Whether you’re a seasoned sailor, a passionate yachtsman, or a weekend boatie, the support of a renowned marina and a worriless shipyard experience is key. But what sets apart a memorable refit from one you want to forget often boils down to one essential factor: the quality of service you receive.
It’s not merely about a dock to moor your boat or a place to haul it out for repairs; it’s about finding a haven where your unique needs are not only met but anticipated with precision and care.
In this blog, we delve into the Service Customer crew at the Gold Coast City Marina & Shipyard and how each individual team member goes the extra nautical mile, offering services tailored to your individual requirements. We’ll explore how we provide more than just a place to park your boat; by offering an experience that blends hospitality with ship maintenance.
Get ready to set sail on a voyage with a crew that understands your needs, and where the team at GCCM are not merely service providers but seasoned experts who understand the unique language of the sea. Meet our team below so you know who you can call to answer your specific needs and put a face to a name.
Angie Pierce – Customer Service Representative
You will find Angie at our reception desk during the week. Angie is GCCM’s all-rounder ‘ask me any question’ representative, if you have a question, she will have the answer. There is no average day for Angie in her role, as GCCM has so much happening every day. When the weather is perfect you can guarantee that the phone will ring all day for dry store vessels to go in the water. Jealousy creeps in for Angie, but she’s happy our customers are on the water enjoying their boats.
She loves being by the water and finds great job satisfaction in helping with environmental issues that arise within the industry, particularly her work on GCCM’s ‘Closing the loop’ initiative. “If one extra person puts their coffee cup in the correct recycle bin, I’m happy.“
Angie has been working for GCCM for nearly 8 years and loves the sense of community at the marina. No matter how hard the day has been, when needed everyone will go the extra mile to complete the job. Plus, there is always a GCCM dog to pat.
Everyone has a story. It is nice to speak to people from all over the world. A client might be wearing a shirt from overseas, somewhere you have been – it is a good conversation starter.
Angie is always happy to help with any questions that you have. You can reach her at reception.
Holly Wolozsyn – Customer Service Administration
Part of our customer service team, Holly’s role includes looking after customers, email & phone enquiries, sending quotes, invoicing and maintaining records. She is also responsible for overseeing the GCCM site on weekends. She enjoys being part of a team when others are around on weekdays and the autonomy that weekends provide.
Of the 9 years that Holly has worked at GCCM (coming up to 10 years in June 2024), every day at GCCM is different for Holly. She loves seeing the pleasure-crafting world that our clients live in and always tries to maintain the highest levels of customer service possible, ensuring that our clients keep coming back to us.
Inspired to work in the boating industry by her husband (an experienced and well-regarded Marina Manager), Holly has never looked back and is still enjoying her time at GCCM and seeing what happens next.
You can contact Holly for any customer service enquiries from Friday to Monday. She’ll always be here for you on the weekends!
Tash Mills – Operations/Project Coordinator
Tash is the Operations/Project Manager for GCCM. For Tash, every day is different and full-on. She enjoys meeting new people and seeing what each individual vessel means to each specific client, particularly each person’s passion for their vessel. She’s the one booking the haul-outs on the Big Lift.
Having worked for GCCM for the last 2.5 years, Tash says “I love my role. I have the opportunity to expand skills and knowledge, and work both indoors and outdoors”.
Working on the Lady Christine project (See photo below) has been a particularly memorable experience for Tash in her time at GCCM, for its gravity in terms of the scope to the completion and everything in between.
Tash likes to treat each client and project as an individual. She cares about listening to her client’s needs first and foremost, then discussing how the refit and maintenance site at GCCM works and what we can offer to cater to our client’s individual needs, creating individual solutions for each project.
If you have a refit and maintenance project that you’d like to discuss an out-of-the-box solution, Tash is the best person to speak to. You can get in touch with Tash on 5502 5888.
Chloe Duroy – Dock Master
Not all shipyards have a dockmaster team. We do! Chloe is the Dock Master at GCCM, and this means looking after all things on the water, including making sure customers can book easily and efficiently into the correct berths. Chloe assists with guiding our clients into their berths and making their arrival as pleasant as possible. As part of her role, she also helps with the boatyard, towing boats in and out of the travel lift well if required. The best part of her job is meeting our customers and hearing their travel stories.
An average day on the marina starts with Chloe going for a dock walk, looking for any issues on the docks, or helping with any client’s concerns. She then checks the marina bookings for arrivals and departures, so that she can time her day and make herself available to assist.
Chloe is very experienced having worked in various marinas in NSW before joining us at GCCM a few months ago. With a sense of humour, Chloe says that an average day for her is an exceptional one – being out on the water and working on her tan. She enjoys working in the boating industry as every day is different, she gets to meet new people and see new things, as well as being able to work outdoors and find solutions to challenging situations.
Docking boats in the marina can be a stressful experience for some customers. Chloe takes pride in reducing the stress induced by this situation as best as possible.
She does this by:
- Understanding the client’s situation could be a new boat or an inexperienced skipper
- Allocating the best-suited berth for the boat to dock in
- Offering the correct assistance without sounding condescending
- Providing assistance and calming the situation as best as possible
As the dockmaster at GCCM, Chloe is the key point of contact for any concerns you have about bringing your vessel into the marina. If you have a query regarding docking your boat or want to book a berth, get in touch with the team at [email protected].
James Hughes – Invoicing & Bookings
James is primarily involved in invoicing marina, shipyard, dry store and business partners. He also assists in bookings for the 14T, marina berths, dry store and in other customer service-related areas where required.
A common theme with many of GCCM’s staff, the best part of James’ job is working with the fantastic client base and business partners that GCCM has nurtured over time. Also like his colleagues, James sees each day that he comes to work as being different, saying that there is no average day at GCCM.
James has been at GCCM for 15 months and enjoys the busy nature of GCCM’s day-to-day operations. The staff at GCCM are very knowledgeable which allows him to further his knowledge of the marine industry.
In his role, he enjoys the wide variety of clients, from casual boaties to superyacht captains and owners, as he finds it makes everything interesting. As a dynamic, ever-changing industry, James enjoys working in the boating industry, and any time he can assist a client or business partner is a memorable experience for him.
If you have a question about invoicing, contact James on 5502 5888.
Stephanie Trounce – Workplace Health & Safety (WHS), Property & Compliance Manager
For Stephanie, the best part of her job is learning new things. Engaging with a large variety of trades (over 90 marine experts are onsite at GCCM) and workers here at the shipyard is something that Stephanie loves. Being able to help problem solve when little hurdles arrive is always a fun challenge.
An average day for Stephanie includes processing site inductions, reviewing and updating policies and procedures, planning training activities, performing site inspections, investigating incidents and complaints, arranging quotes, arranging contractors and consulting with business partners. It’s never boring!
The real sense of community at GCCM that is nurtured between the staff, business partners, clients, vessel owners and crews makes GCCM a wonderful place to work. Stephanie enjoys seeing everyone work together seamlessly to help each other out, and it makes for a great work environment to be a part of. There is never a dull moment at the marina and shipyard, as there are so many diverse aspects to its running that GCCM always keeps Stephanie on her toes. She finds working in the boating industry enjoyable, as it’s such a hive of activity with so many different work operations happening all at once.
Having worked at GCCM for the last 1.3 years, Stephanie never tires of hearing about clients’ adventures (or misadventures!) in between repairs & maintenance visits to the marina and shipyard.
Stephanie’s most memorable experience in her time at GCCM has been seeing the GCCM community really embrace the changes that she has been able to make to continually improve the marina’s safety practices and overall management of the GCCM complex.
Stephanie is the key point of contact for workplace health and safety concerns at GCCM. If you have a concern or query regarding WHS, contact Stephanie at [email protected].
Valerie Le Baron – Marketing Manager
As GCCM’s Marketing Manager, Valerie loves getting outside to take photos and videos of amazing vessels, as well as talking to the owners and captains. Having worked for GCCM for the past 1.5 years, Valerie never tires of seeing the love that our clients show for their boats and the stories that they tell.
Valerie finds that working for a marina and shipyard makes for an extremely varied job. One minute she can be organising an event at the marina, the next writing some articles about boating, updating the website, making a video of a superyacht refit or of the yard crew splashing a big cat. Her role includes marketing the brand and all things GCCM. Valerie finds great satisfaction in helping our onsite business partners show off their expertise and the projects they are working on.
For Val, GCCM is a big family with a sense of community within the crew, the business partners and a lot of our clients. “Some of our customers have visited us, each year for more than 20 years, it is quite unique and we owe them the best service possible”. Having a great team of people who are really good at what they do and genuinely want to create a community makes for a very productive work environment. Also, as Valerie is originally from Britany, a very maritime region of France, she is thrilled to be able to spend so much time by the water surrounded by boats. Her French family members are in the Navy, sailing instructors, commercial sailors, etc. and she feels closer to them here, on the other side of the world, working with boaties.
One of her most memorable experiences in her time at GCCM so far was introducing Xavier Doerr to Andrew, our COO. The whole team has been and continues to be very impressed by this 22-year-old going after 3 world records. Valerie is very proud that GCCM chose to support him in his past and future attempts. “It was thrilling to follow his adventures on his 21ft GCCM yacht around Australia. It also brought a lot of visibility to our brand”.
Val is always after a great story to share. Don’t hesitate to contact her if you want to be featured on our socials! [email protected].
You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Linkedin.
Give us a call if you need help for your boat maintenance 🙂
Welcome to Service Paradise!
