| News |
Transport from Harlingen to Malta..
We had a professional crew pick up a yacht from Denmark to Harlingen.....
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| Transatlantic |
Yacht Transoport by container carrier
A Warren 87 was shipped by us with Hapag Lloyd from Livorno to Miami. The advantage of using Container carriers is that delays are not likely to happen.
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| Specials |
Starclass is specialized in destinations such as Maldives and Seychelles..
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Jan tells his story
"youngest Dutch Merchant Marine Captain ever"
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"Let me introduce myself, tell you about my roots and how I started in yacht transport 20 years ago.” "I was born in 1959 in the city of Zwolle ( Netherlands). After high school, as a 17 year old, I went to sea as a sailor. My first vessel was the 500 ton “Twebro”, built in 1964. The Twebro was owned by a religious family, from which the father was the Captain, one son mate, the other son engineer/sailor and mother was the cook.
On Sunday we did not sail because of their religion. So, quite often, the Twebro anchored on Saturday 2400 hours at sea on the Doggersbank or another shallow part of the Sea, also, during bad weather.
On Sunday morning at 9 o’clock the Captain started a big tape recorder in the “Salon” with a sermon from their church of IJsselmuiden from a few weeks before.
After the sermon, he poured everybody a glass of very strong homemade “Boerenjongens” and we played
cards to kill time. Sunday evenings, at 23.45 hours, the engine was started again and exactly at midnight, the anchor was hoisted.
After 365 Sea days I went back to school to become a Captain. On my 23rd birthday, I was the youngest Dutch Merchant Marine Captain ever."
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 The very first Yacht ferry.
"I had the vessel built in 1985 as a carrier specialized in heavy cargoes such as steel coils and marble chips. The main trade that we did with the “Waddenzee” was picking up cargo in Holland, England and Germany for destinations in the Mediterranean.
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 A one way voyage would normally take about 7 to 10 days, plus loading and discharging. A roundtrip Rotterdam – Genova- Rotterdam took about one month. On those voyages we saw many yachts; some on a southbound course, but also on a Northbound course, struggling their way against the mainly Northerly winds off the Portuguese coast. I enjoyed calling the yachts by VHF to chat a bit with the skippers. I listened to their stories about nasty weather, badly maintained yachts, and making no progress against the wind and current."
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Yacht transport service from Holland to the Med. "So, one day, during one of the 6 hour watches, the idea occurred to me to put the struggling yachts on deck. I called my brother, with the MF radio through Scheveningen Radio and explained him my idea. He listened and a few days later when we had contact again he told me that he went to the Frisian Shipyard in Harlingen that had a 100 ton crane. We could use it for loading yachts at a rate of Dfl 150 per hour. He also phoned a friend who was photographer of the newspaper “Telegraaf”. After a few weeks I arrived with the “Waddenzee” in Holland.
A picture of me and my ship was made and an article appeared in the newspaper. My brothers’ phone started ringing and 2 months later we loaded yachts for the first time (see picture) in Harlingen with the destination, Malaga. This was in spring 1987.
After this voyage we made 2 full trips with cargo in the hold and yachts on deck. But suddenly we hardly had any customers on this route. We transported all the trendsetters, but the big mass was not ready yet for such an event. They couldn’t imagine sailing with their own yacht in the Med. Although they had the dream of sailing to new horizons, they stayed on the Ijsselmeer with their yacht.
In the meantime I had bought an old 550 ton coaster which was converted into a cement carrier."
Yacht transport service from Harlingen ( Holland) to Kiel.
"This beautiful old lady was renamed “Maartje” after my grandmother, who reached the grand old age of 96 years and had just recently passed away.
With this vessel we maintained a weekly service with cement between Harlingen and Stettin. The deck was always available for yachts and we started the weekly service for yachts between Harlingen and Kiel. We transported many yachts with "Maartje" and also with so called Denemarkenvaarders, until it became too expensive in 1997. The average yacht length at that time was about 9.50 meters."
Development of yacht transport in the Mediterranean.
"From 1991 onwards Yacht owners really discovered the advantage of Yacht transport. We sailed with the Waddenzee on our monthly run to the Med. We transported, at that time, mainly from Ijmuiden to Palma de Mallorca and v.v. Dockwise started moving yachts from 1989, with Palma as the Mediterranean main port, but they sailed from Palma de Mallorca to Ft. Lauderdale with a semi submersible. The growth in the number of yachts was so big that in spring and autumn we only carried yachts. There was no space anymore for an additional cargo in the hold. Yacht carrier “ Waddenzee” was not a very seaworthy vessel in ballast, and to be safe in wintertime we took grain cargoes in the hold and yachts on deck. But in winter it was very difficult to keep the sailing schedule which we had planned 1 year ahead. It couldn’t take long or the “ Waddenzee” was nicknamed “Wait-and-See” by the English customers and “Warten-Sie” by the German clients. But we always managed to deliver the yachts safely. But it took time and a lot of sheltering. The yacht carrier was well known in Gibraltar, La Coruna and in the Bay of Brest, waiting for better weather.
During the years 1993 and 1999 we had an average growth of 25% in the number of Yachts. Also the size grew drastically. In 1994 the average length was 11 meters, while in 1999 the average length was 18 meters. The line was carried out with the Waddenzee and up to 4 carriers on time or voyage charter. At this time I gave my shipping company the name" Zevenster jachttransport".
Zevenster attracted the interest of Spliethoff, owner of 85 cargoships in 1999. They followed the development of my company, and they decided to enter the yacht transport market.
On the 1st January 2000 Spliethoff bought all the assets and activities of Zevenster Yacht transport. The new company was called Sevenstar. I stepped out, and founded Starclass Yachts." |
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