Celebrating Vopak 400 years

16 March 2016

About 25 years ago the company Van Ommeren from Rotterdam became one of the main sponsors for the restoration of the ‘Oosterschelde’. All these years we have been in close contact with the company, which is now called Vopak, and because they are celebrating their 400 year anniversary they invited the ship to be a part in the celebrations. The coming weeks we will be visiting a few plants of the company and many employees and customers are invited on board. 
Yesterday we had our first events. We started with a group of schoolchildren with poor backgrounds. Vopak supports this school. The children, all in the age between 6 and 10 years old, got a tour and explanation about the ship and the countries we visited. We set a sail and they all could climb the rigging under supervision of our crew. 
Last night there was a big party for employees of Vopak. On deck there where 6 huge music speakers, laser lighting etc., 10 waiters who supplied everyone with drinks and finger food. It was impossible to communicate due to the loud music, which made sailing a bit difficult, but it was a great party. 
Today is day 2 of the celebrations. We start early around six when temperatures are still bearable… Around 10 it is too hot to move without getting soaking wet of sweat. It’s about 35 degrees and humidity is 100%. Our visitors don’t understand how we do this without airco, we don’t know either but we do it 😉