“We’re like the temping agency of the boating world”
Capt’n Boat is a pretty unique company in the nautical world, since it puts owners of multihulls and other boats, shipyards or companies in touch with professional sailors, all within a totally legal and clear framework for all parties. Aboard an electric Aura 51 ODSea+, we took advantage of a trip in the middle of Paris with the Capt’n boat team to talk to Emeric Leveau-Vallier, the man behind the adventure.
Image
Image
Image
Image
1
/
1
Publié le
30/01/2025
Par
Dominic Salander
Numéro :
200
Parution :
Mar.
/
May.
2025
Emeric Leveau-Vallier: I actually come from the world of ocean racing, as I was project manager for the Imoca Bureau Vallée until 2012, and I also have a Yachtmaster qualification, but that was mainly for my own pleasure, not to turn it into a profession. However, once I had my Yachtmaster, I realized that most people didn’t know what I could do with it, i.e. whether it would open doors for me to work or not. In fact, I discovered that although the profession of Captain is regulated, it works mainly by word of mouth, and that there are also a lot of people working as Captains or Sailors without having the required qualifications. To find out more, I carried out a market survey of several hundred Captains and realized that 63% of services were provided by people who weren’t qualified to do so, and that as a result, 78% of Captains were uninsured. And that’s when I said to myself that something had to be done. So, in 2016, I looked for partners and approached the law firm Stream and the insurance company AXA to build a solid legal framework. We then set up the company based on the legal framework defined by Stream and being able, with AXA, to offer Captains professional liability cover. The company was officially created in October 2018, and in December 2019, at the Paris Boat Show, we announced that we were operational. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 health crisis arrived almost immediately afterwards, which didn’t make business development any easier. However, we took advantage of this period to move forward, fine-tune our tool and make a few adjustments.
MW: In a few words, can you tell us how Capt’n Boat works?
EL-V: The aim of Capt’n Boat is to offer a salaried status to sailors and to enable customers to find a Captain or crew members who have the right qualifications and who work within the law. In fact, Capt’n Boat is not just for captains, but also for sailors, crew members and, in general, anyone who works on a boat, since to do so you need to have the appropriate qualifications, including at least a medical certificate and a Basic Safety Training Certificate.
We quickly realized that companies didn’t want to employ sailors, and that most sailors didn’t want to be self-employed. So we set up a “maritime agency” solution, which enables us to manage payroll. From then on, we place the sailors and take care of payroll management. The formula has been a great success, and some companies even come to us today simply to entrust us with the agency/salary side of their business.
MW: Who are Capt’n Boat’s customers?
EL-V: Today, we have several kinds of customer. Around 20% are private boat owners who need sailors as delivery crew, or to sail with them, but we also have shipyards looking for sailors to deliver their boats. We also have charter companies looking for sailors to pick up the boats on delivery, rig them and prepare them for sailing, and then take them to the various charter bases. Finally, we provide crews for commercially-registered boats, i.e. those that can be chartered with crew, or to charter customers who require crew for boats that are chartered but not commercially-registered. In fact, Capt’n Boat works a bit like a temping agency service for the boating world, but with solid regulations.
MW: What is Capt’n Boat’s situation at the start of 2025?
EL-V: We now have over 5,500 sailors registered with us, representing more than 60 nationalities, even though the French contingent still accounts for 61% of our workforce. France accounts for 69% of our sales, and just over 1,000 customers regularly place their trust in us. Our sales are increasing by around 30% a year, and we should break even this year.
We also have a strong presence in the world of multihulls, since requests for this kind of craft (sailing catamarans and trimarans) represent 65.4%, compared with just 22.5% for monohull sailboats and 12.1% for motorboats.
MW: Is Capt’n Boat a service limited to France, or is it international?
EL-V: Capt’n Boat can be used anywhere in the world. We’ve placed a lot of sailors in the Mediterranean and the West Indies, but we’ve also placed sailors in Australia, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Central America, the USA and Canada.
To make things easier, the website is available in five languages: French, English, Spanish, Italian and Croatian.
MW: How do you see the future for Capt’n Boat?
EL-V: To be honest, convincing the shipyards was a bit difficult at first, as they didn’t know us. Today, things have changed and more and more of them are putting their trust in us. We now appear to be a legitimate player, and we’ve also become a credible interlocutor with the maritime authorities; in France, we’re even referenced by France Travail, the organization dedicated to finding employment.
For the future, our priority is to expand internationally, a sector which currently accounts for around 20% of our business.
The other idea is to continue working with the authorities to advance legislation and improve the situation of sailors by breaking down a few barriers. Before Capt’n Boat, a large proportion of these sailors were working without a legal framework, so we’ve fixed that, but we want to go further.
