Since the beginning of the year, Haeger & Schmidt Logistics (HSL) has entered into a long-term partnership with the Dutch shipping company Delfia Inland Shipping. Behind it is 30-year-old young entrepreneur Sjoerd Knipping, whose passion is shipping.
“Ever since I can remember, I have been interested in everything that takes place on the water or is related to shipping,” Knipping characterizes himself. Growing up in Delft, he spent his free time on optimists and dinghies as a child. At the age of thirteen, his career aspirations were clear. He wanted to become an inland waterway skipper. At sixteen, no one could keep him in school. Neither the teachers’ nor his parents’ arguments convinced him to finish high school.
His path led him to the Shipping and Transport College in Rotterdam. There, in three years, he learned everything he needed to know to operate an inland waterway vessel himself. Knipping reports: “One week of theory at school was followed by six weeks on board a ship. I was looking forward to that every time.” During that time, his home was the 110-meter-long MS Casa Nova and the MS Devonia, which sailed along the Rhine/Main as far as Mainz and Aschaffenburg. Following his training, he steered the MS Borelli between Rotterdam and Hengelo for 1.5 years.
Entrepreneurial spirit awakened
His entrepreneurial spirit was awakened a short time later. He moved to the offshore industry to join the Dutch company Jack-Up Barge. This company maintains floating platforms that are used for wind farms at sea, among other things. “The idea arose to take over part of the company with a management buy-out,” Knipping recalls. Even though this project did not materialize, the desire to build up his own company remained.
Eight ships in five years
In 2018, he got the opportunity in his original line of business. Knipping bought his first own container ship. This laid the foundation for the shipping company Delfia Inland Shipping. Knipping tells with passion “The 86-meter Alfa Nero is still my favorite ship to this day, and I lived on it for the first year.”
The naming of the Alfa Nero goes back to his training days. On his ship route, he regularly passed the famous Oceanco shipyard in Ablasserdam, the Netherlands, where the exceptionally beautiful yacht “Alfa Nero” was being built. “I was thrilled with the yacht and the name and dreamed that one day I would name my own ship like that,” Knipping recalls. Then, as more container ships came along, he swapped “Nero” for other colors like “Menta,” “Rosso” or “Bianco.” The only exception is the Alfa Grande. It is so named because it is the largest ship in the fleet, measuring 135 x 17.10 meters.
Since 2018, the Alfa Nero has been shuttling between Rotterdam and Veghel. “When I set foot on the terminal, it still feels like coming home,” he reveals. But today – just five years later – Knipping simply lacks the time to be behind the steeringwheel himself. “I’m only on board for ceremonial occasions like a captain’s dinner,” he admits. More is not possible, he says, because of management duties. Meanwhile, his fleet comprises six container ships and two tankers. Knipping employs 70 crew members and 10 office staff.
There was a particular growth spurt in 2021, when the young entrepreneur invested not only in his second tanker but also in the three inland container ships Alfa Menta, Alfa Bianco and Alfa Grande. The latter have been chartered long-term by HSL since 2022 and sail for the Container Alliance Niederrhein (CAN), which HSL operates together with its partners European Gateway Services and Contargo Waterway Logistics.
Sustainability through refitting
Measured against a ship’s life cycle of 60 to 100 years, Knipping looks at a very young fleet. His oldest ship was built in 1999, his youngest in 2010, so Knipping’s main focus in terms of sustainability is to convert the existing fleet in the coming years so that it can run on alternative fuels. Although he has not yet made a technology decision, Knipping expects the conversion to be completed within the next ten years. “Given the investments involved, we will only make a choice in line with our customers and in line with the market environment,” Knipping positions himself.