About us
Scheepsmakelaardij Goliath was founded by Sjoerd Kampen. The foundation was laid on 1 January 2004 after the acquisition of Jachtmakelaardij Sier Yachting with its office and sales harbour on Hendrik Bulthuisweg in Sneek on January 1st 2004. The company has grown into an international franchise partnership with more than 35 yacht brokers and boat scouts involved, selling over 500 pleasure and commercial vessels, mainly in Europe.
The company name Scheepsmakelaardij Goliath is named after the last ship of the owner.
Company profile
Scheepsmakelaardij Goliath has been a ship broker in the Netherlands, Europe and beyond for more than 15 years. Our head office is located at Hendrik Bulthuisweg 2 in Sneek. Here we have a sales harbour for a maximum of 12 ships up to a length of 9 metres. In the harbour of the Eeltjebaasweg 5 we have a sales jetty with 12 boxes for ships longer than 9 meters. These two locations are located in visible places in a dedicated water sports area with more than 50 other water sports entrepreneurs. We also have sales ports and jetties on several other locations. Our brokers are spread across the country, so there is always someone near you.
Ship’s mission
Just as any other company Scheepsmakelaardij Goliath has a mission. Our mission is to find a buyer for our customers’ ships as quickly as possible. Once we have found a buyer, we will carefully guide the process towards a successful transfer. For us the process does not end with the transfer of the money and the ship. Our brokers are committed and professional people who give a lot of after-sales service. Our goal is a satisfied customer and a proud new boat owner.
Scheepsmakelaardij Goliath is unique in obtaining and selling all kinds of ships. Whether the ship is large or small, a mere hull or state-of-the-art, expensive or cheap, we treat all owners in the same manner. We see further than the ends of our noses, even when a ship is difficult to sell. We consider it a challenge to find a new owner. This distinguishes us from the rest and makes us different.
Our display window is well filled with more than 450 ships. That is why we focus on all national and international customers who are looking for a pleasure boat and/or professional vessel. From young to old, from Sneek to Sydney, for a small or for a large budget, from day trippers to globetrotters and from beginners to experienced water sports enthusiasts. Goliath has a lot to offer for a wide range of water sports and/or professional target groups.
Shipsvision
Scheepsmakelaardij Goliath has a passion for ships and is dedicated to finding a new owner for its clients. Our work is part of our lifestyle and binds us together. In our rapidly changing world, we are continually thinking about how we can best serve our customers. It is our ambition not to look at the limits, but to be open to new partnerships with colleagues anywhere in the world, with this ultimate goal: SELLING SHIPS.
A ship’s brokerage with a name: Goliath
February 2020, by Annechina de Jong
‘Having an established name’ is a commercial expression. But the name of international Scheepsmakelaardij Goliath first of all has a personal meaning, comparable to the grateful, honourable, proud or auspicious names that are given to boats. Since the name(giving), Goliath, is certainly part of the business philosophy you are experiencing, you’re allowed to know its origin.
Frjemde Fûgel
Sjoerd Kampen, founder, director-owner and franchisor of Scheepsmakelaardij Goliath may be selling all kinds of boat types, but his personal passion is for traditional ships, flatboats and roundboats and boats with a history. He’s had a lot of boats in his life. He shakes his head thinking just how many, but he really couldn’t tell you their exact number. Spontaneously he starts to speak lovingly about the boat the ‘Frjemde Fûgel’ (Frisian for Strange Bird), built by a worker at the famous “Eeltsjebaes” shipyard in Joure. Chuckling, Pien joins him, because Sjoerd and stories … sometimes you have to steer him a bit and of course she likes to listen to them too, thinking about those sweet memories: “Wout was a baby then.” In a basket on the cabin bench we took him with us to the island of Terschelling. “He fell off the bench, basket and all, but didn’t make a sound.” Wout, their son, is now 22 years old and works in merchant shipping on the world’s seas.
Sjoerd ends his story about the Frjemde Fûgel: The wood had to be resealed; that was some hassle.” And about the new owner of that boat back then: “He died a few years later because he knocked his head on a davit at a boat show.” What? Am I hearing right? I can’t believe it.
An ugly duck(ling)
Twenty years ago Sjoerd and Pien bought the ship Goliath, together with their neighbours. That way they were able to share the costs. The Goliath is a 16.5 m long ‘Waalschokker’ from approx. 1930, a riveted steel flatboat. Waalschokker is a general term, it is not a uniform ship. They were used for salmon fishing on the major rivers, the river Waal among others. There were hundreds of them. On the river Waal they were taken upstream by a tugboat well into Germany. They stayed there for about half a year with or without a family and slowly let themselves float downriver and homewards.
A Waalschokker was no longer practical for fishing after its service life, nor was it very suitable for water sports. The mast formerly used for fishing nets had become a sailing mast, but that did not make it a sailing ship. The ship was heavily underrigged. “It was just an ugly duckling.” DuckLING? “The ship had a head over 2 meters high. “I really had to stand on a crate at the back of the ship,” says the by no means short Sjoerd Kampen.
Things were not taken so seriously with this ship. “It was a strong ship, though. You could dent it and bend it. And in the cockpit – I am not kidding you – you could make a fire. We were using a fire basket.”
For ten years Sjoerd and Pien were owners of the ship. Sjoerd used it for all kinds of purposes. He used it as a charter too. And after 5 years of shared ownership, he was able to buy out the neighbours.
Named the other way around
The meaning and value of the name Goliath is a bit more modest and personal than many people would think. The ship Goliath has probably always had the name. “The name matched the ship,” Sjoerd says resolutely. He just thought it was a beautiful Waalschokker, left the name like it was, enjoyed the ship and the next owner kept the name as well.
Of course people mentioned ‘David and Goliath’, when seeing or talking about the Goliath. And about his company name ‘Goliath’ people often ask”: “Where did you get that name from?” “And then I’ll tell them that’s what my Waalschokker was called. A boat name as a company name: Goliath. The boat is no longer in the possession of Sjoerd Kampen and Pien Keizer. They sold the boat and put the money into the company. “It was very simple. I needed the money to build the company. I haven’t had a ship of my own in the last ten years, because I couldn’t really afford it.”
‘Dynamic’.
“I lost the Goliath, but I can now continue Goliath. Sjoerd’s ship brokerage franchise is extensive, with many ships, also in worldwide sales, so the meaning of ‘large’ as in ‘Goliath’ is quite appropriate. “Not at all.” From Sjoerd’s reaction you can tell that thinking great and proud has not been internalized. Sjoerd is modest in that respect. Out of love for that ship and his fond memories of it, he named his company after his boat. “To me, a ship is more than a ship. A ship is love. I have some really warm memories about that ship. That ship also played a role in my development, in what I have become. I owe a lot to that ship. It’s become an extension of my life and that’s why I called my company Goliath.” “Specifically”? Can you give an example?” “Perhaps the most beautiful thing I witnessed on that ship was the wedding of a Sudanese friend, about 15 years ago. Pien and I were active in refugee work and that’s how we got to know him. We organized a wedding for him on the water. He married by proxy. That means his wife was in Sudan at the time of the wedding. Of course, no family was present. We had a wonderful party there with an African band.”
After the Goliath, Sjoerd and Pien bought a new ship for themselves only last year: a Visserman Schokker 9.50 from his favourite designer Martin Bekebrede. And promptly late last summer Sjoerd saw his old trusted Goliath again! On lake Fluezen, and Daughter Meike, 14 years old, reacted: “I want to see it.” She was on board as a baby and had never again experienced the ship. They immediately hopped in their dinghy and motored to the sailing Goliath. They hailed the sailing Goliath and boarded it. And that’s how Meike saw the adventure that started her father’s company, which she did grow up with.
