Shipbuilding: Resourceful Dutch Play to Strengths Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. David Tinsley , Contributor David Tinsley has spent all his life in the maritime field... June 10, 2026 Side launch at Kampen: modular diesel-electric power is central to the LABRAX class. (credit: Royal T Shipyards). Adept design and production strategies underpin global competitiveness in target sectors. Dutch shipbuilding continues to demonstrate resilience and business verve in its target commercial sectors, mainly in the smaller vessel size range. It offers quality and craftmanship at an evidently acceptable price, using technology in the most pragmatic, effective way. The fact that the Netherlands retains a progressive and expansion-minded shipowning and ship management community has a signal influence on the shipbuilding sector, as does the existence of a comprehensive supply chain and network of designers and knowledge centers. Dutch to the core in concept and realization, ‘Easy to build, easy to operate, and easy to load’ are central tenets of the EasyMax 14,000dwt multi-purpose cargo vessel type, developed by Conoship International of Groningen together with shipowner Royal Wagenborg Shipping and shipbuilder Royal Niestern Sander. The EasyMax platform has to date been used or specified for 12 newbuilds. Highly efficient consumption per payload ton is delivered from a 2,999kW main engine. As the largest class of ship built to date on the landward side of the coastal dyke in the north Netherlands, the EasyMax flotilla now includes a variant dedicated to the transport of liquefied CO2. Boldly named Carbon Destroyer 1, the newly-commissioned vessel has been assigned to a shuttle-type operation loading 5,000-ton cargoes out of the Danish west coast port of Esbjerg for discharge at the Greensand CO2 offshore storage site in the North Sea. The fifth of six Series 1 EasyMax 14,300dwt units booked over a 10-year period, Carbon Destroyer 1 differs from her general-purpose peers in havi