Our Dutch werkboot was supposed to get an honorable spot in the parade of Sail Amsterdam. And then Sail got cancelled. So… then we came up with our own event to showcase our first boat from waste plastic: the trade mission ‘Clean2Amsterdam’.
Our Dutch werkboot was supposed to get an honorable spot in the parade of Sail Amsterdam. And then Sail got cancelled. So… then we came up with our own event to showcase our first boat from waste plastic: the trade mission ‘Clean2Amsterdam’.
Yes! We take part in the official parade of Sail! We’ll never forget, the moment the event director said, “You have a great project and it deserves attention.” The smallest boat in the fleet, but with the biggest impact.
We are getting ready for a smashing public presentation of our first Dutch werkboot, made entirely out of waste plastic. It can’t get any better than this! Until the pandemic hit: bye bye Sail… But if you can turn a worthless piece of waste into a beautiful 17th century boat (and actually build that thing!) then we won’t give up now, will we?
We turn the situation around: we are going to Amsterdam on August 12. Because without tall ships surrounding us, our little ship stands out even more!
Trade mission with sustainable products
Our “tour d’Amsterdam” will be a real trade mission. After all, the Dutch werkboot’s job was to sail merchandise back and forth in the 17th century. So we are taking sustainable products from local entrepreneurs on board. But not without risk. We sail on the first boat made of waste plastic: won’t we leak? Well, whether we make it to the island of Pampus or not, we’ll have a fantastic story anyway.
And so we set off from the historic harbour of Hoorn via Pampus to our capital city. The alderman gives us a message for the city council of Amsterdam, and a camera team from the local news channel records all our maneuvers along the way in a liveblog. Including our battle with an ominous thunderstorm. It will be a trip to remember.
Throwing away is a waste!
The next day goes by at lightning speed. At the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam we deliver our sustainable goods, and there… the media awaits us! We whip up a speech on the spot and bring across our mission: to make everyone discover that throwing away is a waste. Phew! That went well, we see from the breathlessly listening crowd.
We have to continue. On the IJ river, the 17th century ship the ‘Halve Maen’ awaits us with valuable merchandise: a large cargo of waste plastic. New raw material for the construction of the Dutch 17th century ‘speeljacht’, our intermediate step on the way to the Dutch fluitship. Load valuable cargo on board: check.
Watch the aftermovie of Clean2Amsterdam 2020 here:
We dream big and start small
On the way back to Hoorn, we muse on our gains: new horizons, new people, new opportunities. Next summer we will go with two workboats, and in five years … with a whole fleet! We have our ultimate goal in sight: a trade mission to Batavia (Jakarta, Indonesia) with the Dutch fluitschip in 2030.
We’ve just transported a few products… but then we will be shipping thousands of kilos of sustainable cargo. We don’t have to be an emission-free Holland-America line yet – we’ll just start with one boat to Amsterdam. This is just the beginning….
