Shipping - Netherlands: Books - History and Ships

Rotterdam en de zee - Vier eeuwen passagiersvaart / Rotterdam and the Sea - Four centuries of passenger travel

It began some four centuries ago with the departure of the Pilgrim Fathers, who set out from Delfshaven on the small ship Speedwell on the first part of their journey to North America.
Then came the time of the Dutch East India Company. The first steam shipping services and - halfway through the 19th century - passenger shipping to the Dutch East Indies and a little later to the United States began.

The transport of passengers by steamship between Rotterdam and England also became important. The Rotterdamsche Lloyd emerged from the shipping company of Willem Ruys. The firm Plate, Reuchlin and Co. became the Netherlands-American Steamship Company (later the Holland-America Line) in 1873. From the beginning of the 20th century, these shipping companies launched increasingly larger and more luxurious passenger ships.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the turnaround came when the liner trade to the Indies and the United States became less and less. Cruise shipping emerged and is still flourishing.
The fact that cruise shipping is alive and well in Rotterdam is evident from the overwhelming interest from the population and the media in the passenger ships that come to the Maasstad.

This fascinating and varied story is in the book Rotterdam and the Sea. There are approximately 200 - mostly never published before - photos by photographer Eppo W. Notenboom, who has captured the cruise ships in Rotterdam from the most unique viewpoints for decades.
In addition, he owns special historical photos and images in his extensive photo and image archive. These are supplemented with a number of impressive panoramic photos, one of which is on a 96 cm wide fold-out page.

Information

Author:	Bram Oosterwijk, Eppo W. Notenboom
Details:	160 pages, 22.5 x 29 cm / 8.9 x 11.4 in, hardback
Illustrations:	200 b&w and colour photos
Publisher:	Watermerk (NL, 2019)
ISBN:	9789090198828

Mooie schepen en banen in de haven van Rotterdam (7)

There is a lid for every pot and a ship for every cargo, and there is hardly a type of cargo that is not handled in Rotterdam.
This seventh volume also focuses on the great diversity of ship types that call at the port of Rotterdam. The series began in 2010 with the aim of giving 'ships of today' shape in book form, including the necessary educational elements and characteristic port functions.

Thanks to a number of spotters from the World Ship Society Rotterdam, a range of ship and port photos were again provided that inspired the accompanying texts.
It was also possible to literally capture the ships from A to Z, although at first it looked as if this would not be possible with the Q and the X, without repeating themselves. But just as a ship fits every cargo, there also appeared to be a suitable ship for every letter.
Furthermore, 11 special shipping professions are described on the basis of interviews.

Information

Author:	Cees de Keijzer, Piet van Dijk
Details:	112 pages, 17 x 24 cm / 6.7 x 9 in, hardback
Illustrations:	numerous colour photos
Publisher:	Watermerk (NL, 2019)
ISBN:	9789078388180

Mooie schepen en banen in de haven van Rotterdam (8)

In the eighth part of this series, a range of ships and jobs of today are again recorded. While the number of cruise ships in Rotterdam was on the rise, the cargo volume stagnated in 2019 with a throughput of 469 million tonnes. The increase in crude oil, containers, LNG and biomass was only a fraction more than the sharp decline in coal transhipment.

According to the Port of Rotterdam Authority, however, the success of a modern port is no longer measured solely by the number of tonnes transhipped. The demand for simply more transhipment capacity has changed into the demand for a better, faster and, above all, smarter port.

In addition to describing 75 special ships that visited the port of Rotterdam this year, this publication focuses on eleven port professions, such as project engineer in the offshore, staff captain on a cruise ship, corrector of nautical charts, owner of a seagoing vessel, producer of ship and maritime scale models, operations manager of a shipyard and 'harbour manager'.

The book was completed in April 2020 and describes shipping, ports and jobs in the 'pre-corona' situation. What this world has in store for 'post-corona technology' is uncertain, but in any case the situation has been recorded up to this disastrous tipping point.

Information

Author:	Cees de Keijzer
Details:	112 pages, 17 x 24 cm / 6.7 x 9 in, hardback
Illustrations:	115 colour photos
Publisher:	Watermerk (NL, 2020)
ISBN:	9789078388210