History

Seatrade, as we have been known since 1973, was established in 1951 by five captain-owners based in the city of Groningen. This city is situated in the Northern part of the Netherlands. These captain-owners had their roots in small coastal vessels. Working together enabled them to operate more efficiently and make a more streamlined and efficient business. In the 1960’s the bold step was taken to move from traditional coasters to larger reefer vessels. At the time this was a new phenomenon in the local coastal trade. A new era dawned for the company.

Expansion years

In the mid-70’s Seatrade embarked on an impressive newbuilding spree of specialised reefers, at the same time travelling the world searching for new markets for fruit and frozen fish.
In 1989 Seatrade acquired the renowned Dammers & Van der Heide ship owning company thus doubling its fleet and number of employees overnight.
The company became one of the world’s largest reefer operators, a position Seatrade maintains to this day.

The present company

Two years later, a sizeable reorganisation took place within the company. The in-house chartering division was transferred to Seatrade Reefer Chartering in Curaçao with a branch office in Antwerp (Belgium) handling the commercial activities. After this reorganisation, the Seatrade Shipmanagement Group became an independent company focusing solely on the management of various types of vessels. In the year 2000, the Leer based company Triton Schiffahrts GmbH joined the Seatrade Shipmanagement Group. Within the Group, Triton specifically focuses on ship management for the German market.