Thursday 8 January – at 2 pm, the Pieter Schelte has arrived in Rotterdam. With a length of 382 metres and a phenomenal width of 124 metres, this is the biggest ship in the world. It was designed and developed by the Dutch-Swiss offshore company Allseas.
The Pieter Schelte will spend the next four months in Rotterdam undergoing final assembly in the inner lake of Maasvlakte 2. Among other things, 65-metre long support beams will be fitted to the ship. Including this work, the spin-off of the total construction of the vessel for Dutch business is estimated at €700 million. This involves 440 different Dutch companies.
“The arrival of the Pieter Schelte in Rotterdam is in line with Port Authority policy, which is geared towards strengthening the Rotterdam offshore sector further. In this connection, it is developing new port sites specially for this sector in both the existing port area and on the Maasvlakte. Recently, for example, Franklin Offshore Europe set up business at RDM Rotterdam”, says Allard Castelein, Port Authority CEO. The Maasvlakte provides possibilities on existing sites, on sites still to be developed and the plots of water on Maasvlakte 2 can also be put to good use for the offshore industry. Potential markets are the dismantling of oil and gas platforms, facilitating the construction of wind farms, (de)mobilisation projects and the establishment of large-scale manufacturing and assembly industry.
In Rotterdam and the surrounding area, more than 900 businesses are active in the maritime and offshore industry. These include leading companies such as Allseas, Keppel Verolme, Mammoet, Heerema, Damen and Boskalis.