Habbeke Shipyard

Habbeké Shipyard, established in 1966, has nearly fifty years experience of quality shipbuilding. The wharf builds exclusively in aluminium, and enjoys an excellent reputation for innovation, quality and service. These characteristics were recognised and honoured when Habbeké was awarded the Dutch Aluminium Prize in 1994.

One of the key factors in the yard’s success is its commitment to working with the client and the designer. This has resulted in many long-term relationships with individual and institutional customers. Some individuals have ordered three vessels from the yard but the longest association is with KNRM (The Royal Dutch Lifeboat Association).

Habbeké has built some 17 Valentijn RIB life boats for the KNRM; and is now actively expanding the range in cooperation several architects including De Vries Lentsch and DSMG. A series of “Valentijn-like” vessels have been built such as the Crewtender (links).

As befits vessels which have to perform in sea conditions where other boats prefer to be in harbour, our boats are built to the highest quality and are therefore subject to the quality guidelines of class.

In fact all Habbeké products are built to stringent quality controls and the yard recommends that their products be registered with national and international safety organisations such as the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) or Lloyds.

The vessls are built at the company’s Volendam yard, as are, and have been, many other vessels. The delivery list includes boats from a large number of international designers including Sparkman Stevens, Philip Rhodes, Bruce Farr, De Vries Lentsch, Alan Pape, and Dick Koopmans.

Habbeké also builds sections of larger projects, e.g. a bare hull, a dodger, or flying bridge, as well as smaller complete products such inshore fishing boats or fun ribs (link to building portfolio).

Finally, the wharf has separate repair and completion shed in the nearby town of Edam with water frontage and lifting facilities in contact with the Ijsselmeer and from there to the North Sea via Ijmuiden and Amsterdam or Den Oever.

THE PHILOSOPHY

Highly trained workers, all of whom have years of education and experience in the Dutch Metal Industry, staff the company; in fact most of the staff have been with the company for 40 or more years. At the same time, everyone at Habbeké has a direct affinity with boats, large and small, and this combination produces one of the best teams of its size in Europe – building vessels of varied shapes and sizes.

Together these attributes have produced a dedicated team of ship builders and Habbeké has a rich experience in building ships from aluminium, steel and even wood. Today, the yard concentrates upon using aluminium. There are several qualified ship builders on the staff and each works closely with the designers of new vessels, often at the start of a project where the aspirations of the designer and new owner need to be married to the practicalities of the building process. The result must also be a user-friendly vessel and a member of the team is also active after delivery, making sure the boat performs to these previous expectations.

This constant attention to detail and performance has come into its own when a series of vessels such as the Valentijns are built. The team was involved from the start of the venture and each vessel has benefited from the constant additions and improvements made from ongoing experience.

Such an approach might not be the cheapest but, during our almost 50 years of experience, we feel we can claim to be one of the cost-effective yards in our sector.

The yard’s approach was crowned in 1994 when the Beach Launched Valentijn Lifeboat was awarded the Dutch aluminium award. The boat was judged first in both the initial and final jury rounds and named as an “example to the industrial sector”. It is to this level that we continue to aspire.