Come Fly the Dutch Flag

The Netherlands, a seafarer nation with a vast maritime history and a strong maritime cluster, should pre-eminently be a country for shipping companies to settle and also more ships should fly the Dutch flag. That is the opinion of the Royal Association of Netherlands Shipowners. For that reason, the association together with the Dutch government are about to publish a brochure, called ‘The Netherlands – Home to leading maritime companies’.

Tineke Netelenbos, chairman of the Royal Association of Netherlands Shipowners, explains: “Together with the Directorate for Maritime Affairs, we established the Action Plan Shipping, an action plan to ensure the Dutch shipping industry can flourish. One of the actions to be taken was the creation of a brochure, ‘The Netherlands – Home to leading maritime companies’, to show that the Netherlands is an interesting country for companies to settle and to promote flying the Dutch flag.” The brochure provides the reader with information about the Dutch maritime industry and about the benefits and opportunities involved in flying the Dutch flag. Netelenbos: “All Dutch rules and regulations regarding flying the Dutch flag are written down. We show in the brochure what the situation in the Netherlands is like and how the different parties involved work. The brochure for example explains what to expect from the Dutch tax authorities, the government and the inspection. By giving out this brochure, our government shows that it recognises the importance of the Netherlands being a maritime country.”

High quality

According to Netelenbos, the whole Dutch maritime cluster is interdependent, if you have a weak link, the whole cluster can be harmed: “We like to say that commercial shipping lays the foundation on which the maritime cluster can flourish. Nations compete with each other to convince companies to settle in their country. The Dutch flag needs to be a flag of high quality. The service that a flag state offers, has to be up to date and should be able to compete with other flag states of high quality. This should be a trigger for the Dutch government to work with good service in mind. You need to be aware of the fact that you should always be accessible.”

To be attractive as a flag state, there are a few things of the utmost importance. First of all, there is the fiscal package, as many business establishments of ship owners are fiscal-driven. “The Dutch tonnage tax scheme is very important”, says Netelenbos. “Next to that, companies who choose the Netherlands as their flag state, are allowed to apply flexible manning regulations and make use of additional fiscal measures, like the wage costs tax facility.” Alsoimportant is the service of the flag state inspection. The Netherlands has a unique regulation, which enables a ship owner with a good track record to sign an agreement with the Netherlands Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate. In this agreement, mutual rights and obligations regarding quality- control and flag-state inspections are determined. Netelenbos: “The agreement brings the ship owner a lot of advantages, like substantial time savings, as he gets less inspections. Up until now, two Dutch shipping companies have signed such an agreement: Spliethoff and Management Facilities Group.”

Maritime knowledge

“Next to that, the Netherlands is a very well developed maritime country with a lot of knowledge”, Netelenbos continues. “Our standard of education is high and the Netherlands accommodates many big maritime research institutes.” One of the points of interest within Dutch maritime research is green shipping. As the Dutch fleet is among the youngest and most modern in the world, it is also among the cleanest. The Dutch like to pioneer, conduct research on energy efficient propulsion technologies and find a way to combine environmentally responsible shipping with an economically sound and strong shipping industry.

The brochure will be published in English, but according to Netelenbos, it might well be published in other languages in a later stage: “Who knows in which languages the brochure will be published in later, maybe in Chinese or Japanese. For now, we stick to English though, as English is the maritime language. The brochure will be distributed among Dutch embassies abroad, so if there are any language difficulties, the embassy personnel can help with the translation, if necessary. We will also use the brochure for foreign shipping companies, who approach us while orientating themselves on opening a branch of their company in Europe. And, of course, the brochure can be a useful reference book for Dutch ship owners, too.”

Up to date

There is a big concern Netelenbos addresses: “The view of our government on piracy might be a threat to the Dutch flag. The government offers VPDs (vessel protection detachments, a group of armed marines on board of vulnerable ships that sail through the Gulf of Aden, ed.) and that is a good initiative. However, too many requests for VPDs have been rejected. Privately hired armed guards on board are still forbidden by Dutch law and therefore we run behind other maritime countries, that allow private protection or at least tolerate it. This has already been a reason for some shipping companies to reflag.” Netelenbos however is convinced that the brochure will help showing foreign shipping companies the attractiveness of the Netherlands and the Dutch flag: “We have to show and sell ourselves abroad. This is a continuous process if we want to continue to stand out. The brochure will play a significant role in this. The first step has been taken, the art is now to keep the brochure up to date and the Royal Association of Netherlands Shipowners will for sure keep an eye on that.”

Gail van den Hanenberg