Marina World July August 2023

PRODUCTS, SERVICES & PEOPLE
Trouble-free trolley
goes international
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.
“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
Above: Per Østerhaab in the workshop.
Left: MarinaTrolley customer Hans Lindum
Møller, harbour master at Marina Minde in
Denmark, with his line-up of trolleys.
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.
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 wellbalanced
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
www.marinaworld.com – July/August 2023
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