The Dutch Employee Insurance Agency (UWV) has revealed the amount of state aid companies have received as part of the Dutch government’s corona measures. On the list are also quite a few maritime companies. Dutch shipbuilders Damen Shipyards and Royal IHC received 15.4 and 8.9 million euros respectively.

The state aid falls under the “Noodmaatregel Overbrugging Werkgelegenheid” (NOW). This financial measure has been designed to enable companies to continue paying furloughed staff instead of having to lay them off. As the government sees this as a type of subsidy, one of the conditions was that the amounts awarded would be openly published. The first tranche of this measure has now been concluded and so a list has been published containing all Dutch companies that have received this form of financial support.

Of the Dutch shipbuilders, Damen Shipyards tops the list in funds received. Damen operates from a number of private companies (BVs in Dutch). When looking at the different sectors in which they operate, some 3.5 million euros went to Damen’s ship repair yards, including Damen Verolme, Damen Ship Repair Rotterdam and Damen Ship Repair Oranjewerf in Amsterdam. 5.8 million euros were given to the company’s headquarters in Gorinchem, 2.2 million went to Damen Schelde Naval, 275,000 euros to Damen Dredging and 1.4 million to Damen Yachting.

The corona crisis came at a particularly bad time for Damen after the company went deep into the red in 2019. Over 2019, the net result fell to -287 million euros.

Other shipbuilders on the list

In addition to the 400 million euros the Dutch government contributed to the rescue of Royal IHC, the shipyard also received corona support. The location in Kinderdijk received some 8.5 million euros. The rest went to smaller parts of the companies such as IHC-SAS Hytop and IHC SAS Engineering.

Other shipyards receiving substantial amounts are De Hoop Shipyard with approximately 1.1 million euros and Thecla Bodewes Shipyards with about 500,000 euros. Most of the yacht builders do not appear on the list with the exception of Royal Huisman, which was awarded some 675,000 euros and Damen Yachting mentioned above.

Classification society Lloyd’s Register (EMEA and Nederland together) received close to 1.8 million euros. 570,000 euros went to Bureau Veritas’ Marine business. Det Norske Veritas in Barendrecht received 311,000 and DNV GL Netherlands a little over 1 million euros.

Maritime Research Institute (MARIN) can also be found on the list and received a little under 1.5 million euros.

Picture: Dry dock of Damen Shipyards Rotterdam, Eemhaven (© Raimond Spekking / CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)).