A Smarter Way to Build Ships

European Business: Mr. Driessen, when George Rensen founded your company in 1980, the ship-building industry looked very different from today, which is why he sought to make life considerably easier for his customers with a new business approach.

Wim Driessen: At the time, inland vessels and coastal cargo ships were typically built from designs that were owned by the shipyards themselves. Every shipyard in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany had their own drawings and their own vessel models. George Rensen wanted to follow a different approach. Working closely with customers, he began developing proprietary designs tailored to their specific operational requirements. These designs could then be tendered to shipyards across Europe, with the contract awarded to the most competitive offer. Naturally, this created much greater flexibility in both pricing and delivery schedules.

European Business: Your business model has evolved significantly since then. 

Wim Driessen: In the early years, the company operated primarily as a broker for second-hand vessels. Our involvement in new shipbuilding projects developed gradually alongside that business model. Following the fall of the Iron Curtain, we began awarding contracts to a Polish shipyard, followed by partners in Romania, Russia, the Czech Republic, and, more recently, China. Today, we have access to an extensive 
library of vessel designs, ranging from passenger ships to gas tankers. On occasion, we have also acted as brokers for large LNG carriers with capacities of up to 20,000 m3. Drawing on our portfolio of completed projects, we can create highly customized vessel concepts through the intelligent combination of proven 
designs, offering clients a tailored solution at what is effectively the price of a standardized product.

“Drawing on our portfolio of completed projects, we can create highly customized vessel concepts, offering clients a tailored solution at what is effectively the price of a standardized product.”

European Business: You also offer innovative financing solutions for your customers’ shipbuilding projects.

Wim Driessen: Most shipowner who order new vessels from us are replacing aging assets within their fleets. Traditionally, they first had to sell their existing vessel and then use the proceeds to secure financing for a replacement. The challenge is that a new vessel often takes two years to build. Today, we can offer customers a guaranteed purchase price for their existing vessel, slightly below its estimated market value, which banks can accept as collateral. During the construction period, the shipowner can continue operating the existing vessel and generating revenue to meet his financial obligations. As a result, he is no longer faced with any operational downtime. At the end of the process, we either purchase the vessel ourselves or arrange a direct sale to an end customer. If the final sales price exceeds our original guarantee, the customer naturally receives the additional upside.

European Business: Looking ahead, you intend to expand further into new market segments.

Wim Driessen: We are increasingly focusing on the seagoing vessel market, particularly for customers in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Nordic countries, where European outfitting standards are highly valued. At the same time, hull construction can still take place in China before the hulls are being imported to the Netherlands, while maintaining the European quality standards our customers expect. In essence, we are now applying the successful model we developed in inland shipping to the short-sea shipping sector. By leveraging competitive tenders across multiple shipyards, we believe we can offer highly attractive pricing while significantly narrowing the cost gap between European and Chinese shipbuilding.

European Business: What role does digitization play in your business today?

Wim Driessen: We now use drones to monitor construction progress and provide our customers with seamless updates, ensuring they remain fully informed throughout the entire build process. Naturally, digital tools and workflows have also become an integral part of our design and project-planning activities. When it comes to artificial intelligence, however, we do not expect any major disruption to our business. After all, the vessels we deliver are highly customized and truly one-of-a-kind products, each tailored to the specific requirements of an individual customer.

European Business: You acquired a majority stake in the company in 2008. What continues to motivate you personally today?

Wim Driessen: Roughly half of our employees in the Netherlands are also shareholders in Rensen-Driessen Shipbuilding. That reflects not only their commitment to the company but also a strong sense of shared responsibility. It creates an organizational culture characterized by entrepreneurial agility and a genuine sense of collaboration. Our customers value this as well, because many of them know our employees personally and have built long-standing relationships based on trust. Many of us also have deep personal roots in inland shipping. My parents were inland vessel operators, and I spent much of my childhood at a boarding school alongside many other children whose families worked in the same profession. In a way, shipbuilding is part of our DNA. That connection to the industry remains a powerful source of motivation and continues to shape how we serve our customers.