ABN AMRO BANK N.V. The Frisian start-up IMPACD Boats makes 3D-printed sustainable motorboats from recycled material such as PET bottles and household waste - a first in Europe. The company, owned by the young entrepreneurial couple Marieke de Boer and Jörgen de Jong, is taking the water sports market by storm.
Marieke de Boer and Jörgen de Jong are seeing their lives change at breakneck speed. Their 3D-printed sustainable motorboat is generating an overwhelming amount of interest, they won the Start-up Award at Hiswa te Water (the largest in-water boat show in northern Europe), made it to the finalist round of The Sustainable Thirty (a sustainability competition in the Netherlands) and bought a marina in Friesland's Woudsend. All that in just eighteen months' time…
The idea for IMPACD Boats (previously Duurzame Sloepen, meaning Sustainable Motorboats) was born in 2020, at the couple's kitchen table. At the time, De Boer was working for a large candy factory, at a job which often took her abroad - until Covid hit. "My life was turned upside down. From one day to the next, I found myself stuck at home," De Boer says. "So I started thinking about what I really wanted. We both liked the idea of discovering our surroundings by boat. Everyone else in the Netherlands was buying a boat at that time, so it felt like 'mission impossible'. My boyfriend Jörgen decided to build a boat himself. He's good with his hands and had worked at a marina for many years."
De Boer and De Jong wanted to do more than just build a boat. "It had to be a boat that would not burden future generations," De Boer explains. "Boats are hard to recycle, and so there are thousands of abandoned boats in the Netherlands - and the problem is only becoming worse. So we came up with the idea of printing a sustainable motorboat from recycled materials. Turned out that had never been done before in Europe. We then started thinking it's a waste to build only one of these boats. Why not market it? So we got down to business."
Things took off very quickly. De Boer and De Jong explored various sustainable options and materials, and looked for the right partners. They ended up finding two companies that could print boats from PET bottles and household waste. They also joined forces with Martin Bekebrede, a well-known Dutch ship designer. Within six months, the first prototype was ready. De Boer says there was a huge amount of interest in the boat from the start: "Right away, a rental company ordered sixty boats. We were shocked. But it gave us the nudge we needed to take the next step."
The biggest challenge right now, notes De Boer, is meeting the large demand: "A lot of individuals have expressed interest, but so have holiday parks and rental companies. This year we can print 120 boats; in three years, we aim to make a total of 600 boats. A 7-metre boat can now be printed in 77 hours. Once it's printed, we finish putting together the hull in our own shed, adding things like a near-silent electric motor, cabling, a floor, console, cover and flag. All of which is as sustainable as possible."
Sustainability is at the heart of the business. That's why De Boer is reaching out to Delft University of Technology students for a life cycle assessment of the boats. "I want to live up to our promise. How sustainable areour boats? Many brands talk a lot about sustainability, but it's hard for consumers to verify their claims. That bothers me. So I want to make things as transparent as possible for our customers. The TU Delft's life cycle assessment shows that our business is 74% more sustainable than the traditional industry standard."
In 2021, a new opportunity came the couple's way: the Beaufort Watersport marina in Friesland's Woudsend went up for sale - a marina with 85 slips and a shed with enough space to finish building the boats and, in the future, to print the boats themselves. Plus the marina is around the corner from the current showroom where the boats can be viewed.
"We heard that the marina was for sale, and we knew it was a great opportunity," De Boer recalls. "But we'd put all our money into developing the boats. We talked to different banks about financing, but because of the pandemic, many weren't investing in recreational projects or marinas. Fortunately, ABN AMRO had the guts to look ahead. They saw potential in the marina, which had an existing customer base, in combination with our sustainable boats. We were able to arrange the financing swiftly. I'm really happy ABN AMRO seized this opportunity."
Making an impact - that's what it's all about for De Boer. And that's why the couple recently changed their company's name from Sustainable Boats to IMPACD Boats. "We want to shake up the market and trigger a sustainability shift. Our goal is to sell as many boats as possible at the highest sustainability percentage possible. We will compensate the remaining eco-costs by giving away our sustainability expertise to businesses that could really use it."
The speed at which De Boer and De Jong have set up their business is impressive. So, what's their secret? "Sustainability is not a marketing angle to us - it's what we do. Without sustainability, there are no boats. Of course, it's a lot of work at times, especially with two small children. But we put so much passion and energy into our business. And I also believe in the power of collaboration. You don't have to do everything on your own; go look for the right partners. I'm really proud of how far we've come. The future looks bright."
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ABN Amro Bank NV published this content on 16 August 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 16 August 2022 09:21:07 UTC.
