Esthec commercial director Marcel van der Spek was unanimously appointed as the new chair of the board of the HISWA Holland Yachting Group during the annual members meeting on 18 April. He will be joined by two new board members: Marsha van Buitenen, sales director at Feadship, and Michiel Haverkorn van Rijsewijk, CEO of Van Berge Henegouwen.

Van der Spek takes over the position of chair from Bas Nederpelt, whose three years at the helm have coincided with a growth of the Dutch superyacht market share from 17% to 21%. “The position of the Netherlands as a superyacht country has been further improved during this period,” Nederpelt says. “I am very confident that Marcel will be able to fulfil his new role in our association with distinction.’’

“I am honoured to be the new chair of the HISWA Holland Yachting Group and fully committed to this exciting new challenge,” Van der Spek adds. “I look forward to making a positive contribution to the growth strategy together with the enthusiastic group of association board members.”

Marcel van der Spek started his career in the professional automotive industry. After setting up a European network of nine branches from scratch, he joined Rientz W. Bol as co-founder of Esthec and has since helped the company become a worldwide success. Esthec is a patented, composite decking material that is produced and processed in an ecologically sound manner. In addition to sales and organisation, Van der Spek enjoys operating on an international scale.

“We are very pleased with Marcel’s appointment,” adds Jeroen Sirag, export director of the HISWA Holland Yachting Group. “He has broad experience in the superyacht industry and a clear strategic vision for his new role as chair of our association.”   

Promoting the Dutch superyacht industry
The HISWA Holland Yachting Group’s primary objective is to promote the Dutch superyacht industry at home and abroad. The group profiles itself as a premium quality label, and maintains an international presence as a proactive and effective association that embodies craftsmanship, innovation and creativity. Based on a collective strategic plan, the HISWA Holland Yachting Group makes a genuine contribution to the global export position of the Netherlands.

Feadship recently held the first in a series of special meetings for the brokerage community around the world. In addition to the biennial four-day Bro Summit in the Netherlands, Feadship will now be hosting one-day summits in other key areas where interest in superyacht ownership is rapidly growing, namely Russia, Asia and the Middle East.

Organised together with Sergey Ribakov, Feadship’s ambassador in Russia, the Moscow meeting attracted 25 of Russia’s leading yacht brokers. “The programme during the day and the social event in the evening were both a great success,” says Feadship’s marketing & brand director, Farouk Nefzi, “We brought the brokers up to speed with the state of the industry as we see it and shared Feadship’s philosophy of pure custom yacht building. This was not a pitch for Feadship: we used various interactive sessions to enrich the participants’ knowledge and to further enhance the professionalism of the high-end brokerage sector.”

"The rise in Feadship ownership in Asia, the Middle East and Russia complements our traditional markets in Europe and the United States. As an industry leader, we do feel that Feadship has a role to play in disseminating accurate market intelligence in these growth regions,” adds Farouk. “The Moscow Summit was an excellent opportunity to build on our contacts with the most prominent players in the Russian market. The fact that we were not making a corporate presentation was very much appreciated, with every participant since thanking us for providing such an objective view of our industry.”