Christian Kramer and Hylke Boerstra joined Chemikalien Seetransport (CST) when the fleet was shrinking fastest.
They worked alongside the late Peter Kramer to reverse the slide, deciding which ships should go and where future investment should be focused.
Boerstra said two subsequent years of consolidation have been followed by expansion. The strategy behind the turnaround had little to do with a generation change, Christian Kramer said. He and his father were “aligned” in how they saw the business and in taking it forward.
Honoured
“I am very honoured to be here as the third generation of this family-run business,” Kramer said. “We as a team are very happy to reach 50 years and to be in a growing, not shrinking mood.
“Of course, times are still challenging. But in challenging times, opportunities arise.”
This is exactly what happened in the early years of Marine Service as a pure engineering consultancy company — handling newbuilding supervision and plan approval — when it helped build a chemical tanker. The owner asked Kramer’s grandfather to manage it, and CST was born, first managing chemical tankers and then product carriers.
Peter Kramer’s Schools for Africa charity, which has raised more than $300m in donations from around the world, continues under his son’s stewardship.
Tankers ordered in the early 2000s were named after freedom fighters, such as Hans Scholl, founding member of the White Rose resistance movement in Nazi Germany. Another was christened African Future.
The project is spreading, with more than 2,500 schools already built in 21 countries — something else for CST to celebrate in its 50th year.
