Q&A
Wouter – Manager Engineering
Twenty years of Saltwater means twenty years of developing, growing, and taking on new technical challenges. Wouter has experienced that development firsthand since joining as an intern in 2011. He has seen Saltwater grow from a small, entrepreneurial team where everyone pitched in wherever needed into a maritime engineering firm taking on increasingly large and complex projects. To mark our 20th anniversary, he looks back on the moments he believes have shaped the company and on what has never changed despite all that growth.
“We’ve grown into a company that takes on larger and more complex projects, without losing the hands-on mentality that has always defined Saltwater.”
Q: When you think back to your first years at Saltwater, what was the company like at the time?
A: In the early days, Saltwater felt more like a start-up. We took on challenges without always knowing exactly how we would tackle them or what the right approach would be. But everyone was driven to work through them together and find a solution.
Everyone basically did a bit of everything. Even the partners would simply pitch in when drawings needed to be produced, and complex challenges were tackled as a team. That mentality really defined Saltwater at the time.
Q: Which milestone or development from the past twenty years has stayed with you the most?
A: The shift in how we positioned ourselves, from shipbuilders to maritime engineers. That opened the door to a completely different client base and new types of projects. It was an important step in shaping Saltwater into the company it is today.
Q: Which project from your time at Saltwater are you most proud of?
A: The mobilization of the Giant 7 for the Borssele Offshore Wind project. It was our first truly large-scale mobilization where we played a significant role.
At the same time, it opened the door to more projects of this kind and kick-started the development of a strong knowledge base in this area. So it was not only a special project in its own right, but also an important foundation for the projects that followed.
Q: What do you think has changed the most at Saltwater – and what has always remained the same?
A: Our hands-on mentality has always remained and has become a real hallmark of Saltwater. Despite our growth, we still tackle complex challenges together and work as a team to find practical solutions.
What has changed is the scale at which we operate. We increasingly position ourselves as a company capable of handling larger and more complex projects efficiently. We have become bigger and more professional without losing the mentality of the original team.
Q: Looking ahead, what do you hope people will say about Saltwater when we celebrate our 25th anniversary?
A: That we managed to grow to a team of around 70 people while still working together as if we were a close-knit team of ten. That we continued to grow while preserving our direct communication, strong sense of involvement, and shared hands-on mentality.