Interview: Gilbèrt de Bock, managing director of De Bock Maritiem BV

Gilbèrt de Bock took to sailing at an early age. Inspired by the Zeekadetkorps Alkmaar Youth Association, he enrolled in nautical college at the age of fifteen and became a captain at just twenty-four. “I’m not from a typical shipping family,” he says, “although my mother’s side has been working in inland navigation for generations.” The family was very entrepreneurial, though, so the idea of combining shipping with business came naturally. From captain-owner to entrepreneur with a sizeable fleet… Time for a chat!

You profile yourself as a “motivated, young shipping company”. Could you tell us more about De Bock Maritiem BV?

“We currently have around two hundred employees, mainly seamen. Twenty people work at our office in Alkmaar, and we also have small offices in Antwerp and Indonesia. I started out as a captain-owner with a single ship and quickly expanded with a second and third. In 2015, we began offering ship management services as well. At first, this involved helping other shipping companies with compliance and the like, but the service has now become a key part of our business. Just consider, four of our eighteen ships are ours, the rest we manage for others!”

What do you do for these customers?

“Everything except commercial operation. So we take care of safety, the crew, accounting, technical management, purchasing, and everything else needed to keep the ship sailing. The actual cargo is the owners’ business.”

You specialize in what the Dutch call “binnen-buiten” – shipping cargoes on coastal and inland waters without transhipment. What does this branch of shipping look like?

“It means that the ships are built in a way that lets them do everything that inland vessels and ocean-going vessels can do, in terms of equipment and so forth. The idea is that you can transport freight without transhipment, from door to door. This reduces the risk of damage and saves time. For instance, we carry cargoes from the German Ruhrgebiet directly to England, or forestry products from the Baltic states or Spain straight to eastern Belgium.”

“Historically, this was a pretty big sector in the Netherlands – there were at least three hundred such ships at one point, owned by their skippers, but they’ve largely disappeared under the influence of consolidation and economies of scale. We’re one of the few who still do this, which makes us a specialist in a niche market.”

You currently have a fleet of eighteen ships. Do you have plans for further growth? And what opportunities does the market present?

“We are very much aiming to grow, in terms of both the number of vessels we own and the ones we manage. Operationally, it makes no difference whether the ship is ours or belongs to someone else. The management branch has more growth potential, given that building a ship requires a lot of capital. That makes it difficult for SMEs to grow by acquiring their own ships, so that’s currently happening at a slower pace. On top of that, we have a solid and cautious financing structure – it slows down growth a bit but does provide greater certainty for the future.”

What do you think the biggest challenges will be for Dutch shipping in the next few years?

“First and foremost: staffing. There aren’t enough people graduating from nautical college. There are shortages abroad too. We’re also looking for people for our offices who have sailed in the past, which is tricky because you’re then looking at the same pool of candidates. One of the ways we’re dealing with it is by working closely with maritime academies in IJmuiden, Den Helder and Harlingen. We’re members of the advisory boards there, for instance. On top of that, we have a cooperative agreement with a school in Surabaya, in Indonesia. Furthermore, we take many interns on board, at least one or two on every ship. We train people and try to retain them by creating a pleasant working atmosphere.”

“The second challenge is the energy transition. A few years ago, we decided to sell all five ships we had at the time and build new ones. We now have highly energy-efficient ships that are ready for the future. For example, one of them has VentoFoils. Our ships are powered by electricity, although the generators are still running on diesel for the time being. We used a modular construction method that will let us replace them easily with generators running on methanol or whatever alternative fuel that becomes widely available later. One of the challenges is that this is all pretty unclear as yet – we’ll have to wait and see.”

What would you like to see from your marine insurer in the future?

“NNPC is a pleasant company to work with; you provide excellent service and advice. What I appreciate above all is that you are an independent P&I Club. Where I still see an opportunity to do more is in the prevention of members incurring damages – giving training courses on how to avoid damages, for example, or how liability works in the event of collisions or damage to freight. Maritime transport is perhaps the most over-regulated sector there is. Ships undergo numerous checks and inspections, and the level of compliance is high. However, the parties involved focus primarily on matters relating to the safety of the ship, people and the environment. They don’t pay much attention to the cargo itself. That’s a gap that NNPC could fill.”

Finally, is there anything else you would like to add?

“A message to young and experienced readers with an affinity for shipping: if you’re looking for a new career opportunity, come and speak to De Bock Maritiem BV! We’ll be happy to show you the possibilities.”