Revenue from the Dutch maritime sector grew by 3.4 per cent in 2018 compared to 2017, with employment rising by 1.3 per cent. At the same time, 2018 was still challenging for the Dutch shipbuilding and offshore industry. This follows from the Maritime Monitor 2019. 

Trade organisation Netherlands Maritime Technology (NMT) speaks of another difficult year for Dutch shipbuilding, but with signs of growth. In 2018, Dutch shipyards received construction orders for 39 seagoing vessels over 100 gross tonnage (excluding fishing vessels and superyachts). At 643 million euros, the total value of the order intake of seagoing vessels is comparable to the years 2015 and 2016, but well below 2017 (1138 million euros).

The major difference between 2017 and 2018, according to NMT, is due to a number of large, complex orders placed in 2017. In 2018, the total value of the order book of the Dutch shipyards for seagoing vessels amounted to 1.8 billion euros.

Still, the total turnover of the shipbuilding sector (shipbuilding, ship repair and superyachts) increased to almost 4.4 billion euros in 2018. This is almost 300 million euros more than in 2017. The added value also showed an increase. In 2017, this was 815 million euros, but in 2018 it had risen to 918 million euros; an increase of over ten per cent compared to 2017.

There are other hopeful developments as well. The expected recovery of short sea vessels seems to be continuing, the number of new orders for dry cargo and tankers is growing slowly. Yards that focus on the production of cargo ships for inland navigation, river cruise ships and small dredging equipment did good business in 2018.

Yacht Prices at Record Levels

2018 was another good year for almost all Dutch superyacht builders. Only Moonen Yachts from Den Bosch had a very difficult period. Market follower Super Yacht Times calculated that in 2018 sixty new superyachts were under construction in the Netherlands, of which thirteen were longer than eighty metres. At the same time, the average price per yacht built was also at record levels. The trend of building ever larger yachts is also continuing at the Dutch shipyards.

Offshore Market Remains Difficult

The Dutch offshore sector has been operating in a difficult market for some years now. 2018 will again be experienced by the sector as a difficult year in which part of the segments will continue to suffer from low margins and overcapacity. The still low oil prices compared to a number of years ago are holding back the start of large oil and gas projects.

Looking at the turnover and added value of the sector, it is striking that it has remained largely constant compared to 2017. In 2018, the turnover of the sector amounted to 10.30 billion euros. This is one per cent lower than in the previous year (2017: 10.44 billion euros). At 3.65 billion euros, added value remained the same compared to the previous year.

The Maritime Monitor does stress that offshore wind is an important growth market for the Dutch offshore sector.

Fewer Goods Transported by Inland Shipping

It is estimated that more than 359 million tonnes of goods were transported on Dutch inland waterways in 2018. This is a decrease of 1.7% compared to the previous year (2017: 366 million tonnes). More than one third of the cargo transported concerns domestic transport and has a Dutch start and end destination (2018: 122 million tonnes). The remaining two-thirds of the cargo (2018: 238 million tonnes) was transported to, from or through other countries. The low water levels in the dry summer of 2018 are partly responsible for the decline in transport.

Small Plus for Employment

The Dutch ports account for most of the jobs in Dutch maritime industry. Including indirect employment, the port sector employed 82,000 people in 2018. These figures relate only to transshipment, not, for example, to the supply industry in the ports. A total of 276,877 people worked in the maritime sector, of whom 167,181 in the sector itself, and the rest for maritime suppliers. This is three per cent of employment in the Netherlands.

Ports Break Records

The record of more than 600 million goods transported via the Dutch ports resulted in a turnover of 18 billion euros in the port sector. This is a sharp increase compared to 2017, when the turnover amounted to 16.7 billion euros. The ports’ role as distributor towards the European hinterland in particular contributes to the turnover of the ports.

Export on the Rise

An important driving force for the growth of the sector is export. This rose in 2018 to more than 33 billion euros. A growth of 5.2 per cent. The largest export sectors are ports and offshore with 9.877 and 6.765 billion euros respectively in 2018. Total exports from the Netherlands amounted to 496 billion euros.

Maritime Monitor

The Maritime Monitor is carried out on behalf of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management by Ecorys in cooperation with CBS. The Monitor is developed in close cooperation with Stichting Nederland Maritiem Land and gives an impression of the economic development, labour market and innovation of the sectors shipping, shipbuilding, offshore (energy), inland shipping, hydraulic engineering, ports (storage and transhipment), navy, fisheries, maritime services, the yacht building/water sports industry and maritime suppliers.