Currently, the Van Dam Nordia shipyard is among the oldest yacht-builders in the world. The yard dates back as far as the 1600’s. At that time, it was known as the Helling, which meant slipway in Dutch. Now, the past shipyard name has become the name for the street location of where they are today.
Ultimately, the Netherlands has become known for its long history pertaining to shipbuilding. In 1594, this became one of the important times within their history and is when Corneleiszoon invented the sawmill, which changed how ships were made. It was around that time that the Van Dam Nornia was founded.
Around 1881, the well known shipbuilding family known as Van Dam has a younger son Arie van Dam who decides that he wants to start his own business. This leads to him purchasing the yard in Aalsmeer for 4401 Dutch Guilders. This is followed by his son Adriaan taking over the company in 1908. Initially, most of the main products consisted of commercial vessels, but now Adriaan builds ‘jachten’, which are small wooden boats for pleasure. They are primarily used by aristocrats for sailing the lakes and canals of Holland.
In 1939, Willem van Dam becomes owner of the yard. However, production of the pleasure boats stops six months later with the start of World War II. He again resumes export of the yachts to the US in 1945. Overtime, the yacht has evolved with the technological advances.
They remain as one of the family owned operations, which have continued to pass on the technique of shipbuilding from one generation to the next. The Van Dam family started and continues to own the yacht building business.
Presently, the operation is run by Robert van Dam’s son in law Jacco Jongkind. He is the managing director of the yard. As for the design department, this is headed by Robin ten Hoope, which has been working with the company for the last ten years.
Presently, thirty employees work together within the yard with other sub-contractors in order to achieve the ultimate goal of making sure that all of the yachts are built according to the highest quality standards. The company is devoted to delivering yachts, which are customized according to custom requests. Therefore, the staff consists of all those who are specialists in order to ensure this.
Additionally, the company works to construct and design new yachts in addition to refits, which are done according to the highest Dutch standards. Just recently, the Yacht Sirene became part of their boat yard. It is a motoryacht, which was built by Feadship in 1962. At this point, the yacht has currently undergone a number of modifications throughout the decades.
As of right now, the current owner of the 1962 Feadship is looking to bring the motoryacht back to its original state. At this point, the yacht Sirene scheduled for completion within three months. Throughout this time new teak decks will be laid, in addition to the installation of new windows. Additionally, it will have a paint job and a complete overhaul within the engine room.
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Van Dam Nordia