Scheepswerf Kooiman Hoebee appoints Bastiaan Rigter as MD

Mr Rigter, who has already clocked up 18 years’ experience with Kooiman Marine Group, will be taking over from Roel Mosterdijk.

“Over the next few years, our main focus will be on further building our market position in the Netherlands and far beyond,” said Mr Rigter.

Stem dock

He stated the company would be investing in a new stem dock with 40x21x4 (LxBxT) dimensions.

The dock, which is planned to be operational before the end of the year, will create options for deep-draught vessels that are currently limited to using the large-scale shipyards along the sea coast.

Mr Rigter explained that additionally, inland and sea-going vessels can spend less time on the slipway, since a share of the work can be completed in the stem dock.

Service expansion

Clients save on money that would otherwise be spent on slipway fees and Scheepswerf Kooiman Hoebee can accommodate more vessels on its slipways in a given time span. The new stem dock also allows the company to expand its service range with ‘on the spot’ services.

Mr Rigter added: “The plan is to increasingly develop Scheepswerf Kooiman Hoebee into a full-service shipyard that clients can turn to for a range of services besides regular maintenance.

“It’s important in this context to preserve continuity. We need to both retain our existing clients and offer services to new ones.

“We want to take all our clients’ concerns off their hands, from A to Z. That’s our mission.”

In 1999, Mr Rigter joined Kooiman Engineering as a designer. In 2004, he became company manager of Scheepswerf Gebr. Kooiman in Zwijndrecht, before being appointed director of Scheepswerf Kooiman van Os in Yerseke, in 2007.

By Rebecca Jeffrey