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Damen Schelde Marine Services once again had a successful year in 2024. “We achieved our highest ever turnover,” begins DSMS Managing Director Arnold Suykerbuyk. “This was partially due to the two acquisitions that we carried out, which of course increased our turnover, but, looking past that, both of the DSMS offices in Vlissingen and Singapore also made record growth.”
The first DSMS acquisition was of a two-man company called Four-Stroke Diesel Parts. “These two people brought with them their clients and a lot of knowledge. They are currently working here for us in a consultancy role, helping us build up our scope of suppliers,” says Arnold.
With the acquisition of Ruysch International from ‘s-Gravendeel, DSMS also obtained one of the best-equipped workshops in the Netherlands.
The second acquisition was more substantial: on 1 March 2024 Ruysch International was welcomed to the DSMS family and was renamed DSMS ‘s-Gravendeel. “Before the takeover, our client list was very much focused on the merchant shipping sector of container ships, bulkers and tankers. With the acquisition of Ruysch, we have broadened our market coverage enormously to now include inland shipping vessels, tugs, ferries, and naval and energy sector clients. We can now expand into these new markets. Our supplier list has also expanded, now including more European suppliers to supplement the extensive list of Asian suppliers we already had. What’s more, Ruysch is recognised as having one of the best equipped workshops in the Netherlands. There’s a lot of repair and overhaul expertise in our new ‘s-Gravendeel office.”
“We achieved our highest ever turnover. This was partially due to the two acquisitions that we carried out, but both of the DSMS offices in Vlissingen and Singapore also made record growth.” Arnold Suykerbuyk
The team from DSMS 's-Gravendeel.
With the two acquisitions significantly expanding DSMS’ market scope, the company’s sales and marketing teams have had to respond. “Our knowledge needs to grow with our scope: because our capabilities are now much broader, we have to increase our knowledge of engines, motors and sectors,” Arnold adds. “This has involved market research and getting to know new clients and agents. Our commercial team already takes on more than 1,200 client visits per year, but we will be expanding this accordingly.”
The DSMS Singapore team at the opening of their new office.
The consequences of the company’s growth last year was visible at the DSMS Singapore office. In September the Singapore team relocated to a more centrally located and modern office space. “I am proud of the dedication and determination of our Singapore team,” notes Arnold. “This new office is in a great location to better serve our Asia-Pacific and Middle East customer base.” You can read more about DSMS’ new Singapore office here.
‘Expansion in 2024’ was also a theme of DSMS’ sister company Maritime Logistics. “This is the logistics part of the company, providing import, export, storage and shipping services,” explains Arnold. Historically, DSMS has been Maritime Logistics’ only client, delivering approximately 5,000 logistics movements per year. “However, we are expanding this, starting last year by adding Damen Yachting, Damen Marine Components and Schelde Gears as new clients. The aim is to grow the client list to include non-Damen companies too – we see a big growth potential in this.”
DSMS’ plans for the coming year include a number of strategic organisational changes that will be implemented gradually throughout the year. “Our Commercial Manager here at Vlissingen – Jeroen Caris – will be relocating to Singapore with his family to become General Manager of DSMS Singapore. Ezra Lamers will become the new General Manager of DSMS ‘s-Gravendeel. And Remy Quist will be taking on more responsibility for operations here in Vlissingen, including leading the Maritime Logistics team,” Arnold says. “And staying on the subject of personnel, I am honoured to say that last year two of our team here in Vlissingen celebrated their 50-year work anniversaries of working with the various forms of companies that, over the years, can be called ‘De Schelde’.”
In-house product-related training is again high on DSMS's agenda for 2025.
As in previous years, training – in particular in-house product-related training sessions – remains high on the DSMS agenda. “And we are kicking off the year with a very extensive logistics training to update everyone’s knowledge about logistics. So we will be learning about purchasing terms, transport insurance, documentation: all to facilitate our growth ambitions. We also have some courses on how AI can help us with our marketing activities.”
Regarding ISO certifications, DSMS is expecting to gain ISO45001 for the first time, and ISO14001 for the third time. These look at the working conditions of our personnel and sustainability accreditation respectively.
Increasing innovation will be another goal of 2025. To this end, DSMS is cooperating with a young company from Damen Maritime Ventures, which is Damen’s ‘start-up incubator’ organisation. “We are working with Lumina Marine on the research and development of a new motor sensor. In addition to that project, we are also working with another company to develop new control panels to replace obsolete systems.”
All in all, Arnold and the DSMS team have experienced a very eventful year in 2024, and are looking forward to a busy year ahead. “The two acquisitions took a lot of time, energy and attention. And yet, it is a compliment to everyone in our organisation that we have still seen so much growth. It is a great performance from the team: everyone can be proud of this,” Arnold says. “As for 2025, we presented the plans for the coming year to the team this week and everyone is pointing in the right direction. It’s going to be exciting, but in an energetic way.”