The cover of the Workboat Special in our May edition shows the biggest of all workboats, the mighty Pioneering Spirit involved in one of its biggest jobs. When it comes to workboats, this is one in the class of extraordinarily large vessels. But Dutch shipowners, dredging companies, offshore specialists, and operators and contractors run an enormous diversity of workboats from small to all sizes bigger. And apart from the biggest of them all, Dutch shipyards can build practically any type of workboat for every special job required.
The Seawork 2025 exhibition from 10-12 June in the Mayflower Park in Southampton (UK) has become the place to be for ev-eryone involved in the workboat market in and around theBritish Isles. From the sixty countries represented, the Dutch delegation is certainly one of the biggest. Maritime relations between the Dutch and British are centuries old, especially when it comes to infrastructural works such as dredging. And British clients know that with Dutch shipbuilders, they can count on a listening ear for all their specific needs and wishes.
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s April 2025 issue: Martin van Dijk’s last inland navigation special
Dutch workboat builders in the spotlight
That this isn’t wishful thinking or empty marketing humbug is shown by the stories in this May issue about the specialists in smaller workboat-building, like Nauplius in Groningen, NextGeneration (NG) Shipyards in Lauwersoog and Neptune Marine from Hardinxveld-Giessendam. Our shipbuilding specialists Gerrit de Boer and Bruno Bouckaert reached out to these yards to inform themselves and our readers about the possibilities and special products these workboat specialists have to offer.
A good example of where Dutch-UK cooperation can deliver top quality products is to be found in the article about the latest series of pilot tenders for the Dutch pilot organisation. These tenders are built by NG Shipyards, but based on a design fromCamarc Design from the Scottish Argyll region. Thank you,Herman Broers, managing director of Nederlands Loodswezen BV, for this interesting article.
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s March 2025 issue: Dredging special and the hybrid fleet
Port of Den Helder as strategic maritime hub
And finally, I would like to point out to you the first article of the latest member to join our editorial team, Hengameh Farahpour. Working for one of the major Dutch offshore specialists, she brings in a lot of knowledge of the structural design of offshore constructions. She kicks off in this May edition with an article on the special role Port of Den Helder plays as a hub for the offshore industry, both in terms of oil and gas extraction and increasingly as a base of operations for the maintenance of the Dutch offshore wind farms.
This is editor-in-chief Antoon Oosting’s editorial accompanying the May 2025 issue.
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Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s February 2025 issue: Golden Triangle returns, education needs to follow suit
The articles in SWZ|Maritime’s May issue
In addition to the regular sections such as Dutch news, Markets, Global news, KNVTS and Mars Report, the articles in the May issue are:
- UK market remains attractive, despite Brexit
- Dutch competitor for Seawork
- Nauplius broadens its service offering
- The pilot tender of the future
- NG Shipyards wants to build sustainable workboats
- Neptune Marine has all disciplines in house
- Bas Buchner, Alumnus van het Jaar
- The Port of Den Helder
- Te water!
- Approved! IMO moves towards the future
- CEDA – India’s first HAM-based mega port
- CEDA – Dredging sector to benefit from data transparency
Picture: The biggest ship in the world, Dutch/Swiss offshore specialist Allseas’ Pioneering Spirit, at the beginning of May on its way from Rotterdam to the Borwin5 offshore wind farm off the coast of Germany to place the jacket and converter platform BorWin Epsilon to connect the wind farm to the German mainland (photo Flying Focus).
Also read: SWZ|Maritime’s January 2025 issue: Tideman special and optimistic 2025
