A double jubilee at Damen Schelde Marine Services

2022 is a noteworthy year at Damen Schelde Marine Services (DSMS). Two of the company’s personnel are celebrating work anniversaries totalling 90 years of service. Huib Slabbekoorn (66) started his career at what was then the Royal Schelde Shipyard in 1972 and Peter Koole (58) began working at Schelde Gears in 1982. The two men followed different career paths, experiencing the ups and downs of the Schelde, to now be both working at DSMS.

The 16-year-old Huib joined the Schelde Bedrijsschool (own training facility) with the intention of becoming a welder. That plan succeeded, and he liked the work so much that he followed the more advanced arc-welding training and worked at the Apparatenbouw department (known today as Exotech). However, this was the early 1970s and health and safety standards were not as stringent as they are today. Two years into his career, Huib noticed his health getting worse. “I went to the company doctor, Dr Stumpius, who would later be better known for his work connecting asbestos exposure to cancer,” Huib says. “It became apparent that I had bronchitis caused by the gases produced by the welding. You see, back in those days the safety rules were very different to what they are now; there was hardly any air extraction. So, the doctor told me that I had to stop welding. I consider myself lucky to have been working at such a big shipyard because there were so many other options open to me.” Huib was quickly transferred to the Naval Warehouse, where he worked on administrative tasks before being promoted to Assistant Warehouse Manager. “In the beginning there were no computers; everything was written on paper cards.”

1983 was a challenging year for De Schelde. “The yard was more or less bankrupt and there was a major reorganisation. I was lucky that I was transferred to purchasing and expediting for new build vessels at De Schelde. And then in 1996 there was another reorganisation; 400 people, including me, were going to be made redundant.” Huib heard of a job vacancy at Schelde Marine Services and quickly called the then Director, Carel Flipse. “I was very pushy for the job because I really wanted it. I was very happy when Carel called me to ask me when I could start.”

The move to Schelde Marine Services turned out to be Huib’s last mayor career step, starting there in sales and then moving to the forwarding department, which included yet another reorganisation as the Damen Shipyards Group took over the various Schelde companies in 2000. After a long career, Huib is set to retire on 1 May 2023 (although he will stop sooner due to his accrued holiday days). “I have had a lot of luck in my career,” he adds. “There have been quite a few uncertain moments, but I have always come out lucky.”

Like Huib, Peter also started his Schelde career at the Schelde Bedrijfsschool in 1982. “I was 18 years old and I was being trained up to work on the turning and milling machines. After a training of three years, I started at Schelde Gears in the production of gear boxes for the naval vessels,” Peter notes. “Although after six months I asked if I could work in another department. The production hall at Schelde Gears had no daylight and the air was thick with machining oil; I didn’t like it at all.” Peter was transferred to the Machine Factory where he was involved in the production of spare parts for the Sulzer diesel engines.

“I wanted to develop myself,” Peter says. “So I took some further education courses; in business organisation and additional technical subjects.” His drive to further his education had a positive effect: “I had a chance conversation with someone in the Machine Factory. That turned out to be the Director of Schelde Marine Services, Mr Carel Flipse. He offered me a job in the sales of spare parts for the Sulzer diesel engines.”

Since starting at Schelde Marine Services in 1997, Peter has continued with his further education, in particular in the areas of quality management and health and safety. His role has grown and grown. “I started off working in sales, but this progressed into supporting the purchasing team too. And later on I took on the quality management tasks for the ISO 9001 certification, coordinated the HSEQ activities, as well as the facility management.” His official job title is now Technical and HSEQ manager. “Having so many different responsibilities is the nice part about my job. When I come to work in the morning I know what I will be starting on, but I never know what will come up throughout the day.”

Besides the huge advances in health and safety standards and computer technology that Huib and Peter have seen throughout their careers, the two men have also witnessed what has most probably been the biggest change to the global production sector. “This has been the transfer of production towards Asian countries as customers chose to buy components that are 30 per cent cheaper, but with only 10 per cent less quality. That brought an end to production at places like the Machine Factory,” Peter explains.

This change has been constant and also necessary, says Huib: “We stopped working with paper administration as computers came in. And we stopped production too; if we had stayed with only building Sulzer motors, then we wouldn’t be here today.”

This philosophy forms the current business model of DSMS. “Production of components is generally in Asia and DSMS has stock points in Shanghai, Singapore and here in Vlissingen. Our clients can purchase products from all three locations; it depends where their ship is,” says Peter. DSMS has expanded the selection of the products it supplies in response to market demands. “We also work closely with some of the manufacturers of the products we supply, acting as their sales team. After all, we are in contact with about 900 shipping companies around the world. That gives the manufacturers access to our worldwide sales network,” Peter concludes.