1974  – VLIESTROOM

The VLIESTROOM was the first ship for Van Wijngaarden Marine Services, following the takeover of Rederij Vlietstroom. This ship owes its name to the Vlie, the water that separates Vlieland from Terschelling, once one of the most important waterways from the Zuiderzee to the North Sea and beyond.

History
It all started in 1974 when Wim van Wijngaarden (born December 30, 1950) took the helm into his own hands and continued the company ‘Rederij Vlietstroom’, which had been built up with family capital, as a sole proprietorship. This made ‘Van Wijngaarden Marine Services’ as a modest company - which was managed from the kitchen table on Jupiterstraat - a fact.

The first ship ‘Vliestroom’ had already been built in 1969 at Scheepswerf Gebr. De Ruiter. This shipyard, located on the Rivierdijk in Hardinxveld-Giessendam, did not have a slipway, so the Vliestroom had to be launched with the help of a sheerleg during high tide. In 1975, all Van Wijngaarden Marine Services equipment, including the Vliestroom, was chartered for an assignment in England. Another well-known job for which the Vliestroom was used in the early years, was the construction of the drinking water basins in the Biesbosch for the city of Rotterdam.