Henk de Vries reflects on a lifetime in superyachting
Venue: K3
Session name: Lessons From a Dutch Master: Things I Know to Be True About Superyachting
Speakers:
Henk de Vries, Feadship ambassador and non-executive board member
Stewart Campbell, managing director, BOAT International
In a candid one-to-one conversation, De Vries reflected on his nearly four decades at the forefront of yacht building. The discussion touched on craftsmanship, changing owner expectations and how the future of superyachting may differ from its past.
The duo started by touching on De Vries' current position. De Vries said: "As you get older, you get less flexible, you become less patient and at a certain point, you must let go. And of course, the next generation is probably making the same remarks about [my cousin] Tom and me, as we did about our fathers – and that's right."
He credited careful planning, close collaboration with his cousin Tom, and complementary leadership styles for the company’s resilience through multiple global downturns – from Japan’s real-estate collapse to late‑1990s currency crises and Covid disruptions. De Vries stressed the importance of stepping back gracefully to let younger generations lead and of balancing work with health and family: the handover, he said, was engineered over years so the business could continue while he shifted to high‑level representation.
De Vries reflected on a lifetime in the family shipyard, saying: “I was never on the shop floor, because give me a hammer and I will put a hole in something.” He also described a deliberate succession that moved him from sales manager to board leadership and, more recently, into an ambassador role. Campbell asked what the new role of ambassador means to him, to which De Vries replied: "I'm finding out!" About retirement and stepping away, he was candid, saying: “Anybody over 60 in this room, I can highly recommend.”
As the session progressed, Campbell and De Vries shifted from succession to the industry’s wider challenges – competition, craftsmanship, and sustainability – with De Vries arguing that the sector must defend its craftsmanship and make bolder sustainability choices. He framed the industry’s entry barriers as technical (building very large vessels) rather than reputational, warned against complacent unprofessionalism, and urged firms to protect margins by emphasising the complexity and experience they deliver.
To his point about margins, brand control and experience, De Vries noted that luxury groups such as LVMH illustrate the power of tight brand control and premium retail margins – a model the superyacht sector struggles to replicate because the value in this industry is technical complexity and bespoke experience rather than a tightly managed consumer luxury chain.
On sustainability, he was blunt: superyachts are largely unnecessary products and, given today’s technology, it is “simple to make the damn thing completely emission free” – a conviction that he said must drive design, production and legacy choices going forward. He also noted institutional progress: an ISO technical standard and the YETI tool are now references for comparing yacht sustainability credentials, signalling the sector is beginning to codify what good looks like.
De Vries spoke about choosing health and balance after heart surgery: “That was it, that I would not kill myself, for the business, for my ego, for whatever.”
Campbell concluded by asking what his advice was for the next generation; De Vries urged them to pursue what they’re good at, but to practice self‑compassion and not sacrifice health or life for the business. “If you do what you’re good at, it doesn’t matter,” he said.