From the magazine – Judging by last year’s figures from Dutch maritime manufacturing industry association NMT-IRO, the Dutch shipbuilding sector is far from struggling – especially compared to other shipbuilding nations in Europe. However, despite full order books, the financial risks for shipbuilders remain dangerously high. Even the largest companies can quickly find themselves in serious trouble, as seen with Germany’s Meyer Werft last year and now Damen Shipyards, which is reportedly struggling with the prestigious German order for six large frigates.
In every issue of SWZ|Maritime, SWZ|Maritime’s editor-in-chief Antoon Oosting writes an opinion piece under the heading “Markets” about the maritime industry or a particular sector within it. For the June 2025 issue, he goes into NMT-IRO’s annual report of the maritime industry. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher, the SWZ Foundation, the KNVTS, or other editors.
In the northern part of the Netherlands – where innovative short-sea ships are launched almost monthly thanks to healthy order books – there are also significant structural weaknesses, warns former shipbuilder Jan Reint Smit in a report by Loek Mulder for RTV Noord. Local yards are heavily reliant on low-cost foreign labour, both for new builds and repairs. But what happens if that workforce returns home to countries like Poland, the Baltic states, Romania or Bulgaria, where they could build those same ships?
The most pressing bottleneck, however, remains financing. Shipbuilders often must pre-finance nearly the entire construction process, receiving payment only upon delivery.
First, let’s look at the numbers: NMT-IRO’s sector report includes global data, but for that, I would like to refer to colleague Willem de Jong’s article in the June issue of SWZ|Maritime.
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With growth come challenges
Dutch shipyards delivered 188 new vessels last year (up from 148 in 2023), a 27 per cent increase, thanks in part to what NMT-IRO calls an ‘exceptional influx’ of orders in 2023–2024. While order intake in 2024 dropped slightly compared to 2023 (204 orders, -7%), the total portfolio has still grown substantially in value and volume.
This positive trend in itself also brings challenges however, such as a necessary capacity expansion, innovation, and recruitment of skilled workers. But with the order inflow, Dutch shipbuilders are doing extremely well in the competitive battle with the big shipbuilding force of the Chinese. For now, they are mainly building the larger ships, such as container ships, bulk carriers and LNG carriers, but they are also increasingly moving into the territory of European yards that focus mainly on niche sectors such as cruise ships and superyachts.
Netherlands leading in Europe
Dutch shipbuilding remains strong compared to European peers. Globally, new ship deliveries rose for the third consecutive year in 2024. While Europe’s order book has shrunk in recent years, that trend is now levelling off. In the EU27+ area (EU plus Norway and the UK), complex offshore and workboat construction remains stable, and cruise ship orders surged over 40%.
Europe delivered fewer ships in 2024 — 251 compared to 279 the year before. Tonnage also fell. Yet, although order inflow for European shipbuilding has been shrinking since 2016, SEA Europe notes that the decade-long decline is slowing. The EU Maritime Strategy will determine whether European yards can regain volume. Dutch yards recorded a standout performance last year with a 27% rise in deliveries and a 66% increase in CGT.
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Big leap
For Dutch sea-going ship repair yards — mainly located in the ports of Zeeland, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Delfzijl — 2024 was ‘a very good year’, according to the annual report. Revenue jumped from EUR 446 million to EUR 980 million. NMT-IRO says it’s hard to assess job impacts due to lack of data. The sea-going ship repair sector is estimated to employ about 1400 FTEs.
Suppliers also saw revenue growth, though less than in the previous year. For this sector too, NMT-IRO finds it difficult to say anything about employment trends due to lack of sufficient data. But judging from older figures, the number of FTEs in this sector would be around 20,000. However, it is known that many suppliers are busy looking for staff, which is a big task due to the lack of sufficient technical qualifications. Many companies are therefore resorting to bringing in maritime technical talent from abroad.
Inland shipbuilding a global leader
Another shipbuilding sector that is simply doing very well is that of inland navigation. Dutch shipyards delivered no less than 42 new inland vessels last year. This means they control a large part of the world market, as only fourteen more were delivered worldwide. Since 2020, Dutch yards have produced more new inland navigation vessels than the entire European market. Competitors in the rest of the world even show a structural decline in deliveries and new orders.
Historically, annual production fluctuates between fifty and 200 new inland vessels. In recent years, the order books were mainly filled with tankers, but in 2024, with a total of 55, many orders for river cruise vessels were also booked. In its annual report, NMT-IRO writes that although demand is declining, the technically demanding nature of these orders also provides Dutch shipbuilders with many advantages.
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Specialist work vessels
Tugs are an indispensable link in the world fleet: statistically, there is one tug for every six ocean-going vessels. Due to their supporting role, the dynamics in completions and orders follow the growth of the world fleet with about a one-year delay. In 2024, the number of delivered tugs worldwide rose 36% while new contracts fell 27%. The Dutch market is moving with it: yards delivered 57 tugs (+78%) and secured 62 orders (+17%).
As for the construction of dredgers, Dutch yards remain important. Four new dredgers were delivered last year, a 300% growth, while four were also delivered worldwide and two more in the rest of Europe. However, China is grabbing an increasing share of the market too, with seven orders last year and Dutch shipbuilders (Royal IHC) just one.
Furthermore, Dutch yards delivered nine specialist work vessels last year and also booked nine newbuilding orders in this category. As for offshore vessels, Dutch yards delivered nine vessels and booked fifteen newbuilding orders.
Superyachts thriving, fishing sector in decline
The number of seagoing superyachts (over 30 metres in length) delivered by Dutch yards in 2024 doubled to 21. Worldwide, the number of yachts delivered last year was almost 30% above the 2023 level. In the GT middle segment (500-2999 gross tonnage), Dutch yards are downright dominant. In this category, half of all yachts delivered in 2024 come from the Netherlands.
In fishing, things are considerably worse. Worldwide, too, production fell from several hundred years ago to currently several dozen a year. However, the ships ordered are getting bigger and bigger. In the Netherlands, only one ship was delivered last year, accounting for more tonnage than the full 2023 production. Still, the decline continues: no new orders have been placed since 2022 and the order book counts only one project.
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Damen under pressure
Meanwhile, the Netherlands’ largest shipbuilder Damen Shipyards is in dire straits legally and financially. On the one hand, the Gorinchem-based family company is being prosecuted by the Public Prosecution Service for bribery, forgery, money laundering and violating sanctions against Russia with the supply of ships and parts. On the other hand, there are financial problems with the construction of six frigates for the German navy. Damen Naval secured the prestigious EUR 5.5 billion order for four F126 frigates in 2020. Two more sister ships were added in 2022 for EUR 3.1 billion.
But on Wednesday 4 June, NRC reported that Damen has run into acute financial problems because the Germans refuse to pay the instalments. The reason is said to be that Damen is failing to meet crucial deadlines caused by difficulties with the software platform (3DExperience) introduced in 2020 by France’s Dassault Systèmes for digitally capturing construction drawings for the frigates.
Respond to this article by sending an e-mail to Antoon Oosting, editor-in-chief and author of this article: swz.rotterdam@knvts.nl.
Cartoon by Hans de Wilde/SWZ|Maritime.
