His Majesty the King has awarded the honorary title of Koninklijk (Royal) to IHC Merwede.
In a special ceremony, the Mayor of Sliedrecht, Mr Van Hemmen, has presented this accolade to IHC Merwede's CEO, Bram Roelse. In light of this honour, the company has decided to change its name to Royal IHC and will also include the royal crown in its revised corporate identity.
Royal Title
The Royal title is an award granted to companies or organisations that meet certain conditions. To qualify, the nominated company must have been in existence for at least 100 years and should have prestige with regard to its image, size and reliability. It must be of national importance to and have prominence in the Netherlands – preferably with an international outlook – and the size of the company, the number of employees and its annual turnover are also taken into account.
History
In 2013, IHC Merwede had been in existence for 325 years. The predecessors of the Kinderdijk shipyards, L Smit & Zoon and J & K Smit, were already active in the seventeenth century, while the other four IHC shipyards were involved from the late nineteenth century (Gusto in Schiedam and Conrad in Haarlem) or the beginning of the twentieth century (Verschure in Amsterdam and De Klop in Sliedrecht).
Finally, in 1943 the six shipyards – specialising in the construction of dredging equipment and tin mills – decided to a form of collaboration, Industrieele Handels Combinatie (IHC) Holland. Nowadays, IHC Merwede supplies efficient vessels and equipment for the dredging and wet mining markets and innovative ships and supplies for offshore construction.
Twin Exposition
The presentation of the Royal title took place at the grand opening of IHC Merwede's exposition at the National Dredging Museum in Sliedrecht, which – together with an exposition about the company in the Maritime Museum Rotterdam – will run until 23 November this year. The Sliedrecht exhibition (IHC Merwede: yards with a reputation) focuses primarily on the six shipyards, their products and people.
The Rotterdam display (Hi-tec Dutch maritime) highlights the innovative contribution that IHC Merwede has made towards the welfare of man and society over the decades. This is shown by the impact of the company on key social developments, such as population growth, increasing world trade, growing energy consumption and the spiralling demand for minerals.
