There is no room for error in yachting, especially when that yacht is tasked to carry an entire family. But technical failures will happen, even to the most durable and best designed components. So it was with the yacht Vava, which was disabled by a faulty portside generator set just days before an important voyage through the Indian Ocean. Fortunately, Vava was covered by Cat® Concierge, and Caterpillar’s ability to quickly bring the Vava back online quickly is an example of what Cat Concierge can offer to any yacht powered by Cat.

Failure is not an option

The Vava is rarely allowed downtime, and certainly not when that downtime would interfere with a planned family trip. So when the Vava experienced a failure with one of its generator sets, quick action was needed to preserve an upcoming voyage. That voyage included several hundred miles through remote areas of the Indian Ocean, so any solution had to be comprehensive.

That’s why Vava Captain Glen McDonnell contacted Cat Concierge to handle the problem.

The initial call to Cat Concierge was on March 17th, at 10:15 in the morning. By noon, Cat Concierge representatives had rounded up PON Power, a Belgian-based Cat dealer, to provide remote support to the Vava crew. Cat Concierge also contacted Tractors Singapore, a Cat dealer out of Singapore, to recruit them for parts supply. By 2 p.m., ILAA Male, a distributor affiliated with Tractors Singapore, was brought in to provide on-site technical support.

The following day, March 18th, the parts order was processed by Tractor Singapore, and Cat Concierge service technicians boarded a plane and flew the parts themselves to the Vava.

Those parts arrived on the morning of the 19th, and ILAA Male technicians began work immediately. Sixteen hours later, at 1:30 in the morning and after many hours of testing and parts installation, the onsite technical team was able to start the Vava’s engines.

In just a little over 60 hours, Cat Concierge was able to process a high priority service request, contact Caterpillar dealers separated by thousands of miles, delegate roles to those dealers, process a parts order, fly the parts to the Vava and bring the yacht’s engines back online, with time to spare for its important voyage.

It goes without saying that Captain McDonnell was impressed.

“I cannot thank Caterpillar enough for all of the efforts to assist us. To all who worked to coordinate a solution, to the Concierge team who travelled at short notice to deliver the required spares to Male, and to the fantastic technicians who travelled here from ILAA Male and worked tirelessly through the day.”

This is just one example of Cat Concierge in action. With Concierge, yacht owners can cover their Cat power systems for years, with 24/7 support provided by Caterpillar Marine engine professionals. Every call to Cat Concierge is managed on a case by case basis, with dealers around the world selected for their ability to provide dedicated support to the vessel. And every call is managed with sophisticated progress reporting procedures, so no request slips through the cracks.

In this way, Cat Concierge is the ultimate safety net for pleasure craft owners. No matter where the boat goes, Cat Concierge can support it when the unexpected occurs.