History

Acta Marine was formed in 2005 when predecessors Redery Waterweg and Van Stee Survey & Supply joint forces.

Redery Waterweg was established in 1970 by Henk de Haas, who was working in those days at his family’s shipyard in the town of Maassluis. At the age of only 22 years, he had a vision to operate himself a tugboat that was built at the family’s own shipyard. The development of the company only took off to a higher level in the 1980’s when Mr. De Haas decided to quit his duties at the shipyard and to focus his attention full-time on the ship owning and operating business. A large number of towage and salvage jobs were executed and the company’s vessels were increasingly chartered to support dredging and marine construction projects. Both in the Netherlands and abroad, as far as Asia and Africa, the company proved to be a flexible and reliable operator of tugs and workboats on many projects. The fleet of the company expanded and diversified steadily, both through autonomous growth and through take-overs. Because of this growth, the company was also able to offer it’s workboat services to new market segments like the offshore oil and gas industry and hydrographic survey companies. Also the specialist competences were developed to (re)bury sections of cables and pipelines in shallow water sea bottoms.

Van Stee was founded in 1975 by Rinus van Stee. After having worked for many years as a fisherman and in related jobs, he decided to purchase the small shallow-draft tug “Sara Maatje 1”. Within a short while the fleet was expanded with a number of other workboats and the company decided to focus exclusively on the niche segment of ultra shallow waters. Based in Harlingen, the Netherlands, on the shores of the very shallow Wadden Sea, Van Stee proved to be an expert company for this niche with the right equipment and expertise. The company recognized early the opportunities that the offshore oil ad gas industry offered and anticipated well on this. The fleet and the reputation of Van Stee grew steadily and the company was invited by an increasing number of clients to work on a large variety of projects in various countries.

In 2005 Redery Waterweg en Van Stee joint forces within the Acta Marine Group. Initially, both companies continued their operations under their own trade names. In 2010 the companies fully merged and Acta Marine became the single trade name for all activities. Based on the rich history of these predecessors, a unique combination of experience, expertise and workboats is united within Acta Marine. This is a solid basis and starting point to realise our ambition; Strengthen and expand Acta Marine as the leading, worldwide owner and operator of smaller workboats for coastal waters.