Building a shipyard from the ground up is complex enough. Starting a shipyard in a city that sits several feet below sea level is an added challenge. So, it’s little wonder Feadship saw cause for celebration recently. The in-build Feadship Amsterdam yard, under Royal Van Lent management, gained its first pour of concrete in its mega-size megayacht drydock.
It’s significant progress for the project, announced in May 2016. Peter van Mil, overseeing the creation, confesses it’s a monumental task, too. “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,” he asserts. (Previously, he project managed the build of the 333-foot/101.5-meter megayacht Symphony.) That underground work includes divers pouring the above-mentioned concrete. This, following heavy equipment putting pre-fabricated walls in place, then digging more than 11 feet (3.5 meters) to kick off the drydock depth. Ultimately, the drydock floor will be about 33 feet (10 meters) below the water’s surface.
The Feadship Amsterdam yard needs this much depth because it’s intended for new-build megayachts to 525 feet (160 meters). Jan-Bart Verkuyl, CEO of Royal Van Lent and a Feadship director, says the need is there. “The majority of projects currently underway are above 80 meters,” he explains, the equivalent of 262 feet. “There is a clear trend to go even larger.” The problem, however, was that Feadship’s Makkum shipyard couldn’t handle those bigger orders on its own. Feadship acquired that site in 2005 specifically because its longstanding locations had limitations due to canal widths. Those locations: Aalsmeer and Kaag Island. Aalsmeer is a Royal De Vries site, as is Makkum. Royal Van Lent operates the Kaag Island yard.
When the doors open at the end of next year, the new facility will share about 450 employees with the other Royal Van Lent shipyard. In addition, Feadship expects to hire another 150 employees solely for Amsterdam.
Interestingly, the Port of Amsterdam says the Feadship Amsterdam yard has spurred other superyacht industry interest in the city. No official announcements yet, however.
Regardless, it’s worth noting that Feadship will occupy 12 acres (5 hectares), eyeing an additional 9 acres (3.8 hectares) for expansion. The Amsterdam yard will include ten workshops along with a build hall rising 115 feet (35 meters) tall.
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