High­ly trai­ned wor­kers, all of whom have years of edu­ca­ti­on and expe­rien­ce in the Dut­ch Metal Indu­stry, staff the com­pa­ny; in fact most of the staff have been with the com­pa­ny for 40 or more years. At the same time, eve­ry­o­ne at Hab­beké has a direct affi­ni­ty with boats, lar­ge and small, and this com­bi­na­ti­on pro­du­ces one of the best teams of its size in Euro­pe – buil­ding ves­sels of varied sha­pes and sizes.

Together the­se attri­bu­tes have pro­du­ced a dedi­ca­ted team of ship buil­ders and Hab­beké has a rich expe­rien­ce in buil­ding ships from alu­mi­ni­um, steel and even wood. Today, the yard con­cen­tra­tes upon using alu­mi­ni­um. The­re are seve­r­al qua­li­fied ship buil­ders on the staff and each works clo­se­ly with the desig­ners of new ves­sels, often at the start of a pro­ject whe­re the aspi­ra­ti­ons of the desig­ner and new owner need to be mar­ried to the prac­ti­ca­li­ties of the buil­ding pro­cess. The result must also be a user-friend­ly ves­sel and a mem­ber of the team is also acti­ve after deli­ve­ry, making sure the boat per­forms to the­se pre­vious expectations.

This con­stant atten­ti­on to detail and per­for­man­ce has come into its own when a series of ves­sels such as the Valen­tijns are built. The team was invol­ved from the start of the ven­tu­re and each ves­sel has bene­fi­ted from the con­stant addi­ti­ons and impro­ve­ments made from ongo­ing experience.

Such an appro­ach might not be the che­a­pest but, during our almost 50 years of expe­rien­ce, we feel we can claim to be one of the cost-effec­ti­ve yards in our sector.

The yard’s appro­ach was crow­ned in 1994 when the Beach Laun­ched Valen­tijn Life­boat was awar­ded the Dut­ch alu­mi­ni­um award. The boat was jud­ged first in both the ini­ti­al and final jury rounds and named as an “example to the indu­stri­al sec­tor”. It is to this level that we con­ti­nue to aspire.