Rijn-Schelde-Verolme Machinefabrieken en Scheepswerven

The Dutch shipbuilding group Rijn-Schelde-Verolme Machinefabrieken en Scheepswerven NV (RSV), or Rijn-Schelde-Verolme for short , existed from 1971 to 1983. The shipyard group based in Rotterdam was the largest Dutch shipbuilding company. Losses running into billions (guilders) ultimately led to the collapse, which resulted in a sensational committee of inquiry.

history

founding

In the course of the 1960s, the European shipbuilding industry came under increasing pressure from competition from the cheaper Japanese shipyards. After already on 4 March 1966, the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij with the shipyard Koninklijke Maatschappij "De Schelde" and the Motorenfabriek Thomassen to Rijn-Schelde Machinefabrieken en Scheepswerven (short Rijn-Schelde Combinatie or RSMS) were merged, joined Wilton Fijenoord on 3 July 1968 joined the association under pressure from the government. Also under government pressure, the financially troubled Verolme Verenigde Scheepswerven (VVSW) joined the group on January 1, 1971, which then renamed the Rijn-Schelde-Verolme Machinefabrieken en Scheepswerven NV.

Ongoing crises

In the years 1971 to 1976 the RSV group was still able to generate profits. Worldwide overcapacities and declining shipbuilding orders, especially for large crude oil tankers as a result of the 1973 oil crisis, led to serious financial difficulties from the mid-1970s, which led to the first closings of operations from 1977. The Dutch government supported the company with new aid for fear of mass layoffs. In 1979 large shipbuilding was split off and the RSV undertook a number of large projects, all of which failed. Particularly noteworthy in this context is a deal about the construction and operation of machines for coal mining with the US American JD Stacy. Its Thin Steam Miner project never produced a successfully functioning machine, but cost the RSV around 400 million guilders, the majority of which at Stacy's company with the name MMWOPS (an alias for M aking M oney W hile O ther P eople S leep ) landed. A power plant project in Algeria also had to be canceled with losses in the range of several hundred million guilders.

End and aftermath

Hearing of the RSV Enquête Commission

After a court in Rotterdam granted a deferred payment on February 19, 1983 , RSV went bankrupt on April 6, 1983 . On March 24, 1983, the Second Chamber of the States General requested the establishment of a Parliamentary Enquête Commission . This worked on the events at the RSV in the period from March 1983 to October 1984 under the chairmanship of Kees van Dijk . During its existence, the RSV had received a total of 2.7 billion guilders in state aid, of which 2.25 billion guilders were lost.

After the bankrupt group was broken up, some viable shipyards continued to operate and others were sold or closed.

literature

Maurice Punch: Dirty Business: Exploring Corporate Misconduct: Analysis and Cases . Sage Publications, 2000, ISBN 0-8039-7604-6 (English).