Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij

On 14 April 1899 a consortium was founded by people connected to the harbor of Rotterdam and the company De Maas. It had two goals: First to try to continue the company De Maas, Second, to run one or more drydocks.[3] Led by its president A.G. Kröller of the Wm.H. Müller & Co. shipping line, the consortium pursued its goals. It got more than 200 shares of De Maas at 25%, and the terrain on the Heijplaat became a common possession. This way the consortium became the dominant force in the shareholders meeting of De Maas. The plan of the consortium was to end De Maas and then to transfer the assets to the new company. On 10 June 1899 the consortium decided to build a floating drydock for ships of up to 12,000 tons displacement.[3]

The consortium then had to get commitment for all its shares, which was quite a challenge. Finally on 23 January 1902 a contract that established the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij was signed. The company would have 1,000,000 guilders capital in 1,000 shares.[4] The supervisory board of the RDM consisted of: H. de Jong of Phs. van Ommeren NV; J.P.J. Lucardie director of De Maas; Ir. J.F. Rebel engineer; Ph. W. van der Sleyden former minister of Rijkswaterstaat and L.W. Veder of Hudig & Blokhuyze. The supervisory board accepted the offer of the consortium of 207 shares in De Maas and the terrain on Heijplaat for 101,400 guilders. On 1 March 1902 it subsequently decided to liquidate De Maas.[5]

Rotterdam Drydock Company, 1918

For the CEO position the supervisory board wanted to have W. de Gelder working as an engineer in Kinderdijk. He had written a brochure that advocated the need for a modern drydock company west of the railway bridges over the Meuse. He did not want to become the new CEO, but his brother Ir. M.G. de Gelder, chief of the technical service of Bureau Veritas did accept. He called in his father A.J. de Gelder, former chief of the Dutch East Indies 'Waterstaat'. In fall 1901 father and son De Gelder had started the design of the shipyard on Heijplaat. The plan included a sketch for the location of the buildings and machinery, and in more detail the location of drydock basin. Most of the buildings were projected on the west side of the terrain. During 1902 the RDM also succeeded in getting a lease on 9 more hectares of land on Heijplaat. The ground which was dug out for making the dock basin (harbor for the floating docks) was used to heighten the terrain, which was regularly flooded up till then.

Most activities took place in the main building. It measured 75 m by 48 m and had iron foundations and an iron upper structure.[6] The machine factory, model room and carpentry shop were located in another building on the south side of the terrain.[7] There were also offices, a house for the chief engineer, and a house for the chiefs.[6] A power plant had two steam engines of 450 ihp each, with boilers and dynamo's. It provided electricity for the pumps of the drydocks as well as for the machinery and lights on the rest of the shipyard. The steam engines and boilers were built by RDM, but the power plant as a whole was made by machine factory 'Voorheen Gebr. Figee' from Haarlem.[8] A new boiler factory was equipped with a hydraulic riveting machine.[7]

The assets which came in from De Maas consisted of a big inventory and many tools, and above all 300 experienced employees. The machinery of De Maas was generally too outdated to be of use. During 1904 the last parts of De Maas were brought to the new shipyard. The buildings of De Maas were then sold. RDM only held on to the old boiler factory for five more months.[7]

Prins Hendrik Dok I in 1971 with Tijgerhaai under construction

On 18 July 1902 the order for two floating drydocks was given to William Hamilton and Company in Port Glasgow. The cost for both drydocks together was 950,000 guilders.[9] The delivery and opening of the biggest dock was to coincide with the opening of the Shipyard at Heijplaat on 3 October 1903. Even while the big drydock was not completely ready, the opening of the shipyard took place at the planned date. On the occasion the small drydock got the name Prins Hendrik-dok I and the big drydock got the name Prins Hendrik-dok II,[10]

The small drydock Prins Hendrik-dok I would be suitable for ships of up to 350 feet and 3,000 tons[11] It would be operated by electric engines driving four pumps. On 13 July 1903 the small drydock was towed into the dock harbor. It had been towed from Scotland by the Zwarte Zee and Lauwerszee tugboats of Smit's tugboat service.[12] On 13 August the small drydock was taken in use when the Batavier I of the Batavier Line was the first ship to use it.[13]

The big drydock also known as Prins Hendrik-dok II would have a lift capacity of 8,000 tons and be suitable for ships of up to 500 feet length.[11] The big drydocks was 438 feet long, 96 feet 6 inches wide and could lift 7,500 tons. It was of the self-docking type made of 6 six connected, but different pontoons. Each of these could be decoupled so it could be repaired and painted. It was operated electrically and had six 16 inch centrifugal pumps. Each of these could pump 1200 tons of water in an hour. Each pump had its own engine powered by an electrical power station on shore. On 31 July 1903 the first part of the drydock was launched, and in the evening the second part.[14] The big drydock had a rough journey in the Irish Sea. It faced such bad weather that the tugboats were steaming for days without making progress.[15] The weather also significantly damaged the drydock. On 3 September 1903 the big drydock arrived in Rotterdam. The Spanish steamer Noviembre was the first ship that tried to use it. The dock could not be made dry, and so the Noviembre left it again on 25 September and went to a community drydock.[16] The problems were solved by 25 November 1903. On 30 December 1903 the final trials were held when the big steamer Lübeck from Lübeck used the dock.[7]

The necessity to build ships was caused by the nature of the drydock business. Drydocks generated a good margin, but during the moments that they were not occupied they made a big loss. Therefore, a drydock companies often built ships, so the employees could work on these while the drydocks were less busy. This was also how competitor Wilton's Dok- en Werf Maatschappij operated. During 1904 RDM would dock 145 ships totaling 305,020 tons in 518 days.[7]

The first ships built by RDM were still built on the terrain of De Maas, or were even ships started by De Maas. The latter was undoubtedly the case with the big dredging vessel launched on 13 August 1903.[17] RDM built the engines for a special ship built for P. van Ommeren, SS Sliedrecht, which was launched on 22 April 1905 by Crags & Sons in Middlesbrough. On 22 July 1905 Sliedrecht made its trials, and about two months later the Holland-Gulf Maatschappij contracted for the Alwina. The Alwina was the first sea ship that the RDM would build. With all possible speed a slipway of reinforced concrete was ordered from the Hollandsche Maatschappij tot het maken van Werken in Gewapend Beton from Den Haag. The Disconto Bank aided in financing a bending roll and a planer. The second order came from the Noord-Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Maatschappij from Harlingen, which ordered the Constance Catharina. Soon other orders followed.[18]

Up to 1908 the shipbuilding business went very well. By 1909 the shipyard had three slipways for ships of up to 110 m long. It had a drydock harbor of about three hectares that housed the drydocks of 3,000 and 7,500 tons capacity. As regards buildings it had an ironworkers building of about 2,000 m2; a woodworkers building with model room of about 1,350 m2 and the machine factory of c. 3,600 m2 that housed the smithy, boiler factory, metal workings, offices and administrative rooms.

In 1910 the market recovered. On 27 September 1910 RDM tried the new floating sheerleg Bison of 66 tons lift capacity. It was built by RDM, and had a relatively large reach, so it could load from ships that were on a drydock, or positioned behind another ship. The Bison could also be hired.[19] Also in 1910, the Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland ordered the freighter Kambangan. She made her trials in December 1911. Her measurements were 430x55x37 feet with a cargo capacity of 8,650 tons. The engines delivered 4,250 ihp for a speed of c. 13 knots.[20] An identical ship, the Krakatau was built by Fijenoord and launched on 16 March 1912.[21] For the RDM it meant that at that moment it was building the biggest ship to date constructed in the Netherlands. The fact that Hamilton built the identical Karimoen and Karimata, and that the Kangean was built by Northumberland Shipbuilding company in Howdon on Tyne puts things into perspective.[22] However that may be, on the level of the RDM itself business was booming. In 1911 Van Ommeren ordered the tanker Mijdrecht. On 10 October 1912 she was launched. Mijdrecht was 325 feet long, had a beam of 47 feet and a hold of 24 feet. Cargo capacity was 3,500 ton, power 1,500 ihp for a speed of 10.5 knots.[23] The construction, more specifically the riveting of the tanks, gave so much trouble that RDM and Firma Ph. van Ommeren suffered significant losses.[24] On 25 October 1912 RDM laid down the first Dutch ship with a steam turbine. She was delivered as Turbinia on 27 July 1915.

On 10 June 1914 the competitor Scheepsbouw Maatschappij Nieuwe Waterweg was founded. It was modeled on the RDM, and persuaded many employees and key figures of the RDM to come work for her.[18]

Rotterdam Drydocks built 22 reactor vessels for nuclear plants all over the world. These include:

• The Netherlands:
  • Borssele (1 reactor)
• Belgium:
  • Doel-3
  • Tihange-2
• There are further vessels for reactors in: Argentina (1), Germany (2), Spain (2), USA (10), Sweden (1) and Switzerland (2).

In the Belgian reactor vessels, numerous tiny faults were found during the 2012 maintenance inspections, with unknown consequences for the near future of these two reactors. [26]