47):
We're drinking rosé , by the way, having a podcast.
Kristina Hebert (07:48):
Yeah, drinking and talking it is.
You know.
Now we're going to have to goon to the explicit program.
Dean duToit (07:55):
But we do it all the time now.
Kristina Hebert (07:57):
Do we?
We're not supposed to say thatwe do, I know, okay.
Well, that's what makes us sosuccessful.
How about that?
Dean duToit (08:04):
Cheers on that.
Kristina Hebert (08:04):
Okay, you know I have to get mine, did you?
Dean duToit (08:06):
drink yours.
No, she already downed hers, Idid not Cheers, absolutely.
Kristina Hebert (08:11):
Two for it and to national.
But I think it's also that youdon't only provide what it is
they ask for.
You provide them, and I washaving a conversation with Bert
about this their standard.
There's an expectation.
If you are to provide linens,if you are to provide soft goods
or hard goods, whatever it isyou're to provide, my
(08:33):
understanding is you provide thebest of what they want.
Dean duToit (08:37):
Yeah, yeah.
Kristina Hebert (08:38):
And that's not always easy to do.
Dean duToit (08:40):
Well, it really is the service, you know.
I mean the product is theproduct.
When it comes to provisions,there's no doubt it's top, top
grade, everything, top of theline, everything.
And I think the biggestchallenge is that is the
provisioning side.
You know, parts apart, Right, ahubbub plug is a hubbub plug,
but when it comes toprovisioning the cut, the steak,
(09:01):
you know the caviar, thefreshness of the berries, we
open up every single solitarycontainer and inspect the
berries before we seal it, putit back in the box, package it
and get it ready to ship.
So those are the things.
I mean, it's the industry as awhole is they have to do it.
(09:22):
The crew, the pressure is onthe captain and the crew, you
know they have to accomplish it.
If they use us as a supplychain and we get to do it, we
don't really have a choice tofail.
Right, we can't fail.
And that's one of the things.
That, with bringing everythingin-house at National, we have 12
divisions, one of the thingsthat, with bringing everything
in-house at National, we have 12divisions, we have our own
(09:42):
in-house shipping, our ownpackaging, our own hazmat, our
own everything, and ourlogistics is probably one of the
biggest keys to making our jobssuccessful?
I'd like to think yes, butwe're also at the mercy of the
shipping lines and everythingelse.
But we have eight relationshipsand we have agents around the
world that stick by us, thathave helped us, and if our
(10:04):
package gets there, they deliver.
Kristina Hebert (10:07):
So is there anything new coming up for
National?
They deliver, so is thereanything new coming up for
National?
One of the things that I saidon the intro is that you know we
just turned 75 and we're justgetting started, because one of
the things that I want to workwith my team is just because we
made it this far doesn't mean wedon't have places to go.
You know and constantly, and Ifeel like not only the world's
evolving, our industry'sevolving technology's always
(10:30):
evolving.
Is there anything new coming upfor you or something you're
going to Well?
Dean duToit (10:35):
the biggest thing that I think, the change or the
challenge or the missionstatement for me as a supply
company.
I've said this before.
We've been doing it for years.
It's nothing new.
This is basically working atthe sustainable future of
products, things that we supply,chemicals that we supply that
are completely notenvironmentally friendly.
(10:57):
Fiji water we do hundreds ofpallets of Fiji water.
Those containers are theabsolute worst, but the boats
all water Fiji.
We still do teak acids andchemicals that they clean the
decks and it goes directly intothe water.
So, with people like alan atteak decking, who's coming up,
you know, with environmentallyfriendly tea cleaners that
(11:20):
aren't acidic, great soaps thataren't acidic uh, chemicals
we're really working hard atthat.
We spent two years designing aentire yachtwear line of
clothing that is made out ofrecycled plastics.
We launched it about fourmonths ago.
Wow, it is everything.
What's it called?
It's called yachtwear yachtwearokay, it's literally yachtwear.
(11:42):
We have a beautiful brand andname brand, spent two years
designing two years and finallywe wanted to make sure we had
full inventory for girls andguys, from pants to casual wear,
to board shorts, to yourevening wear, to your long pants
dress shirts and everything.
Kristina Hebert (12:01):
What made you think of that?
Dean duToit (12:03):
A really, really good friend of mine is in the
uniform industry, okay, and heshowed me the quality of the
products and he told me it wasmade out of recycled plastic.
He said there's no way.
There's no way.
If you touch this product, ifyou felt the product, it is
amazing, wow.
And knowing that everything ismade from that, that was a big
(12:25):
push for me, absolutely.
It was a huge investment forNational Marine, but it was
something that I believed in andI still believe in it.
But when you say what'sdifferent, what's in the near
future, I'm going to work ashard as we possibly can to make
a change.
When somebody orders a palletor a case of Fiji, we're going
to be giving them the paperwater and we're giving them the
(12:45):
aluminum cans water for them totry it.
They show your owner and itstarts from the top.
It starts from the ownerwanting to make a difference on
board the boat and it also thenlends down to even a captain
putting his foot down.
It could be the chief stewsaying, nope, I don't want
plastics on the boat.
Um, so it's one of the thingswhere the industry is looking at
(13:07):
more and more, even the waythey construct the boats till
they make it.
Unfortunately, they will never,always be environmentally
friendly.
We will always dent theso-called sustainable future.
But I think in yachting, ifeverybody kind of pays attention
to it, it's our job to educate.
(13:27):
It's our job to give the people, when they're ordering, options
.
And on the yacht wear line wewere doing we've always done
uniforms.
We've done it for for a long,long time Um, but now we figured
that we would really pour allour energy into getting things
out there that that are, youknow, are are definitely going
to make a difference.
So that's the biggest push forus.
You know, becomes more fun,becomes more challenging.
(13:50):
Yes, yes, yes, the industrygets bigger.
We were supplying 60 and 80footers back in the day and now
the 60 becomes a 160, a 260, andit goes on from there.
So that just lends us to thepoint where you say how many
staff you need, more people andmore you know bodies to conduct
(14:13):
the mission of what we get askedto do, and it is.
It's a lot of people, it's alot of years, but because we've
been making you learn frommaking your mistakes, and we've
made a lot of mistakes in 35years.
When you fall, you have to getup.
And we've done a lot of fallingand we've done a lot of getting
up, but with that we've beenable to create.
You know, we'd like to think bynow we better know what we're
doing, we better know how todeliver.
(14:34):
If the industry does turn to us, we have to make it happen.
Kristina Hebert (14:38):
Well, and you do.
And congratulations again onyour 35th anniversary.
And I think that you're sellingyourself a little bit short,
because a lot of people do knowthat when you call national,
you're going to get what youneed and all the boats that rely
on you for for all sorts ofthings all over the world, and I
think you guys do a wonderfuljob.
But as you and I were talkingbefore we did this, it's it's a
(14:59):
lot to keep it going, and so Ithink we always have to look at,
like you're saying,sustainability.
I know, even on an electricalside, where it seems like how
would our two businesses evenreally be tied.
Obviously we help supplywhatever you may need from an
electrical perspective, but evenon the sustainability, you know
boats.
Probably back when you were acaptain, you know boats ran with
(15:20):
huge generators, load banks,and you don't see that anymore.
We see owners that have fleetsof boats and so they have their
bigger boat, but then they havetheir sport fish that they want
to take to very, very remoteplaces and they're not allowed
to be on generator.
They need to use inverted power.
So we're running into some ofthat too, and I agree with you.
(15:40):
I think all of us collectivelyneed to have that in mind.
Dean duToit (15:44):
We have to make a difference.
I think it's our's, it's almostuh, it's our jobs and yeah, we
can.
We have to continue running abusiness, which isn't easy.
Uh, that challenge in itself is, you know, the ups and downs of
economics and everything else,and now the election, a couple I
just was gonna say I can'tfinish the podcast without
talking about.
Kristina Hebert (16:03):
I have absolutely you haven't.
Dean duToit (16:06):
Oh, I won't vote.
Kristina Hebert (16:07):
Oh, I know you will.
Dean duToit (16:08):
I will stand in line until I drop.
Yep, yep, I did who knowswhat's going to happen after
that.
I'm just going to take it fromthere.
Kristina Hebert (16:14):
Well here's what I say to people and you can
say the same thing.
For all the years we've been inbusiness, there have been R's,
there have been D's and you knowwhat.
We just have to adapt and thecountry is going to be great.
We're still the United Statesand we're going to make it
through that, but we are at acaptain's event that we are
working together with today.
So I don't want to steal toomuch of your time, but thank you
(16:36):
for taking the time today.
Thank you for being along-trusted business partner
and friend and working togetherwith us for all these years Very
great history man, absolutelytogether with us for all these
years.
Absolutely, and looking forwardto future.
Did you finish it?
No, oh, come on now.
I finished myself.
It's a bullshit.
Thanks, honey, thank you,cheers to a great show, thank
you, cheers, cheers.
Welcome to the W Lauderdale Boat Show 65th
anniversary.
I'm not sure how that happenedand it's the ward's 75th
anniversary and I'm here with myfriend Dean Dutrois, president
and owner of National Marine,and what's going on?
How are you doing?
Dean duToit (00:46):
How's business?
Another boat show, another year.
Kristina Hebert (00:49):
Another year, absolutely.
I know.
I know we've been doing somethings together.
You've got you guys have done alot of charity work.
You always do, but you've had alot going on recently with you
had the spin-a-thon.
It was the first annual that wegot to be a part of.
You just finished your pokerrun.
Talk to me about that.
How, with everything you havegoing on, do you manage to do
(01:10):
all these charity functions?
Dean duToit (01:12):
I think I was talking to Johnny Allen and AJ
from Bright Maritime and it'sthat all of us have been in this
industry for so long and if wehave such a following as far as
longevity, for us to gettogether and do and make a
difference and to give to andpick a charity and make a
(01:32):
difference is probably, I wouldsay, one of the most rewarding
things of whether you thinkyou're a success or not, when
you can give back to a charityand we can combine all our
efforts like that.
No, the charitable work justkind of falls in line.
We're passionate about it, frombreast cancer to task force
dagger, to the kids in distress,et cetera, et cetera.
It's awesome.
Kristina Hebert (01:52):
And I think you do a good job of bringing it
home to people because on yourbreast cancer, I like how you
know I go to your events but Ilike how you're like we were
able to give 200 mammograms thisyear to that.
But I mean that's a huge thingto be able to provide to a
community and you know that itwent to the community.
I think that that's important.
Dean duToit (02:14):
Well, all of us, as I told you earlier, we're as
good as our staff, and we staffa lot of people.
Our staff is what makes ourcompany, but when we look at the
community around us and we canmake a difference as companies,
it's awesome.
Yeah, it's where it actually.
It's probably the mostrewarding thing in business.
It makes a lot of fun, and wehave we, when we do a charity
(02:36):
event, we have a good time you.
Kristina Hebert (02:37):
You know what I have to say.
That too, all the ones that Igo to, even if it's whether it's
on that bike, which the firstfew minutes are okay.
Dean duToit (02:47):
Oh, the spin-a-thon .
Yeah, that's brutal.
Kristina Hebert (02:49):
And then the last rider, they came around
with tequila shots, whichfortunately, was my 21-year-old
son.
I was like you need to docleanup because this is not
going to be.
But in fairness though, I lovethe camaraderie, I love how
everybody comes together and Ithink that that's you know.
When you look at that group ofpeople, it's your company, it's
Quantum, it's our company, it'sAJ Wright Maritime.
(03:11):
We're all very different inwhat we do, but I do think that
we all have a very similarculture and work together that
way, and I think that's part ofthe success.
Dean duToit (03:20):
You got to keep business fun.
We all work really hard we doan industry that demands a lot.
Um, it's an industry that we'vepoured our heart and soul into
it.
You guys you know from your dadmeeting him 35 years ago.
Um, I mean, you guys are long,lot longer than we have, but
we've all poured our heart andsoul into it and it's it's all a
(03:41):
lot of work, but it's a greatindustry and it's a lot of work.
Kristina Hebert (03:47):
So how did you and Mary start National 35 years
ago?
Is it 35 this year?
Dean duToit (03:53):
November will be 35 .
But I basically I was on yachtsprior to Started, from a deckie
to a first mate all the way upto being a captain Saw kind of a
need out there and left boatsIn one aspect tongue in cheek,
regret it because I missed theocean.
But I had a great run In theearly days when yachting was fun
(04:16):
.
There was no AIS, you know.
You could tuck the boat into ananchorage and you could spend a
week or two there and tell theboss.
Kristina Hebert (04:24):
You might have injury.
No AIS.
Yes, tuck the boat into ananchorage and you could spend a
week or two there until youmight have.
Dean duToit (04:27):
Boss, we have a little delay here.
So, no, it was always uh, butthere was a need.
Uh, I couldn't believe thatthere.
It was like almost impossibleto find stuff, and if you did
find it you would get rapedbecause you were on this big
white yacht, sure, um.
And then, when I kind of justleft yachting, got a truck and a
beeper, which most people don'tknow what beepers are.
Kristina Hebert (04:47):
Hey, when I first started with our company
in 1996, we had pagers, pagers,beepers and the keyboard that
you could type all the messageson.
Oh, that was high tech.
Dean duToit (04:59):
I remember buying my first fax machine.
I thought I hit the big time,big time, when I did that.
So no, it's been's been a longroad.
I couldn't, I don't think Icould ever do it again.
Kristina Hebert (05:10):
um how many employees do you have now?
Too, many, okay, but I do knowthat you guys are in a lot of.
How many locations do you have?
We have that.
Dean duToit (05:19):
I'll ask that yeah, we have, uh, we've.
We've got strategic locations,obviously St Martin, st Thomas,
antigua, covering the Caribbean,and then we fall in line into
Europe.
We have an office in Ellesmere,right across from De Vries,
which really covers most of ournew build sector.
And then Milan, in our fueling,our fueling that we've been
(05:43):
going on now for 22, 23 yearswith Aminta and we've just got a
group of people and strategiclocations, and one of the newest
ones is the one in the Pacificwith the National Pacific, which
is based out of New Zealand andcovers most.
Once the boats get to thePacific, our office there can
(06:04):
strategically help them out withpretty much A to Z, while we
tie in the synergies between allof us working together.
The boats have the best of bothworlds in the different
geographical locations.
It's the agents, it's thecontacts, it's the logistics of
following the boats around theworld and, most importantly,
getting the stuff.
And that's kind of led into whydid we do this.
We did this really to helpourselves, but mostly to help
(06:28):
the industry and for us to.
We used to ship all over theplace, which we obviously we do
that for a living, but if wetied into our offices and had
somebody on the ground, thesuccess of making sure that we
guaranteed our own stuff.
We made sure when the boatneeded it.
When it was Christmas Eve, whenit was New Year's Eve, we were
(06:49):
going to make sure, no matterwhat.
We had people on the ground andI think that's the probably the
biggest thing that's changedwith us in the last couple of
decades, but it's still.
It's an industry that neversleeps.
We go 100 miles an hour.
Kristina Hebert (07:02):
Is there anything you don't provision?
Dean duToit (07:04):
No, I was going to say.
It's like you look at a captain, you can speak to any captain,
any crew member or seniorofficer, and when the owner asks
, there's no such thing as noRight.
Which means that when the ownerasks them, we want this, we
want that, we want to go here,we want to go there.
They have to figure it out, andwhen it comes to the supply
chain, they turn to us and thenwe have to pull off the miracles
(07:26):
and we have to figure out howto do it.
Anybody can go out and buysomething, but it's getting the
stuff to the locations, puttinga body on an airplane, sticking
it in a bag, you know, or doingwhatever.
Kristina Hebert (07:43):
But the other thing is, you guys don't just
somebody doesn't say you know,for example, we're having a rosé
tasting here, you know youdon't just go.
Dean duToit (07:47):
We're drinking rosé , by the way, having a podcast.
Kristina Hebert (07:48):
Yeah, drinking and talking it is.
You know.
Now we're going to have to goon to the explicit program.
Dean duToit (07:55):
But we do it all the time now.
Kristina Hebert (07:57):
Do we?
We're not supposed to say thatwe do, I know, okay.
Well, that's what makes us sosuccessful.
How about that?
Dean duToit (08:04):
Cheers on that.
Kristina Hebert (08:04):
Okay, you know I have to get mine, did you?
Dean duToit (08:06):
drink yours.
No, she already downed hers, Idid not Cheers, absolutely.
Kristina Hebert (08:11):
Two for it and to national.
But I think it's also that youdon't only provide what it is
they ask for.
You provide them, and I washaving a conversation with Bert
about this their standard.
There's an expectation.
If you are to provide linens,if you are to provide soft goods
or hard goods, whatever it isyou're to provide, my
(08:33):
understanding is you provide thebest of what they want.
Dean duToit (08:37):
Yeah, yeah.
Kristina Hebert (08:38):
And that's not always easy to do.
Dean duToit (08:40):
Well, it really is the service, you know.
I mean the product is theproduct.
When it comes to provisions,there's no doubt it's top, top
grade, everything, top of theline, everything.
And I think the biggestchallenge is that is the
provisioning side.
You know, parts apart, Right, ahubbub plug is a hubbub plug,
but when it comes toprovisioning the cut, the steak,
(09:01):
you know the caviar, thefreshness of the berries, we
open up every single solitarycontainer and inspect the
berries before we seal it, putit back in the box, package it
and get it ready to ship.
So those are the things.
I mean, it's the industry as awhole is they have to do it.
(09:22):
The crew, the pressure is onthe captain and the crew, you
know they have to accomplish it.
If they use us as a supplychain and we get to do it, we
don't really have a choice tofail.
Right, we can't fail.
And that's one of the things.
That, with bringing everythingin-house at National, we have 12
divisions, one of the thingsthat, with bringing everything
in-house at National, we have 12divisions, we have our own
(09:42):
in-house shipping, our ownpackaging, our own hazmat, our
own everything, and ourlogistics is probably one of the
biggest keys to making our jobssuccessful?
I'd like to think yes, butwe're also at the mercy of the
shipping lines and everythingelse.
But we have eight relationshipsand we have agents around the
world that stick by us, thathave helped us, and if our
(10:04):
package gets there, they deliver.
Kristina Hebert (10:07):
So is there anything new coming up for
National?
They deliver, so is thereanything new coming up for
National?
One of the things that I saidon the intro is that you know we
just turned 75 and we're justgetting started, because one of
the things that I want to workwith my team is just because we
made it this far doesn't mean wedon't have places to go.
You know and constantly, and Ifeel like not only the world's
evolving, our industry'sevolving technology's always
(10:30):
evolving.
Is there anything new coming upfor you or something you're
going to Well?
Dean duToit (10:35):
the biggest thing that I think, the change or the
challenge or the missionstatement for me as a supply
company.
I've said this before.
We've been doing it for years.
It's nothing new.
This is basically working atthe sustainable future of
products, things that we supply,chemicals that we supply that
are completely notenvironmentally friendly.
(10:57):
Fiji water we do hundreds ofpallets of Fiji water.
Those containers are theabsolute worst, but the boats
all water Fiji.
We still do teak acids andchemicals that they clean the
decks and it goes directly intothe water.
So, with people like alan atteak decking, who's coming up,
you know, with environmentallyfriendly tea cleaners that
(11:20):
aren't acidic, great soaps thataren't acidic uh, chemicals
we're really working hard atthat.
We spent two years designing aentire yachtwear line of
clothing that is made out ofrecycled plastics.
We launched it about fourmonths ago.
Wow, it is everything.
What's it called?
It's called yachtwear yachtwearokay, it's literally yachtwear.
(11:42):
We have a beautiful brand andname brand, spent two years
designing two years and finallywe wanted to make sure we had
full inventory for girls andguys, from pants to casual wear,
to board shorts, to yourevening wear, to your long pants
dress shirts and everything.
Kristina Hebert (12:01):
What made you think of that?
Dean duToit (12:03):
A really, really good friend of mine is in the
uniform industry, okay, and heshowed me the quality of the
products and he told me it wasmade out of recycled plastic.
He said there's no way.
There's no way.
If you touch this product, ifyou felt the product, it is
amazing, wow.
And knowing that everything ismade from that, that was a big
(12:25):
push for me, absolutely.
It was a huge investment forNational Marine, but it was
something that I believed in andI still believe in it.
But when you say what'sdifferent, what's in the near
future, I'm going to work ashard as we possibly can to make
a change.
When somebody orders a palletor a case of Fiji, we're going
to be giving them the paperwater and we're giving them the
(12:45):
aluminum cans water for them totry it.
They show your owner and itstarts from the top.
It starts from the ownerwanting to make a difference on
board the boat and it also thenlends down to even a captain
putting his foot down.
It could be the chief stewsaying, nope, I don't want
plastics on the boat.
Um, so it's one of the thingswhere the industry is looking at
(13:07):
more and more, even the waythey construct the boats till
they make it.
Unfortunately, they will never,always be environmentally
friendly.
We will always dent theso-called sustainable future.
But I think in yachting, ifeverybody kind of pays attention
to it, it's our job to educate.
(13:27):
It's our job to give the people, when they're ordering, options
.
And on the yacht wear line wewere doing we've always done
uniforms.
We've done it for for a long,long time Um, but now we figured
that we would really pour allour energy into getting things
out there that that are, youknow, are are definitely going
to make a difference.
So that's the biggest push forus.
You know, becomes more fun,becomes more challenging.
(13:50):
Yes, yes, yes, the industrygets bigger.
We were supplying 60 and 80footers back in the day and now
the 60 becomes a 160, a 260, andit goes on from there.
So that just lends us to thepoint where you say how many
staff you need, more people andmore you know bodies to conduct
(14:13):
the mission of what we get askedto do, and it is.
It's a lot of people, it's alot of years, but because we've
been making you learn frommaking your mistakes, and we've
made a lot of mistakes in 35years.
When you fall, you have to getup.
And we've done a lot of fallingand we've done a lot of getting
up, but with that we've beenable to create.
You know, we'd like to think bynow we better know what we're
doing, we better know how todeliver.
(14:34):
If the industry does turn to us, we have to make it happen.
Kristina Hebert (14:38):
Well, and you do.
And congratulations again onyour 35th anniversary.
And I think that you're sellingyourself a little bit short,
because a lot of people do knowthat when you call national,
you're going to get what youneed and all the boats that rely
on you for for all sorts ofthings all over the world, and I
think you guys do a wonderfuljob.
But as you and I were talkingbefore we did this, it's it's a
(14:59):
lot to keep it going, and so Ithink we always have to look at,
like you're saying,sustainability.
I know, even on an electricalside, where it seems like how
would our two businesses evenreally be tied.
Obviously we help supplywhatever you may need from an
electrical perspective, but evenon the sustainability, you know
boats.
Probably back when you were acaptain, you know boats ran with
(15:20):
huge generators, load banks,and you don't see that anymore.
We see owners that have fleetsof boats and so they have their
bigger boat, but then they havetheir sport fish that they want
to take to very, very remoteplaces and they're not allowed
to be on generator.
They need to use inverted power.
So we're running into some ofthat too, and I agree with you.
(15:40):
I think all of us collectivelyneed to have that in mind.
Dean duToit (15:44):
We have to make a difference.
I think it's our's, it's almostuh, it's our jobs and yeah, we
can.
We have to continue running abusiness, which isn't easy.
Uh, that challenge in itself is, you know, the ups and downs of
economics and everything else,and now the election, a couple I
just was gonna say I can'tfinish the podcast without
talking about.
Kristina Hebert (16:03):
I have absolutely you haven't.
Dean duToit (16:06):
Oh, I won't vote.
Kristina Hebert (16:07):
Oh, I know you will.
Dean duToit (16:08):
I will stand in line until I drop.
Yep, yep, I did who knowswhat's going to happen after
that.
I'm just going to take it fromthere.
Kristina Hebert (16:14):
Well here's what I say to people and you can
say the same thing.
For all the years we've been inbusiness, there have been R's,
there have been D's and you knowwhat.
We just have to adapt and thecountry is going to be great.
We're still the United Statesand we're going to make it
through that, but we are at acaptain's event that we are
working together with today.
So I don't want to steal toomuch of your time, but thank you
(16:36):
for taking the time today.
Thank you for being along-trusted business partner
and friend and working togetherwith us for all these years Very
great history man, absolutelytogether with us for all these
years.
Absolutely, and looking forwardto future.
Did you finish it?
No, oh, come on now.
I finished myself.
It's a bullshit.
Thanks, honey, thank you,cheers to a great show, thank
you, cheers, cheers.
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