Feadship has celebrated a milestone in the construction of its fourth shipyard, located at a prime water-side location in the heart of Amsterdam. In the presence of invited guests, the first concrete was poured into the giant drydock.
When completed at the end of 2018, the yard will also include a 35 m high hall for building new superyachts of up to 160 m in length along with refits of existing Feadships. The Amsterdam yard will be the second facility operated by Royal Van Lent, which will also continue to operate its Kaag Island yard at full capacity. The two premises will share the same management team and corporate culture, with some 450 skilled employees from across the spectrum of outfitting and refit activities moving between the facilities when required.
Along with the two Feadship yards run by Koninklijke De Vries in Aalsmeer and Makkum, there will now be a total of four Feadship facilities in the Netherlands.
Average Yacht Length Continues to Grow
Feadship director and the CEO of Royal Van Lent Jan-Bart Verkuyl: 'The average length of the superyachts we are building continues to grow: the majority of projects currently underway are above 80 metres and there is a clear trend to go ever larger. The size limitations imposed by the location of the two original Feadship yards in Aalsmeer and Kaag were partly solved by the third yard opened in Makkum in 2005, and this fourth facility in the Port of Amsterdam will complete this expansion.'
Port Plays into Amsterdam Becoming a Yacht Building Hub
Port of Amsterdam CEO Koen Overtoom is delighted to see the Feadship facility starting to take shape. 'The decision by Feadship to build a state-of-the-art premises in Amsterdam is stimulating other yards and marine equipment suppliers from the superyacht industry to consider doing the same. As a result the Port of Amsterdam has appointed a dedicated sales manager for the large yacht sector.'
Feadship will occupy a five-hectare site with an option for a further 3.8 hectares.
Much Work Underground
'All the sheet piles and concrete are now in position and we’ve made a start with placing anchors between the sheet piles and anchor sheets. As the piles rose above the ground, digging commenced on the first 3.5 metres of the drydock, after which a pontoon will be lowered into the drydock along with the equipment to go below the water as deep as 10 metres. We’ve also had divers in the water pouring concrete as the basis for the dock floor. I thought that building a Feadship was the most complex thing I’d ever be involved in, but the fact that this facility involves so much work underground that one cannot see makes it even more complicated,' said Project manager Peter van Mil.
Picture: Feadship Yard Amsterdam (by Feadship).
