Shipyard De Hoop Lobith BV in Tolkamer, the Netherlands, was declared bankrupt by the District Court in the Dutch province of Gelderland on 26 October. The shipyard was one of the oldest in the Netherlands and employed 97 people. It specialised in building cruise ships, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the yard had no new orders coming in.
All employees have lost their jobs. Managing director Patrick Janssens tells local news channel Omroep Gelderland the yard had no orders coming in for 1.5 years and the little jobs it did do, proved insufficient to cover running costs.
One of the last projects De Hoop was working on was the hull of one of the forty Parsifal tankers Concordia Damen is building for Shell. The keel of this vessel was laid at De Hoop on 3 February 2021.
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There is no news about a restart or takeover. ML V.F.M. Jongerius has been appointed trustee. Janssens tells Omroep Gelderland they do have ideas for a restart, but nothing concrete. ‘At the moment, our focus is on settling the bankruptcy and informing our staff,’ says Janssens.
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Picture: Keel laying of the Parsifal tanker at De Hoop on 3 February 2021 (by De Hoop Shipyard).