History

HISTORY

ForestWave Navigation was founded in 2003 by captain owner Gerrit Diepeveen and a colleague, when they ordered two new multi purpose single deckers of 4,500 ton dwt.

When Gerrit Diepeveen passed away in 2006, his shares were passed to his son Fred. At that time Fred was head of the chartering department of a short sea shipping company and responsible for the chartering of more than 40 multi purpose vessels in the range of 3,000 to 8,000 ton dwt. In 2010 Fred took the decision to join ForestWave to further develop the activities of our company.

Commercial management

In 2011, shortly after Fred’s move, a joint venture with Schulte & Bruns GmbH & Co. KG, Papenburg in Germany, came into full operation.

Schulte & Bruns is a well-known reputable shipping company in Germany with a history of more than 130 years. Their main activity is transportation and warehousing of particularly peat. For this they operate approximately 35 multi purpose ships, own warehouses in Papenburg and are active in landside logistics. Thereby they operate substantial contracts for peat producers.

In 2016 we acquired Schulte & Bruns Nederland and by doing so extended our close cooperation with Schulte & Bruns. Our subsidiary Schulte & Bruns Nederland forms part of the network of chartering offices in Hamburg (Germany), Newcastle (UK), Vigo (ES). The different offices are connected through one IT system enabling the overview of the chartering and operations of all 35 ships in the Schulte & Bruns fleet. In this cooperation we as ForestWave do the chartering and operations of 29 ships of the fleet.

Technical Ship Management

We started Ship Management with 2 vessels in 2011. Meanwhile the number has increased to 21 ships, of which six Ferus Smit built Ecobox 10500’s, two Ecobox DP 10500’s, one Ecobox XL 12500, five Damen Combi Freighter 8200’s and five Damen Combi Freighter 10500’s/11000”s and two Peters Kampen built Sole 10000’s.

Ship Owning

In 2011, ForestWave took delivery from Damen Shipyards two Combi Freighters 8200 and in 2013 three more. Two years later, we acquired four secondhand Damen CF 10500’s (built 2005/2006). In the years thereafter, we purchased two Peter Kampen built Sole 10500’s (built 2010 and 2013) and one Damen CF 11000 (built 2011). In 2021, ForestWave took over two 2016 built Ecobox 10500’s from Symphony.
Early 2023, we acquired the remainder of the Symphony fleet (7 young vessels and a new building contract) and the Symphony organisation working from Breda.

Nowadays, ForestWave owns 21 vessels in the range between 8,000 and 12,500 ton deadweight. Furthermore, we have 3 more Ecobox XL’s under construction with Ferus Smit. These will be delivered this year, 2024 and 2025.

Finance and administration

Since 2011 the finance and administration department is headed by Ric Nijhout, who has been active all his working life in the marine industry, in banking, as well as in shipbuilding. His last assignment was Financial Director for 10 years with Seatrade.