Radio Holland Turns 100

Radio Holland Group (Rotterdam) celebrated its 100th anniversary in the maritime shipping industry. The event took place on board of the historical ship ss Rotterdam, in the port of Rotterdam where Radio Holland also has its headquarters. Paul Smulders, CEO of Radio Holland, welcomed the Mayor of Rotterdam, Ing. A. Aboutaleb and presented the Mayor with the first edition of the book ‘A century Radio Holland, 1916-2016’. 

Paul Smulders, CEO of Radio Holland says: "Radio Holland is 100 years young! We have a rich history, full of unique moments and milestones. At the same time we always look ahead. For example with developments and innovations in remote monitoring, connectivity and ICT on board. Our aim is to help our customers to manage their operations as efficient, safe and effective as possible. Today was a unique day. It is also the start of our anniversary year. A year in which we will celebrate our anniversary at various moments and events around the world.  Radio Holland is a renowned company, I am convinced there is no one in the maritime industry who does not know Radio Holland. We are very proud of this feat."

"Today we celebrated the 100th anniversary onboard the historical ship ss Rotterdam. We welcomed a group of esteemed guests: top management of customers, ship owners, ship management companies and yards, key suppliers, classification societies, Royal Netherlands Navy, branch organizations, the CIRM and former directors of our company. Their overwhelming presence today shows the close bonds Radio Holland has in the market. I was proud to welcome the Mayor of Rotterdam, Ing. A. Aboutaleb, as our guest of honor. It was my pleasure to present the Mayor with the first book ‘A Century Radio Holland, 1916-2016’. It is a unique book, describing the history of our company in text and visual in a beautiful way."

"We had a slogan for Radio Holland from the eighties, which is still very valid: “A company is only as good as its people! “ I would like to thank all Radio Holland employees for their dedication, drive and support, to give Radio Holland a proud place on the global maritime map, I look forward to the next 100 years!!"

The company was founded in 1916 in Amsterdam as the "Nederlandsche Telegraaf Maatschappij Radio-Holland" by a group of Dutch ship owners. They saw the significance and necessity of radio communications to the safety and efficiency of shipping. Radio Holland began installing radio stations on board of Dutch merchant vessels. In those years and up to the nineties Radio Holland also employed the radio-officer (also called 'sparks') on board, who operated the equipment and in the early days with the morse key. For this purpose, Radio Holland founded a special own training college for radio-officers after the first World War, in Amsterdam. When the radio-officer job ceased to exist on board in the beginning of the nineties, several radio-officers came ashore in the Radio Holland organisation in various functions, from technician to purchaser, using their onboard and technical knowledge excellently.

In the years following this pioneering start, the company expanded its activities considerably and soon built up a worldwide network of branches, starting off in the East Indies(1920s), Curaçao (1930s) and continuing to for example Hong Kong, Singapore, USA, Middle East and Africa in the seventies & eighties.

Today, Radio Holland is a well-known name in the maritime shipping industry. Radio Holland specializes in NavCom, Connectivity, On Board ICT and Maintenance solutions. Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Radio Holland connects its customers to an unrivalled network of more than 80 offices around the world along the global shipping routes. Radio Holland delivers unique technical service expertise which helps customers run smarter, more profitable businesses with less downtime and lower operational expenditures. Radio Holland is proud of its heritage and looks forward to the next 100 years.