Royal Hakvoort Shipyards is a

shipbuilding company A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

specialized in building large

luxury motor yacht A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts, but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts, ranging from to ...

s. It is located in the municipality of

Monnickendam Monnickendam () is a city in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Waterland, and lies on the coast of the Markermeer, about southeast of Purmerend. It received city rights in 1355 and was damaged by the fires ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

History

The shipyard was established in 1919 by Albert Hakvoort Sr. when he purchased ground, a warehouse and shipbuilding equipment in the town of

. In 1944 his son Klaas Sr. joined the company. First building wooden vessels they switched to steel after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. To aid growth a new

slipway A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...

was built for the repair and construction of ever larger vessels. In 1955 they ran into financial trouble after a fire destroyed two sheds and multiple adjacent houses. The financial trouble was caused because the yard was not insured for religious reasons. Albert Sr.'s other son, Albert Jr., left school to help rebuild the yard over the next few years. The family's determination paid off with 70

fishing trawlers A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...

being built between 1959 and 1980. Under the direction of the third generation, Klaas Sr.'s sons Albert and Klaas Jr., the focus shifted from commercial fishing vessels to sport fishing yachts. Klaas Sr. stepped back in 1981 and his sons took over the

family business A family business is a commercial organization in which decision-making is influenced by multiple generations of a family, related by blood or marriage or adoption, who has both the ability to influence the vision of the business and the willingn ...

. The first large yacht the yard build was the ''MY Tonga''. In 1993 Albert bought his brothers share of the company. This was in a period the yard was collaborating with another Dutch shipyard,

Oceanco Oceanco is a privately owned custom yacht builder, based in the Netherlands, that builds full displacement yachts in the range since 1987. It is owned by Mohammed Al Barwani, an Omani billionaire. History Oceanco came into existence in 1987, w ...

. Also in this period Albert's sons, Klaas and Albert Jr., joined the shipyard in 1991 & 1993, marking the entry of the fourth generation. A new

carpentry Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters tr ...

department opened its doors 1999 in the neighboring town of

Purmerend Purmerend () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and in the region of West Friesland. The city is surrounded by polders, such as the Purmer, Beemster and the Wormer. The city became the tra ...

. Some orders were cancelled due to the

financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...

. As the market for yachts remained somewhat stable the yard decided to extend their main hall to to accommodate for this market, which was a big success with orders for a and a yachts for Russian owners. However, their order book collapsed after

international sanctions International sanctions are political and economic decisions that are part of diplomatic efforts by countries, multilateral or regional organizations against states or organizations either to protect national security interests, or to protect in ...

against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in 2014. On November 13, 2020, Hakvoort received one of the most prestigious honors for a Dutch company: the Royal designation. From then on the yard can use the Royal title and put a stylised crown above their logo.

List of yachts built

References

Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1919 1919 establishments in the Netherlands Dutch brands Yacht building companies Sailing in the Netherlands Shipbuilding companies of the Netherlands Companies based in North Holland Monnickendam Lists of yachts {{manufacturing-company-stub

History

List of yachts built

See also

References