vopak 400 years of storage 1616-2016 VOPAK 400 years of storage 1616-2016 BOUDEWIJN POTHOVEN STAD EN BEDRIJF 2016 CONTENTS introduction 7 1. THE AMSTERDAM STOREHOUSES 8 struggle for independence 2. TEA WAREHOUSE KEEPERS 38 high-level specialists 3. THE ORIGINS OF PAKHOED 68 a company in permanent evolution 5 4. ROYAL VAN OMMEREN 106 family business on course 5. ROYAL VOPAK 152 a connecting link sources 195 index 198 colophon 203 INTRODUCTION VOPAK IS CELEBRATING ITS 400TH ANNIVERSARY in 2016. The company calculates its age based on its oldest forerunner: Blaauwhoedenveem, which was active in the Amsterdam port in the early 17th century. When the ships of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) unloaded their wares here, the storehouses transported the goods to a weigh house, where they were inspected and weighed, and then on to warehouses. The city of Amsterdam mentioned the storehouses for the first time in an official regulation in 1616. Although it is plausible that Blaauwhoedenveem was already active before that time, Vopak regards this year as its founding year. The storehouses were organized in the carriers' guild. Until the abolition of this sys- tem in the 19th century, they functioned more or less in the same manner, although they even- tually also took the storage of goods in their own hands. Blaauwhoedenveem and Vriesseveem were among the most successful storehouses. In 1917, they merged into Blaauwhoedenveem- Vriesseveem, later called Blaauwhoed. Fifty years later, in 1967, Blauwhoed and Pakhuismeesteren joined forces and formed Pakhoed. At that time, Pakhuismeesteren had its own history going back a century and a half. Founded in 1818 as a specialist in the storage of tea, the company had expanded to include the storage of all kinds of goods. Pakhuismeesteren started at the same time in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, where it fully benefited from the growth of the port and the increasing demand for oil 7 in the second half of the 19th century. After Pakhuismeesteren stored the first oil in 1862, liquid storage gradually became one of the company's core activities. Its successor, Pakhoed, speci- alized in liquid storage too. The company operated internationally and performed a wide range of transport and port activities, although its main focus was always on tank storage, a service in which it became a global market leader. Van Ommeren was a major competitor in this area. To expand its shipping activities, the Rotterdam shipowning family started its own tank storage company in the early 20th century. They started in Vlaardingen but soon afterward began opening offices abroad. Just like Pakhoed, Van Ommeren grew into a global operation. Because the two Rotterdam-based companies were often in each other's way, they began considering the possibility of a merger in the early 1990s. After many discussions and negotiations, the merger was concluded in 1999. Thus, Vopak was created, and it developed into a global specialist in liquid bulk storage. This book contains an overview of the 400-year history of Vopak and its precursors. For the sake of clarity, we have chosen to divide the book into five chapters, each focusing on one of the forerunners. The fifth and final chapter describes the creation of Vopak itself and the com- pany's development over the past several years. This book does not just focus on Vopak, its pre- cursors and the context in which they operated, but also on the people who shaped the company. Stad en Bedrijf Rotterdam 2016 1. THE AMSTERDAM 8 STOREHOUSES STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE VOPAK'S EARLIEST FORERUNNER IS THE BLAAUWHOEDENVEEM IN AMSTERDAM, DATING DESPITE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC INSTABILITY, THE STOREHOUSES CONTINUED TO FUNC- BACK TO THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE SEVEN UNITED NETHERLANDS. FROM TION IN MORE OR LESS THE SAME WAY FOR TWO CENTURIES. THIS CONTINUITY WAS LARGE- THE LATE 16TH CENTURY ON, THE REPUBLIC DEVELOPED INTO A DOMINANT MARITIME LY DUE TO STRICT REGULATIONS, IMPOSED AND ENFORCED BY THE OVERARCHING WEIGH NATION AND ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE. THE AMSTERDAM PORT BECAME THE CENTER OF CARRIERS' GUILD. THE DOWNSIDE OF THIS SYSTEM WAS THAT IT RESTRICTED THE DEVEL- INTERNATIONAL TRADE. THE LARGE VOLUMES OF GOODS THAT WERE UNLOADED THERE OPMENT OF THE STOREHOUSES. JUST LIKE OTHER STOREHOUSES, BLAAUWHOEDENVEEM, HAD TO BE TRANSPORTED FROM THE SHIPS TO THE WAREHOUSES THROUGH THE WEIGH ONE OF THE RICHEST STOREHOUSES, TRIED UNSUCCESSFULLY TO WREST ITSELF FROM THE HOUSE. THIS WAS THE WORK OF WEIGH CARRIERS, SUCH AS BLAAUWHOEDENVEEM AND GUILD'S STRAITJACKET. ONLY WHEN THE GUILDS WERE ABOLISHED AT THE END OF THE 19TH VRIESSEVEEM. CENTURY, THERE EMERGED A FREER MARKET, WHICH ALLOWED THE STOREHOUSES MORE ROOM FOR GROWTH. THE AMSTERDAM AMSTERDAM THE STOREHOUSES Amsterdam as a staple market 1 THE DUTCH REPUBLIC WAS FOUNDED IN 1588, during the Eighty Years’ War, • as an attempt by the provinces to free themselves from Spanish rule. The Republic covered an area similar to the current Netherlands minus the provinces of North 10 Brabant and Limburg. Despite its modest area and population of one and a half 11 million people, the Republic developed within a short time into an important mar- itime (commercial) power. The Dutch possessed a large fleet, which allowed them to dominate European trade from the Mediterranean Sea to Spitsbergen. Thanks VOPAK 400 to the Dutch East India Company (VOC, founded in 1602), they also replaced the Portuguese as the main player in the trade with the East Indies. It was the beginning of the Dutch Golden Age.1 Amsterdam flourished during the stormy rise of the Republic. The city was favorably situated on the Zuiderzee and had many warehouses that were eas- ily reached through canals. Amsterdam also had its own merchant class. Being an exponent of the Republic as a whole, Amsterdam was also renowned for its toler- ance. Consequently, the city was a strong pull for (religious) minorities suffering oppression elsewhere in Europe, such as Protestant Germans, French Huguenots, and Portuguese (Sephardic) Jews. There were also wealthy merchants among those migrants. The knowledge and the networks that they brought with them helped Amsterdam replace Antwerp as the main trading center in the region before the end The weigh house on Dam of the sixteenth century. Amsterdam experienced a period of unprecedented growth Square in Amsterdam. in the early 17th century. The city had only 30,000 residents in 1585, but 15 years later Painting by Jacob van der Ulft, there were already 40,000. And by 1620, there were more than 100,000 people liv- ca. 1671. ing in Amsterdam.2 There were many uncertain factors in international trade at the time, mak- Activities near the weigh house on Dam Square. Print ing it erratic in nature. Transport by sailing ships, for example, was slow and unre- by Jacob van der Ulft, ca. 1655 liable. The supply of agricultural and handicraft products was irregular and varied (detail). greatly in quality. The slowness of the exchange of information about harvests, pric- THE AMSTERDAM AMSTERDAM THE STOREHOUSES 12 13 es, and expected supply and demand also made it difficult for traders to anticipate Representation of Amster- chants. They would always be able to find a buyer who would pay a decent price. The changing circumstances. And, besides, the Eighty Years’ War was still in progress. dam as the center of interna- practice of stapling helped Amsterdam grow within a short time into the center of All these factors together caused prices to fluctuate sharply and made trade a very tional trade; early 17th century. world trade.4 Painting by Claes Jansz. risky undertaking. Visscher and Pieter Bast, 1611. Grain, the most traded commodity in Amsterdam by far, was a typical ex- ample of a product that was subject to these uncertainties. Grain represented a huge In the balance strategic value as a primary food source for the hinterland, where the fight against the Spaniards was still going on. In response to the volatile prices, Amsterdam trad- THE LARGE MERCHANT VESSELS THAT CAME TO AMSTERDAM from all over the ers build up large grain stocks in their warehouses. This so-called stapling created world could not enter the port. Their draft was too deep for that. The cargo of the a buffer that they used to set off the erratic supply. It allowed them to meet the de- largest and the most heavily laden ships had to be transshipped onto smaller ships mand at times of low supply and to replenish the buffers when supply was plentiful. while moored in midstream at Texel to reduce their draft, before the ships could That way, stapling had a stabilizing effect and made trading less risky. Amsterdam continue their journey. The transshipping was then performed again at the Pampus soon started to play a role as a staple market for other commodities too.3 shallow in front of the entrance to the Amsterdam port. The seagoing ships moored The goods that were traded on the Amsterdam staple market usually outside the city. Once the barges arrived in Amsterdam’s inner ports, they were un- changed hands three times. First came the merchant. He purchased the product loaded. The cargo did not immediately disappear into the warehouses. It had to first abroad, either from the producer or from middlemen, and shipped it to Amsterdam. go through the weigh house. There, he sold it to stapling merchants. These “second-hand” merchants did busi- The weigh house was a 14th-century building on Dam Square. It was the ness with smaller buyers, who re-exported the product or sold it to consumers with- pivot of Amsterdam’s trade. Most products that arrived in the city were weighed and in the Republic.