After 25 years of operating independently as one of Urk’s specialist net lofts, Nettenmakkerij Urk has been absorbed into VCU, bring its expertise, staff and customers with it.
Harm Hendrik Kramer and Jozef Baarssen – Nettenmakkerij Urk’s two staff – have joined the team of six already working at the VCU net loft, plus the addition of Hessel Kramer brings the net lot team up to nine.
‘We talked it over, and before we finalised anything, I asked Harm to speak to his customers to make sure they would be happy with the change,’ VCU’s Albert Hartman said.
‘If it had turned out that they didn’t want to become customers of VCU, then we would have had to think again. But they were all happy – as long as Harm and Jozef were still making their gear.’
Nettenmakkerij Urk had been producing trawls for squid and langoustines, as well as fly-shooting gear, and had also been busy with beam trawl gear – until the downturn in the beam trawl sector.
‘The intention was to keep all of their clients with us, and that’s what’s happened. Harm has come to use with his clients and his own designs, and that’s what his group of customers wants,’ Albert Hartman said, adding that as VCU is working on developing a new suite of trawl design software, these designs are also being digitised for the first time, which opens options for these to be simulated.
‘The merger formally took place on 1st September, when Harm and Jozef started working with us, and for the whole month since then we have been working on gear for their clients,’ he said.
