News: All about: Pinmar Supply
Given its beautiful location, it’s easy to see why Pinmar Supply is at the heart of the Mediterranean superyacht circuit. We speak to Commercial Director Jose Mora to discover how the Spanish arm of this global business grew from a humble corner of a workshop in Mallorca.
Pinmar Supply is one of the most established suppliers to the Spanish superyacht community – but it was quite by chance that we started down this path.
“We’re still the sole Spanish distributor of WEST SYSTEM epoxy products.”
It was a British man, called Peter Alan, who founded Pinmar here in Mallorca in 1975. He set it up as a yacht-painting business and he imported a number of paints for his trade. However, when his friends saw how successful he was, they wanted to get into yacht-painting too, so Peter started to sell them some of his paints.
Word of mouth spread. Before long, Peter decided to set up a small corner of his workshop as a store, and from here, the business just grew and grew. Peter started to sell solvents, sandpaper, brushes, cleaners – all the things that you need when painting boats.
In the early 1980s Peter opened a bigger shop in Palma de Mallorca, right next to the shipyard. I joined the business at the end of 1983, to develop the thriving commercial side even further.
A new direction
When I decided to start selling WEST SYSTEM® products in 1987, it drove the growth of our business in a new direction. It meant we could expand our operations into a completely different world – not just painting but boat repair and building. We opened another shop in Palma and then we opened one in Barcelona, giving us a foot on the mainland and meaning we could introduce WEST SYSTEM products and all of our quality products to the whole of Spain. We’re still the sole Spanish distributor of WEST SYSTEM epoxy products.
“We even translated the WEST SYSTEM epoxy guide to osmosis repair into Spanish”
Today, as a result of our growth and a number of mergers over recent years, we’ve become part of the Global Yachting Group, a very successful international yacht painting and yacht supply company. In addition to our core business, we do a lot of training, seminars and talks about boatbuilding and repair around the country. When osmosis was a hot topic, we worked with West System International to open ‘osmosis centres’, where we could offer repairs with a backup and warranty. I also visited every yard I could get to, giving speeches about osmosis treatment. We even translated the WEST SYSTEM epoxy guide to osmosis repair into Spanish. (In fact, to date we’ve translated nearly all WEST SYSTEM manuals and presentations into Spanish.)
Quality products, quality service
We only sell products of the highest quality, which we know our yacht and superyacht customers can depend on. WEST SYSTEM epoxy is known to be ultra-high quality – much better than a polyester resin and much more reliable. We’ve been selling it for 30 years and I can say that the quality has always been superb. If anyone has a problem, it’s usually down to the application.
One thing I’ve learned is that a happy customer becomes your ambassador. Whenever we’re involved with a big project, I personally go and visit the owner of the boat to make sure they’re happy with our service and our teaching. Then they hopefully tell all their friends. We may be part of a global business today but we’re still doing what we do best; after all, word of mouth and great service is how we first started out.
You can learn more about Pinmar Supply by visiting www.pinmarsupply.com. In the area? Visit Jose and co at Camino Escollera nº5, Muelle Viejo, 07012 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
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