KUHNLE-TOURS takes over Yachtcharter Römer
After two years of strategic partnership, the houseboat specialist Kuhnle-Tours has completely taken over Yachtcharter Römer GmbH & Co KG as of April 1, 2022. This was announced by Harald Kuhnle, managing partner of Kuhnle-Tours GmbH. "Nothing will change for customers; trips already booked with Yachtcharter Römer will take place with the boats booked," Kuhnle emphasizes.
For the 2020 season, the two charter operators Manfred Römer and Harald Kuhnle had already agreed on a strategic partnership, under which a large part of Römer's operational and administrative business was handled by Kuhnle-Tours.
Now the company, complete with boats, cars and spare parts warehouse, has been transferred to the ownership of Kuhnle-Tours. The brands Riverlodge and Yachtcharter Römer will also remain. Harald Kuhnle is particularly pleased that he can also welcome Römer's three technical employees to the team. In addition, the Römer base in Fürstenberg will be retained, Kuhnle says: "The location is brilliant, Fürstenberg has its own rail connection and offers us the chance to expand our commitment in Brandenburg, which is rich in lakes." The Kuhnle-Tours fleet will then include 150 boats at 6 charter stations in Germany and France.
Another reason, he said, is that expansion of the charter fleet is currently only possible through the purchase of boats and yachts. Due to the shortage of skilled workers, the European shipyards would build too few boats. Kuhnle's own shipyard is no exception, says Kuhnle. At the shipyard on the Müritz, one to three houseboats are built per year, he says, "with more employees and functioning supply chains, we could build ten or more boats."
"In Kuhnle Tours I have found the right partner for a positive future of the company Yachtcharter Römer, the many loyal customers, the long-standing well-trained employees," Manfred Römer emphasizes. "For me, taking care of my fleet and now selling it to Kuhnle Tours, was the right decision."
For charter companies, he says, it is difficult to keep up with increasing digitalization and the ever-expanding regulations of electronic financial management. "That's where you're well advised to join someone who is equipped for the future," Römer says. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
