Dongfeng provided the main challenge to Ian Walker’s winning Abu Dhabi crew in the last Volvo race before losing their rig. They got going much earlier this time, being first afloat and training and with more top international names in the crew than first time around. French skipper Charles Caudrelier and navigator Pascal Bidégorry make a formidable partnership. However, this was not the only 2014-2015 team to up their game this time… Spanish entry Mapfre also cranked up the talent and is proving a very tough adversary
It’s not just business (or it shouldn’t be)
During the Hong Kong stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race Tom Mullen spent time learning about the strategy and objectives of the giant company backing China’s Dongfeng entry
The Chinese-funded Dongfeng (East Wind) race team first entered the Volvo Ocean Race in 2014-2015, expecting to wet toes and learn from the experience. Their showing, finishing third overall, surprised many in the ocean-racing world. Midway through the current 2017-2018 race in Hong Kong Dongfeng held second place behind Spanish team Mapfre. Part of this relative success relates to the business strategies the programme has followed. The French company OC Sport and
subsidiary OC VOR manage the Dongfeng Sailing Team. OC Sport is a global sports marketing and events company based in Rennes, France, with subsidiary offices in the UK, Switzerland and Singapore. OC Sport in part evolved from Offshore
Challenges, the company launched by Ellen MacArthur and Mark Turner nearly 20 years ago. OC Sport is now controlled by the Télégramme Group, a large French media, sports and entertainment group. (Télégramme Group in turn evolved from Le Télégramme newspaper – which was, fortuitously, renowned for its excellent coverage of sailing in Brittany). OC Sport now own rights to events in running, cycling and sailing – including La Solitaire Urgo Le Figaro and the Extreme Sailing Series. A quarter of the company’s 100 employees are dedicated to supporting the Dongfeng team in the Volvo Race. Based in Wuhan, China, the Dongfeng
Motor Group is a state-owned vehicle pro- duction company with some 176,000 employees producing 3.8 million vehicles each year. Founded in 1969, it is now listed as a Fortune 500 company. Together with Volvo, it formed a subsidiary company named Dongfeng Commercial Vehicles which sponsors the Chinese VOR entry. ‘When they started looking to develop
their international presence Volvo Trucks suggested they join this race,’ explained Guillaume Semblat, CEO of OC Sport. (With their corporate ownerships now deeply entwined do not be surprised to see the Volvo Ocean Race in due course become the Dongfeng Ocean Race).
‘As well as running events OC Sport is
now equally at home managing competing teams, so when we started talking about this project it was soon looking like a nice fit.’ The responsibility of OC VOR as a race
management company is to hire sailors, manage a crew and support team and take care of communications and logistics. For the previous race OC VOR worked
with subsidiary partners including the city of Wuhan plus another Italian co-sponsor. Doing well in their first attempt at such a challenging contest prompted a different, more ambitious approach when they con- sidered a follow-up appearance: a more single-minded approach where everything would be under OC’s direct control. Returning for the 2017-2018 edition of the race, both these partners were dropped. These business decisions have a clear
impact on competitive performance. Drop- ping outside partners has allowed the team management to focus more on racing and manage the race budget more tightly. It also relieved Dongfeng of having to inter- act with other companies and brands. During months of meetings in France
and China OC and Dongfeng negotiated a race budget for a new team of about 75 people – accommodation, flights and food during this eight-month race alone cost between one and two million euros.
SEAHORSE 47
w
ELOI STICHELBAUT/DONGFENG
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110
