Harlingen: Abis Shipping was founded on October 1 2007. At the outset, Abis set a five year target to have more than 10 ships in service for short sea shipping, project cargos and river shipping. Not only did it meet this target but since then it has grown and grown, recently welcoming its 17th and 18th ships to its fleet, a pair of project carriers which will sail worldwide.
René van de Graaf, managing director of the firm, tells Maritime CEO the intention is to grow further in fleet size without having a target number in mind.
“We focus on the small and medium sized shipping segment and offshore segment,” he explains, adding: “If we can bring an innovative vessel to the market which can increase innovation or logistic efficiency in the value chain we will try to accomplish this.”
Abis’s niche sees it building ships in Europe where it can control the building process of the complex ships it wants to construct.
By using its own technical specifications and the input from respected and well-known Dutch subcontractors, Abis builds the ships together with its shipbuilding partner Shipkits in Groningen. The hulls are built in Poland and then shipped to Abis’s homeport in Harlingen for outfitting.
“We want to grow by bringing in our logistic knowledge into these markets including the partners we cooperate with who are naval architects,” says van de Graaf.
While the company tended to focus mainly on Europe its latest larger vessels delivering sees it trading worldwide. [20/02/14]
