Harding Brothers scoops Silverseas contract

Gavin Lipsith

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The UK cruise concessionaire seals a crucial deal in the US luxury cruise market

UK-based cruise concessionaire Harding Brothers expects to grow its dollar revenues by 20% following its retail contract gain on board luxury US cruise line Silverseas. The company, which also manages onboard retail for Cunard Line and Seabourn Cruise Line, will take over the four vessels at locations dictated by their itineraries in the first two weeks of January.

Harding Bros director Harold Gittelmon told RavenFox.com the deal was crucial in securing the concessionaire's grip on the US luxury cruise market, and said that Silverseas was impressed by the group's retail performance on Cunard's Queen Mary 2. ?It has proved the model of the three-way partnership between brand, operator and cruiseline,? said Gittelmon. ?Many of the usual retail criteria are more difficult to deal with, replenishment cycles and seasonality being the two most obvious, and it is only a three-way alliance that can overcome these difficulties and make this model work successfully.?

See DFNI December 15, out this week, for more details.