Spring 2008 Issue
Washington Manufacturing Appreciation
Yacht Owners, Unite!
Posted: September 15, 2008
Nordic Eyes Russian Market for Luxury ‘Tugs’Last year, while the U.S. economy was still sizzling, Nordic Tug in Burlington, Washington, worked with the U.S. Department of Commerce to explore the possibility of selling their unique tug-style yachts in the United Kingdom. Good thing. Today, says vice-president David Goehring, “The domestic market is really down and we’re glad we’re exporting.”
Nordic has sold two yachts so far through its English distributor – not bad for a company that turns out just 40 to 60 highly crafted boats each year – and the company is now looking to expand into Russia, Goehring said. “We’re very hopeful. Russia looks like a market that’s going to boom in the next decade.”
A growing yacht market in the Land of Lenin? The very concept was once inconceivable, but welcome to 2008 when more and more small and mid-sized Washington companies are selling their goods in some of the least likely corners of the planet.
Nordic and three other Washington State companies received Export Achievement Awards this year from the Seattle office of the U.S. Department of Commerce for their successful moves into foreign markets. The awards will be presented the evening of June 2, 2008 at Salty’s on Alki in Seattle. Other Export Achievement Award winners include:
Feed Logic Systems. Based in Lynden, Feed Logic designs and makes high-tech livestock feeding systems. The company is now selling its systems in Australia.
Greenwood Technologies. Located in Bellevue, this company makes a clean, energy-efficient wood-burning furnace. The company also entered the Australian market.
M&B Metals, Bellevue. M&B is a metal broker that is now providing manganese scrap metal to the Philippines.
Each company was aided in its export efforts by staff from the Seattle Export Assistance Center of the U.S. Commerce Department. That might remind some of the old joke: We’re from the government and we’re here to help. But, Goehring says, the government staff really was helpful.
After researching Nordic’s product line, the export service researched the yacht market in England, coming up with 40 prospective brokers. Nordic’s management team then went over that list, doing its own research and whittling the field down to the four best prospects.
Staff for the export service helped line up meetings and the Nordic crew flew to England to meet the prospects, eventually picking a broker based at the Hamble Point Marina in South Hampton on the southern English coast.
The U.S. Commerce Department charges businesses for its services, but Goehring said the total bill added up to just $765. “It’s almost a token amount and they gave us tremendous service.”
For more information about export assistance, call Diane Mooney, at 206-556-5615, extension 236.
