Feadship · De Vries Scheepsbouw Makkum

Netherlands · MakkumGrade A+Part of Feadship27 of 40

The De Vries yard in Friesland for the largest Feadships, above 100 m, opened in 2005.

2005

Founded

De Vries family

Owner

inside De Vries

Revenue

Sijbrand de Vries

Director

100 m and above

Range

101 m Project 1014

Current

What happened, 2023 to 2026

May 2026Build101.2 m Project 1014 on sea trials from Makkum

What it adds up to. One very large yacht at a time; the yard's bench is engineering and interior crafts.

Who runs it

Director, Koninklijke De Vries Aalsmeer / Feadshipsince 2022
Director, De Vries Makkumsince 2005
Group ICT managersince 2020
Procurement Director, De Vries groupsince 2019
Head of HR, Makkumsince 2014

Organisation. Family yard director; works-engineering department

What it shows for a new yard. A family yard director over a works-engineering department: the delivery half of a family group.

Former leaders now elsewhere3 people who held a top or senior seat here

now Operations manager at ICON Yachts
now Head of Refit Sales at Feadship Refit & Services
now Board Member at IJshockeyclub UNIS Flyers

The top team as read on LinkedIn13 people read as staff, October 2026

A family director for the Makkum yard (since it opened in 2005), with group functions appearing on this page: the group's Procurement Director, Group ICT manager and a group director from shipping (since 2022); below, Makkum's own HR head, controller, head of build coordination, production planning, commissioning and a refit and services manager.

Makkum builds the largest Feadships (about 75 m and up) and refits. On LinkedIn it looks like a production site with its own small staff functions, run by a family director, while purchasing, IT and the top seat are group matters. The group brought in an outside managing director from Maersk and Svitzer in 2022; in 2025 the family's technical director took the Aalsmeer CEO title, so who holds the group seat today must be checked against the press.

Top seat

Senior layer · 3

Purchasing and supply chain 1

Finance, legal and IT 1

People 1

Managers · 8

Engineering and design 1

Production and operations 4

Projects, service and after-sales 1

Finance, legal and IT 2

Seats and dates are as the people describe them on LinkedIn; a person who moved in the last months can still show the old seat. Tap a person for the profile and the reading.

Candidates at Feadship · De Vries Scheepsbouw Makkum1 in the pools; the shortlisted first, then by tier and score

Marc Niederer

Directeur Koninklijke De Vries Aalsmeer / Feadship at Koninklijke De Vries Scheepsbouw · The Hague, Netherlands

Commercially driven GMPossible matchAt Feadship · De Vries Scheepsbouw Makkum

160of 200

* Commercial leadership30%Sales Manager East Mediterranean, Trade Manager, Country Manager @ P&O Nedlloyd

* Yacht network20%Directeur Koninklijke De Vries Aalsmeer / Feadship (Jan 2022 – Present)

* Technical and pricing20%Head of Liner Operations Northern Europe and North America @ A.P. Moller - Maersk

* Business building20%Managing Director Europe @ Svitzer (Oct 2012 – Jan 2017); Managing Director Americas (2017-2020)

Leadership maturity10%COO @ Global Ports Investments PLC (Mar 2020 – Dec 2021)

Reading. 'Directeur' of the Aalsmeer yard since Jan 2022, read from his profile; Roderick de Vries lists himself CEO of the same yard since May 2025, so the seat must be verified. Outsider from shipping: COO of Global Ports, Managing Director Europe and Americas at Svitzer (Maersk group VP), P&O Nedlloyd sales and country manager; Chicago Booth MBA. A commercial-then-operations general manager with no yacht background before 2022.

Career

Directeur Koninklijke De Vries Aalsmeer / Feadship · Koninklijke De Vries Scheepsbouw Jan 2022 – Present
COO · Global Ports Investments PLC Mar 2020 – Dec 2021
Managing Director Americas · Svitzer Feb 2017 – Feb 2020
Managing Director Europe · Svitzer Oct 2012 – Jan 2017
Managing Director UK · Svitzer Jan 2012 – Sep 2012
Group Vice President · A.P. Moller - Maersk Group Jan 2012 – Feb 2020
Head of Liner Operations North America (Senior Vice president) · A.P. Moller - Maersk Group Mar 2010 – Dec 2011
Head of Liner Operations Northern Europe · A.P. Moller - Maersk Group Apr 2008 – Mar 2010

and 6 earlier roles

Education

Harvard Business School Executive Education; The University of Chicago Booth School of Business MBA · Business; Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Drs · Economics

LinkedIn profile ·

Facts and news, with sourcesthe research behind the overview

Show the facts and the dated news with their sources

Facts from the Feadship note

Family-owned ("completely family-owned"), seven operating companies, over 1,200 employees (2025-04-24). source
Royal title at its 2006 centenary; Makkum yard opened 2005.
Makkum yard director: Sijbrand de Vries (2026-05-21). source

News 2023 to 2026 · Feadship note

2026-09
Feadship reveals HIVE, a 115 m concept design.feadship.nl
2026-04
De Vries marks its leadership handover at Aalsmeer: Henk and Tom de Vries leave day-to-day management; Roderick de Vries (CEO), Rob de Vries (Chief Projects Officer), Bas Nederpelt (CCO and Feadship Director) and John Veldman (CFO) take over.feadship.nl
2026-04
Feadship debuts Project 826, an 80 m sailing yacht, a rare sail project for the yard.feadship.nl
2025-09
Feadship joins the Nuclear Energy Maritime Organization.feadship.nl
2025-07
Delivery of 101 m Moonrise; 118.8 m Breakthrough (fuel cells, built on speculation) presented at Monaco after delivery earlier in 2025.boatinternational.com feadship.nl
2025-04
Henk de Vries retires on 1 May 2025 as Feadship Director and CEO of De Vries; Roderick de Vries becomes CEO, Bas Nederpelt becomes CCO and Feadship Director.maritimetechnology.nl
2024-09
Feadship launches Feadship Resale, a brokerage arm for its own yachts.feadship.nl
2024-05
Launch of 118.8 m Project 821 at the Amsterdam yard, the first Feadship with fuel cells.feadship.nl

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