The man who made the dredging company Van Oord, also a major player in work for the gas and oil industry, grow significantly in wind turbines, must now make Amsterdam Schiphol airport more sustainable.
Pieter van Oord, chairman of the Werkendam family business Van Oord since 2008, will succeed interim CEO Ruud Sondag from 1 June. Schiphol has that on Sunday announced.
Van Oord (62) studied economics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He has been working at the more than 150-year-old family business since 1994. There he held positions in the United Kingdom and Dubai, among others. In the Gulf State, the maritime contractor built Palm Jumeirah, an artificial island in the shape of a palm tree. In 2008 he succeeded his uncle Koos van Oord as chairman of the board.
“A family business means that you manage your company for the next generation, not for quarterly or annual figures, and try to pass it on in a healthier way than when you inherited it yourself,” Pieter van Oord told the Rotterdam trade magazine five years ago. Our Port. Van Oord had just been awarded portman of the year. “That also applies to society: I am the father of four children, I want to leave the world better for them than I found it.” Pieter van Oord is married; in his spare time he enjoys cycling and skating.
Essential topic
Van Oord’s pursuit of sustainability, Schiphol’s supervisory board stated in a statement on Sunday press statement, is an important reason to appoint him as the new CEO of Amsterdam airport. “For Pieter, sustainability is an essential topic,” said Chairman of Royal Schiphol Group Jaap Winter. “This is in line with Schiphol’s ambitions to accelerate sustainability and reduce the burden on the environment and the climate.”
Just as in the maritime sector, Van Oord will also notice that greening is often slow in aviation. “Transition is a process, it is not a button that you just turn. As if you could suddenly be completely sustainable tomorrow,” he patiently stated in a publication of employers’ organization VNO-NCW in 2022.
In the interview, Van Oord also said that he is concerned about the labor market. The Netherlands has almost no unemployment, according to Van Oord, and the energy transition is very labor intensive. This requires many technically trained people, but they are difficult to find.
Van Oord (2022 turnover: 2 billion euros; 5,200 employees) is one of the largest maritime builders in the world. In 2021, the company suffered a loss of 62 million euros, but last year the company made a profit again, 60 million euros. This was partly due to strong growth in ‘offshore wind’. Pieter van Oord is the fourth generation to manage the company founded in 1868. According to business magazine Quote The Van Oord family is one of the richest families in the Netherlands with an estimated fortune of 1.6 billion euros. The majority of the company is owned by the eighty shareholders of the MerweOord family holding company. Pieter van Oord will be succeeded by his cousin Govert van Oord, the fifth generation within the company.
Schiphol President Commissioner Winter further says about Van Oord: “He is an experienced leader who can build teams and strengthen confidence in Schiphol among its own employees and the outside world.”
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Two setbacks put an end to the downsizing plans for Schiphol
That is an assignment with great uncertainties. Van Oord must fulfill the promises made by his predecessor Ruud Sondag. He succeeded in curbing the chaos at Schiphol last summer, something that ‘frequent flyer’ Pieter van Oord also cared about, he said on Monday. The Telegraph.
Not quite successful yet
But Sondag promised more: fewer night flights, a ban on private flights, no more heavy, noisy aircraft in Amsterdam and better working conditions for baggage handlers, among others. And that hasn’t quite worked out yet. The government announced two weeks ago that it was forced to suspend the shrinkage of Schiphol, following pressure from Brussels and Washington.
Practical objections and (European and national) laws stand in the way between dream and action, between the promises of Schiphol and better living and working conditions for local residents and employees.
For example, next spring the European Commission will make a ruling on the European procedure that the government must follow for the downsizing of Schiphol.
For example, the Supreme Court must rule in the aviation sector’s case against those downsizing plans.
And so the Hague court will soon continue the legal proceedings of the local residents’ association Right to Protection against Aircraft Nuisance. Van Oord, who will take office on June 1, 2024, will be tasked with leading Schiphol to greater legal certainty.
The new CEO is also tasked with improving relations with the airlines, his largest customers. Under interim director Sondag, that bond has cooled; Schiphol was forced to increase the airport charges that airlines pay for services at Schiphol. The companies have appealed against this to the Trade Appeals Board. The ruling is expected this year.
Finally, Schiphol has a lot of overdue maintenance. Anyone walking through the luggage cellars will see this immediately. But the airport also has to invest many millions of euros above ground in renovating the oldest piers. Furthermore, Pier A must be completed after many construction problems. Schiphol said goodbye to construction combination Ballast-Nedam and TAV in 2021; BAM will now complete Pier A.
Pieter van Oord can be satisfied: this should be the most sustainable pier at the airport.