Marex Announces Significant Growth

Marex.com, Inc., a marine industry B2B e-commerce company, announced that it has achieved rapid and significant growth in the number of builders and suppliers currently online and using the company's two e-commerce products, MarExpress! and MarexPO!, to facilitate electronic procurement. The company reported that 15 builders and 50 suppliers are now "live" and utilizing the Marex system, an increase of 76% over the number of members online at December 31, 2000. Recently, Marex reported that since the launch of its e-commerce products in June 2000, more than $6 million worth of orders had passed through the Marex system in e-procurement transactions linking boat builders and suppliers -- more than 40% of which occurred in February and March alone. To date, 120 leading marine suppliers and 39 internationally recognized boat builders have signed contracts to use MarExpress! and MarexPO! "The speed with which we are bringing current members "live" and using the Marex system for e-commerce transactions is a major component of our success," said David Schwedel, Marex's CEO. "We are particularly pleased about the rapid growth in the number of suppliers online, because as we approach critical mass on the supply side, we can focus our efforts on enlarging the scope of our buy side."