PRISM ISSUE • N° 47 • 2026
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[ SHIPYARDS ]
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PRECISION ENGINEERING IN FULL BLOOM We visited Vitters Shipyard in Zwartsluis during April’s iconic tulip season, when the Dutch landscape becomes bathed in a sea of vibrant colours. The yard’s work can be admired in some of the world’s most advanced sailing yachts, rooted in aluminium engineering and close designer collaboration, balancing performance, innovation and sustainability by Désirées– ph. courtesy of Vitters
Vitters Shipyard has built its reputation on craftsmanship, innovation and a deep commitment to custom yacht construction. The company’s roots lie in aluminium construction, with founder Jan Vitters initially focusing on building aluminium hulls for individual clients and other shipyards
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[ VITTERS ]
Left, Bas Peute, Sales and Marketing Manager at Vitters Shipyard with the journalists invited to the press tour organized in April and Louis Hamming (right in the picturet) Vitters’ CEO. Above, the hull of Project 3095, one of Vitters’ largest builds to date: a 68-metre. (224ft) ketch, currently being built in Vitters’ Hall 4 and due for delivery in early 2027
V
itters revealed itself at its most visually charged in April when we
designers,” explains Bas Peute, Vitters Sales and Marketing Manager,“McKeon,
visited the shipyard. Around Zwartsluis, the Dutch landscape was
Dykstra, Reichel/Pugh. We are open to anybody designing and developing the
in full tulip season: bright fields of colour arranged in strict bands,
naval architecture for large sailing superyachts.” Their approach focuses less
almost diagrammatically. Against this intensely cultivated backdrop sits one of
on stylistic alignment as it does on open technical dialogue between builder
Europe’s most specialised builders of custom sailing yachts, an environment
and designer. At the heart of Vitters’ current construction programme is a
where natural geometry and industrial precision seemingly echo one another.
68-metre Hoek Design yacht, one of the largest yachts that the shipyard has
Vitters’ evolution is not the result of sudden reinvention, but of incremental
built to date. “That’s the biggest one,” Peute says. Alongside this flagship
technical expansion. Originally established as an aluminium fabrication
project sits a 53-metre sloop by Dykstra Naval Architects, with interiors by
specialist, the yard built on its reputation by supplying hull structures to
Vripack and lines inspired by pilot cutter tradition. A third project takes the
external designers and shipyards, prioritising accuracy, structural integrity
yard further into hybrid territory: a 63-metre flybridge sloop constrained by
and clean execution in metalwork. A decisive shift came with early full-yacht
a 500GT limit and conceived as a performance cruiser.
collaborations, culminating in landmark projects such as Aphrodite, a 92-foot
A consistent design language emerges across all of these projects, a language
Hoek Design yacht launched in the early 1990s. From that point onwards,
Peute reduces to “expertise, sailing knowledge, innovation,” when asked what
Vitters gradually transitioned from subcontractor to embracing large fully
distinguishes Vitters. “This is what owners are looking for,” he continues. This
custom builds, expanding its facilities and technical scope to stay in line with
technical focus is increasingly intersecting with shifting market expectations.
a growing ambition. That same trajectory now finds expression in a complex
Sailing yachts, once considered a niche within the broader superyacht industry,
shipyard equipped with several construction halls capable of delivering some of
are gaining renewed interest. “Sailing yachts in general seem to be performing
the most complex aluminium sailing superyachts to date. Yet despite its scale,
positively,” Peute observes. “We know now that sailing yachts are a greener
the organisation retains a notably restrained operational philosophy: controlled
alternative to motor yachts, so there is more interest these days, especially
growth, close collaboration with designers, and a constant emphasis on sailing
when it comes to larger boats.” He also notes a gradual change in ownership
performance as the defining metric of success. “We work with many yacht
patterns: “You see more and more owners getting into sailing these days,”
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Designed by Hoek Design, this 68-metre (224ft) classic ketch is being built for a returning client who has already completed several circumnavigations aboard a previous yacht. Conceived as a go-anywhere ocean cruiser, she will rank among the world’s largest aluminium sailing ketches. Her naval architecture builds on that of the 55-metre ketches Adele and Marie
Right, Project 3096, Dreamer: a 63-metre flybridge sloop designed by Malcolm McKeon Yacht Design (MMYD), with a refined interior by m2atelier. Heralding the next-generation of performance cruisers, she combines high sailing performance and luxury with elegance and sustainability, while achieving the largest possible flybridge within the 500GT threshold Below, Project 3097: a 53-metre sloop-rigged sailing superyacht progressing under the build name Project SY 07. Her naval architecture and exterior design are by Dykstra Naval Architects, with interiors by Vripack. Drawing on the pilot cutter tradition, she is conceived for long-range cruising and assured sailing performance
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[ SHIPYARDS ]
On this page, a selection of yachts built by Vitters: upper left, 56-metre Alea; above, 59 m Maximus; left, 54.6 m Marie. The physical growth of the shipyard reflects the company’s steady development and expansion: from the first rented construction hall at the site in Zwartsluis, to their first purpose-built premises and subsequent ‘pontoon shed’. As the business expanded, a third hall was added in 2001 and, more recently, Hall 4 was completed in 2025
even if motor yachts still dominate overall production volumes. The yard’s portfolio reflects this balance. Over its history, Vitters has built 36 yachts, including a small number of motor yachts. Over the last decade, however, they have been focused almost entirely on sailing projects. Vitters has also been shaped by the long-standing partnership between Jan Vitters and Louis Hamming. Since their collaboration began in 1991, the two have worked as equal partners, each leading their own areas of the business: Jan focused on production, while Louis oversaw yacht construction. Although Jan Vitters and Louis Hamming are not related, Vitters is in every other way a veritable family business. “This is what sets us apart from our competitors,” Peute explains. Sustainability is becoming a more structured part of design conversations. Vitters is already exploring both ends of the spectrum, from fully emissionfree concepts to high-performance long-range yachts powered by traditional diesel systems. “We can do everything in between,” Peute says. Seen in this context, Vitters’ position is defined less by stylistic identity than by its ability to operate across extremes: performance and comfort, tradition and innovation, autonomy and technological complexity. In Zwartsluis, where the coloured borders of tulip fields impose their order on the landscape for just a season, the shipyard builds objects designed for entirely different timescales, creations shaped by decades of use and oceans of distance, where precision is not aesthetic, but essential. 160