“Welcome to a Dying Industry”

“Welcome to a dying industry” is the advice that Rik van Hemmen, as a young professional starting with Martin & Ottaway, received from a group of grizzled veterans at an industry event in New York City. But van Hemmen is the furthest from a conventional thinker, so he thanked them for their advice, pointed out that they were old, they would be gone soon and whatever was left was his. Though his maritime journey is long, as a young man van Hemmen was not convinced that maritime was his future, despite the fact that he’s a literal “Son of a son of a Sailor”, with both his father and grandfather working a ship’s engineers in The Netherlands. Emigrating from the Netherlands as a teen, van Hemmen found his path studying Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech, along the way working for: a defense contractor; the American Bureau of Shipping as a surveyor; designing America’s Cup sailboats; eventually joining Martin & Ottaway – which this year celebrated its 150th anniversary – where his father was a partner. Through his engineering career of studying maritime failures, van Hemmen has amassed many insights and stories on the industry that is his home, stories shared regularly in Maritime Reporter & Engineering News, and now here with Maritime Matters: The MarineLink Podcast.

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