Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde
From 1875 to 1983, the Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde, or Royal Schelde was a shipyard and machine factory in the Zeeland town of Vlissingen. Over the years, in addition to shipbuilding and ship repair, De Schelde also manufactured machinery, boilers, engines, steam turbines, aircraft, and light-alloy products.
The history of the Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde or KMS starts in the year 1875. In that year the yard De Schelde was established as founder Arie Smit took over the former naval yard. During the years, the company grew from 18 employees in 1875 to 1,200 in 1900. In the 1950s, The Schelde employed more than 4,600 people. The yard was part of the city center of Vlissingen and dominated the view in the streets.
Machinefabriek
The Machinefabriek, is the machine factory of the KMS. It is one of the remaining buildings that haven’t been demolished. The original hall was built in three stages, the first one was ready in 1913, the others in 1916 and 1919. During the years, other halls were added to the old factory. In 1955 the original glass roof was replaced due to high energy costs to warm the big halls.
Timmerfabriek
The ‘Hollandsche Maatschappij tot het Maken van Werken in Gewapend Beton’ based in Den Haag, built the Timmerfabriek, or timber factory in 1914. The building consists of a concrete-framed construction with roof lights that gives a magnificent light inside the factory. The factory made wooden pieces for the ship’s exterior and interior. Especially the passenger ships of the Rotterdamsche Lloyd made before the Second World War had many wooden decorations. Through this enormous open space, the ship’s interiors were hoisted from floor to floor, step by step through the manufacturing process. The large hoist used for this still hangs there.
A bombing in 1943 destroyed the tower of the factory, the water storage facility. Despite De Schelde being a healthy company and boasting an unprecedented level of craftsmanship, the Timmerfabriek and later the company itself slowly lost its raison d’être in the decades after the war due to changing times and technologies. During the 1950s the factory was scaled down, several years later the factory closed. The building was used many years as warehouse of the shipyard. During the 1990s, the factory became abandoned and nobody took care of the building. It took a lot of money to restore the old carpenter factory, but thanks to European funds the factory was restored in 2010. A hotel has been successfully operating in the factory since May 2022
Zware Plaatwerkerij
The sheet metal workshop was built in 1929 when the business was good for the Royal Schelde. At the end of 2017, WVOZorg opened the Scheldehof residential care center in the former industrial complex of the Zware Plaatwerkerij. This contemporary rest home has breathed new life into this historic location.
Damen Shipyards
In 1961 The Schelde moved to the Sloe area. This new yard ‘Scheldepoort’ is strategically located outside the city of Vlissingen in the Sloe harbor industrial area. The old yard in the city center was used to build luxury yachts. In the nineties the company could barely survive and in the year 2000 Damen Shipyards bought the company for one guilder.
The shipyard in the city center, were abandoned in 2004. Only the headquarters is still in use. The halls were cleaned and partly demolished. In the old dressing room, you’ll find the Scheldewerf Museum . Here you can learn all about the illustrious history of the Schelde Shipyard. I also visited the Schelde Bedrijfsschool. I took these photos of De Schelde in 2004, 2007 and 2010.
