Dutch maritime contractor and shipping company Van Oord is handing over the leadership baton to the next generation of the owning family.
The company said the supervisory board is nominating fifth-generation owner Govert van Oord as the new chief executive at a shareholders meeting on 11 April next year.
He will replace fourth-generation owner Pieter van Oord, who has been in the hot seat for 15 years and is leaving to become chief executive of Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam for a four-year term from 1 June 2024.
Niek Hoek, chairman of the supervisory board, said: “We are pleased to be able to transfer the leadership of the family business from the fourth to the fifth generation Van Oord family.”
Govert van Oord has been with Van Oord since 2002 and has worked in the Middle East, Spain and Brazil, among other places.
He is currently responsible for the dredging and infrastructure business unit as managing director.
The new boss is 53 and studied civil engineering in Delft.
Pieter van Oord has been with the group for 30 years. The company said he will join the supervisory board at a later date.
“We congratulate Pieter on this proposed appointment as CEO of Schiphol, which is also an appreciation for Van Oord given the great societal significance and challenge of this role,” Hoek said.
Moving into offshore wind shipping
“We are grateful to Pieter for his ongoing commitment and leadership. Through his entrepreneurship, Van Oord has transformed itself from a dredging company into a broad maritime contractor.”
He pointed to a growth in offshore wind operations in particular.
Van Oord has a fleet of offshore vessels and dredgers.
VesselsValue lists three wind farm installation vessels (WTIVs), plus pipe and cable layers and crane ships.
There is another 176-loa WTIV called Boreas on order at Yantai Raffles in China for delivery in 2024.
