Amels
In 1918, Kees Amels established a boat building yard in the centre of Makkum. Since that time, around 100 vessels, from wooden fishing boats to steel tugboats were launched from his yard. From around 1950, Kees started teaching his son Wiebe - around 13 at the time - to succeed him.
Wiebe took over in 1982 and took the company in a different direction: larger commercial ships. To do this, Wiebe had to move Amels to a place on the shore of IJsselmeer, a large body of inland water. This gave the company space to manoeuvre in a fast declining market. In the mid 1970s, Wiebe changed course again, this time concentrating on building luxury pleasure yachts for wealthy parties.
In 1991 Amels was sold to Damen Shipyards Group, keeping its name, which by that time was a strong brand. The yard in Makkum remained operational until 2005. In that year, the company was moved to he Royal Schelde yard in Vlissingen, now the largest yacht building facility in the Netherlands (photo: Google maps). Rose Damen joined Amels in 2014. Up to 2018 Amels has delivered more than 60 super-yachts.
| Amels | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Filename | MAM1 | |
| Side 1 | AMELS and MAKKUM | |
| Side 2 | AMELS and MAKKUM | |
| Manufacture | Aluminium | |
| Size (mm) | 22 | |
| Weight (grams) | ||
| Notes | ||
| Source | Kooij | |