About us

Our history
Van Dam Shipping is a true family business. Jan van Dam grew up in an inland shipping family and was himself a captain on an inland shipping tanker by the age of 21. Unlike his predecessors, he made a career switch to the seagoing shipping sector in 1990. When strong growth led to the purchase of eight new ships in 2006-2008, he made the switch from captain to ship owner.

Shipping has been our passion for five generations. You could almost say that it is in our genes; a passion for our fleet, for technology, for our people and above all for the sustainable future of shipping.

Our fleet
Our eight modern cargo ships sail mainly in North-West Europe. Six of our vessels are especially adapted for the Saima Canal in Finland. In addition, we take the greatest care to reduce emissions during all our ship movements.

Our people
Perhaps the greatest value we place is on our people. Investing in their safety, health and job satisfaction is key. We are, therefore, proud of the fact that we sail with over 120 permanent crew members. They know the ships, they know us, they know our partners and vice versa. So we can all count on each other.

Sustainable future for the shipping industry
The shipping industry is in transition. With the experience of previous generations and the developments of the past decades, we have seen how important it is to be at the forefront of that transition. Sustainability has, therefore, been an integral part of our business for a very long time. We work together with our partners to realise their greening, look critically at our own contribution and cooperate with innovative parties and projects to be part of the sustainable future as a frontrunner.