Dutch shipyards regaining market share in Europe

RIJSWIJK – Dutch shipyards are regaining market share after a steady decline over the past number of decades. Last year, the Dutch realized twelve percent of the European ship building activity, up from seven percent in 2000. They lead all European countries in building high tech dredgers, but the passenger ship building activity at two percent hardly registers on the charts. The growth of the pleasure craft industry in the Netherlands matched that of Europe as a whole, tripling in volume. The Dutch share in Europe is seven percent. The number of shipyards increased to 1,755 but total employment numbers dropped from 17,000 to 14,000.