Dredger Shipbuilding Yard Gets Dutch Royal Accolade

Historic Dutch specialist shipyard IHC Merwede says it has been awarded the honorary title of Koninklijk (Royal) by the His Majesty the King. In light of this honour, the company has decided to change its name to Royal IHC and will also include the royal crown in its revised corporate identity.

The company explains that the Royal title is an award granted to companies or organisations that meet certain conditions. To qualify, the nominated company must have been in existence for at least 100 years and should have prestige with regard to its image, size and reliability. It must be of national importance to and have prominence in The Netherlands – preferably with an international outlook – and the size of the company, the number of employees and its annual turnover are also taken into account.

History

In 2013, IHC Merwede had been in existence for 325 years. The predecessors of the Kinderdijk shipyards, L Smit & Zoon and J & K Smit, were already active in the 17th Century, while the other four IHC shipyards were involved from the late 19th Century (Gusto in Schiedam and Conrad in Haarlem) or the beginning of the 20th Century (Verschure in Amsterdam and De Klop in Sliedrecht).

Finally, in 1943 the six shipyards – specialising in the construction of dredging equipment and tin mills – decided to a form of collaboration, Industrieele Handels Combinatie (IHC) Holland. Nowadays, IHC Merwede is renowned as the world’s leading supplier of efficient vessels and equipment for the dredging and wet mining markets, and recognised as a reliable supplier of innovative ships and supplies for offshore construction.

New name and logo

IHC Merwede’s CEO Bram Roelse says: "Obviously we are extremely proud of receiving this distinguished title – so much so that we have decided to change our company name to Royal IHC and add the royal crown to our revised logo. In this way, we have reverted the name back to the roots of our wonderful company, which now has more than 3,000 employees.

“Merwede was added to IHC in 2005 after the merger between the two companies, but we feel that the new name matches the current need for projecting one company to the outside world and is also easier to pronounce on an international basis. The title and name symbolise the character of this company, in which keywords such as internationalisation, innovation, pride, passion and dedication have played a very important role over the centuries."
 
Pictured: the Mayor of Sliedrecht, Mr van Hemmen, presents the accolade to IHC Merwede’s CEO, Bram Roelse.