Introduction

Balk Shipyard as company

I am Daan Balk, CEO and seventh generation of the Balk family to be at the helm of the Shipyard. Balk Shipyard is a family business which was founded approximately 220 years ago in the small town of Elburg. Through the years we built, maintained and renovated ships for the Dutch market. In 2002 we were even granted an exclusive Royal Seal of Approval which symbolises the confidence that the Dutch Royal Family has in our company.

Due to the land reclaiming of the inland sea in the 50’s, which caused Elburg to become a small harbor on inland waters, and the growing demand there was a need to relocate and expand. In 2004 the decision was made to relocate the company to the town of Urk, which is located directly on open waters. In Urk we bought a larger existing shipyard and completely transformed it into a modern state of the art facility which answers to the new build and refit needs on the domestic and international markets.

The Yard and facilities

The past fifteen years our focus was, of course, mainly on our projects but also we have been investing in our facilities which nowadays consist of three large fully conditioned halls and three outside parking tracks which comply with all the latest environmental requirements.

One hall is fully dedicated to aluminum construction and fabrication of all kinds of sections and/or hulls for our own projects as well as some well-respected colleague shipyards such as Feadship, Heesen and many others.

The second hall is a Refit hall in which we can run several projects, for example a 45m and a 50m motor yacht alongside each other.

Our third refit hall is the largest one; here we run our major projects which can vary from a really large refit project to a new build. Directly on site we have created our workshops, meeting rooms, office spaces and our warehouse to enable us to work as very efficiently as possible.

Last but definitely not least, we have an unique lifting system which enables us to haul out and launch yachts up to 1000 tons dead weight and a total length of +60m. With this lift system we can easily haul out and park the yacht in one of our designated halls within a couple of hours at a competitive rate.

Our employees

Besides a modern facility we also have a large in-house expertise. The yard is organized and run by approximately 60 experienced and highly skilled employees in all functions and trades necessary to generate a supreme quality product. We take pride in what we accomplish and are constantly trying to improve our quality, effectiveness and efficiency in all levels.

Our projects

In the Netherlands and throughout the world, we are known as a refit and rebuild yard. We are proud to say we have carried out and participated in several unique refit projects. Some references are for example M/Y Dancing Hare, M/Y Sandalphon, M/Y Bravado,
S/Y Copihue and New Build S/Y Mikhail S. Vorontsov . In all cases the Owners were very pleased and overjoyed with the result.

As a reward for all effort, knowledge and expertise we are proud to have been granted with the World Superyacht Award almost every year since its beginning in 2008. In 2014 we were granted with an Award for building the beautiful sailing yacht Mikhail S. Vorontsov. Also in 2016 we were a finalist in the Refit Category for the extension as we performed on board of M/Y Seven Sins. In 2017 we have been nominated with M/Y Bravado also in the Refit Category. In 2018 we were nominated with M/Y Sandalphon as we were in 2019 for M/Y Dancing Hare.

Having said this, although it is small information I trust to have given you a fair impression of our company, position and products.

There was made a documentary about Balk Shipyard in 2014. You can watch it here: