By
Rebecca Gibson |
Over the past 25 years, Bolidt’s Gerben Smit has been involved in yacht construction work, more than 50 refits on different types of vessels and newbuild projects for over 100 passenger ships, including Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival and Royal Caribbean International’s Icon of the Seas. During this time, he has held several roles at Bolidt and in his new role as operations director, he is helping the organisation to encourage cruise brands and ferry lines to use resin-based materials to improve the safety, sustainability, design and hygiene of decking on their vessels.
In his current role, Smit oversees a team of more than 350 professionals, including freelance technicians and subcontractors who have collaborated with Bolidt for many years. He is responsible for maintaining operational continuity by ensuring that the right tools and resources are available to the right personnel, that Bolidt’s different departments cooperate smoothly and efficiently, and that projects are executed in line with customer specifications.
“The quality of the end product is strongly reliant on the craftsmanship and collaboration of the operations and application team,” says Smit. “A key part of my role is about creating the ideal conditions for the operations and application team to function optimally to combine craftsmanship, collaboration and communication, and continuous improvement.”
To achieve this goal, Bolidt has standardised processes across all newbuild and retrofit projects, which allows technicians and project managers to follow the same instructions and execute the same tasks regardless of where they are working. Bolidt consciously mixes people with different skills, expertise and nationalities in its global project teams so they blend together as tight working units and deliver excellence that resonates across the business.
“It’s thanks to the standards set by our office-based staff in communicating with customers and handling project administration, materials processing, tools ordering, logistics and booking accommodation for technicians that the rest of us can perform our tasks so effectively,” says Smit.
Having an agile, flexible and skilled team is vital in the ever-growing passenger shipping sector, which is evolving rapidly due to factors such as changing customer expectations and regulatory pressures to drive greater environmental sustainability.
“Customer requirements are changing and we strive to meet and exceed evolving expectations,” says Smit. “It is always satisfying when the team comes together to bring a project to successful conclusion, especially when the customer has specified a unique design and the outcome on deck is exactly what they and our designers had envisioned on paper.
“We continue to work with our clients to identify opportunities for further improvement, special designs or enhanced processes. The innovation never stops – whether we’re working on a boardwalk, tile-effect flooring, or a decking solution featuring integrated LED lighting or a 3D effect. Recently, we launched Bolitop 801 – a new ultra-hygienic surface for the food industry. In cruise, we have a special innovation group focusing on new installation techniques.”
One Bolidt innovation that has been enduringly successful since it was launched in 2005 is Bolideck Future Teak, a synthetic decking system that looks and feels like real teak. The product is easy to maintain and ecologically responsible, helping to minimise overall vessel weight and cut fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Its eco-credentials make it particularly relevant for the growing number of passenger shipping operators that are focused on reducing their environmental impact to meet their sustainability goals.
“Future Teak was devised in response to demands for a lighter, more sustainable alternative to teak that retained much of the organic material’s aesthetic appeal, and it has since established itself as the industry standard for synthetic cruise decking,” says Smit, noting that Bolidt secured its first order to supply and install Future Teak for a Japanese cruise ship, NYK Cruises’ Asuka III, in early 2024.
“Future Teak has the look and feel of premium A-grade teak, but with the sustainability and durability of synthetic materials. We have continued to enhance the system over the years, in terms of materials and installation.”
Improving the environmental sustainability of its products and processes is a key goal for Bolidt. “We have established several working groups tasked with reducing its carbon dioxide emissions,” says Smit. “Our safety and health, environment and quality manager has implemented a cross-departmental corporate sustainability reporting directive, all our company cars are electric or hybrid, and we are looking to incorporate more biomaterials into our products.”