Lance Sheppard & Ecostore
I have reattached my parrot and re-entered the Superyacht market by becoming involved with a very cool New Zealand company, ecostore. which is a world leading producer of environmentally sustainable cleaning and body care products.
I came onboard is to establish the ecostore Marine division with the goal to becoming the supplier of choice for interior and exterior cleaning and personal body care products within the Superyacht market.
The Superyacht market as you know is fairly unique in that it is made up of incredibly knowledgeable and passionate owners and crew who are acutely aware of the environment that surrounds them and the impact they have on it. With a growing focus that is targeting the industry to be more environmentally sustainable now at fever pitch, companies like ecostore are able to provide owners and crew with solutions to help reduce a vessel?s footprint and impact on its surroundings with our chemical free high performing cleaning and body care products. Nearly all of the cleaning products available by other companies on the market are pitched as ?Green? or ? Environmentally Sustainable? are just existing chemical based Green Wash offerings and are harmful to the environment. (The most popular boat wash, Simple Green, even states on it label not to allow it to be washed into waterways and the ocean!!!) or non chemical based offerings which have not been properly formulated so do not perform as they should.
Every fluid used onboard will at some point flow out into the ocean, mostly untreated. Sustainability and commitment to the environment is at the core of everything we do at ecostore. Ecostore products are gentle and highly effective plant and mineral-based formulations for boat and body that have no negative impact on the ocean or surrounding environments. Our formulations are grey and black water tank safe, and have been sought out by the super-yacht owners, captains and crew committed to highest standards in product quality and environmental + ocean responsibility.
ecostore is also a pioneer and leader in consumer refill solutions for home/cleaning and body products. Nearly all of ecostore cleaning and body care products are available in bulk 5L, 20L and 50L containers to enable the refilling of smaller daily use containers. For a Superyacht this provides the ability to refill all dispensers onboard reducing significantly the huge amount of one use plastic containers normally disposed of in the course of a cruise. The containers are also made from petrochemical free sugar cane plastic which is 100% recyclable and biodegradable.
ecostore is a signatory to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation ?A Line in the Sand? Global commitment to eliminate plastic pollution at the source as well as Clear Ocean Pact whose mission is to remove the dependency of single use plastic in yachting. We also have Emirate Team New Zealand Americas Cup winning and Olympic Gold Medallist sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke as our brand Ambassadors.
My initial focus in building this opportunity is targeting Superyachts over 50m who use a significant amount of cleaning products both on deck and across all operations in the interior. They will also have the capacity to store bulk containers to ensure sufficient onboard supply throughout the season. We are currently working on establishing our direct to boat distribution channels in Europe and the US. To do this I am going out to all the Captains, Pursers, Chief Stewardess?s, 1st Mates and managers who I know and letting them know ecostore is available. The interest and feedback has been fantastic as it seems the timing is perfect and owners and crew are looking for products that meet the sustainability goals they are setting onboard.