Corporate Profile

Jeffrey B. Littman

It was over thirty years ago when Jeff earned a Master of Business Administration degree and, like most young men, he was eager to make his mark in the business world. After receiving his degree, Jeff decided to purchase a business where his skill and education would play a role in his success. As part of Jeff's search process, he began networking with friends and acquaintances within the business community and was relatively successful in identifying several businesses that were for sale. While some of the companies were attractive, they were not exactly what he wanted. One day, while having lunch with two friends, Jeff heard about a company that was owned and operated by two men that were reaching retirement age. After much research, he learned the actual name of the company and that they were "ship chandlers". Jeff had no idea what a "ship chandler" was, what they sold, or how they operated. Almost one year after his initial research, and many meetings later, Jeff purchased Cavalier Marine Supply.

In 1979, when he purchased the company, Cavalier was located in a three-story building with a freight elevator that held one pallet at a time. There was a staff of eight and the only piece of office equipment that resembled a computer was an electric typewriter.

Cavalier grew to a staff of almost 30 with a state of the art computer system.

In 1979, the company had two medium-sized trucks. It later grew to include a fleet of seven trucks plus two "over the road" tractors and trailers. Cavalier's building was a small warehouse with two freezers that would hold about 10 pallets of product. The facility was enlarged to about 40,000 sq feet with freezers that would hold 6 forty-foot containers of product.

In addition to Cavalier's office in Norfolk, it also opened a branch in Cape Town, South Africa and had joint ventures with other companies around the world.

Over the years, Cavalier purchased several of its competitors, including a chemical and paper supply company that primarily serviced the federal government, Virginia state government, and U.S. military ships.

Cavalier provided commercial ships and military ships with a large variety of products from food to deck and engine supplies in most ports on the east coast of the United States.

Eventually, Jeff sold Cavalier to his dedicated and loyal staff.

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