A look back at 2025

Looking back on the previous year is satisfying for the editors. Nevertheless, we are not sitting still and are open to improvements. Zeilpost became Windassist and is starting to “pick up steam”.

BBZ and FVEN

Every week, the BBZ came up with a news item on Zeepost. This makes the Zeepost an important medium for charter shipping, although of course not all charterers are BBZ members. This is true to a much lesser extent for FVEN. Only 7 times did we publish FVEN notices in Scheepspost. As the federation of all nautical heritage organisations, it has an important role in the policy developments at hand. FVEN could find a good and regular medium in the Scheepspost as an advocate to the government and mutual communication to its members.

Sailing heritage, are you sailing?

The organisations, affiliated to FVEN sometimes do find the Scheepspost as a medium. Swedish classics, for instance, can be found regularly in Scheepspost. Round and flat-bottomed yachts are also regularly featured with messages in Scheepspost via the Stamboek (SSRP) website. However, many of the nautical heritage enthusiasts do not let us hear much from them. It would help us as editors if we were included in the mailing list of the various organisations, so that we could select relevant news ourselves to pass on to a larger readership. Send your periodical issue by default (digitally) to redactie@scheepspost.info!

Lots of hassle with bridges and locks

The number of reports on infrastructure, such as obstructions, maintenance work and calamities, was high this year. At the forefront, of course, was the Standing Mast Route, which was in the news all year with expected and unexpected delays. Even the accessibility of Sail Amsterdam ’25 was in question for a while, but in the end it was ready just in time. With an average of almost 2 messages per week, this gave an indication of the increasing backlog of maintenance at bridges, locks and other works.

Safety on board

Especially in charter shipping, there has been a lot of focus on safety on board this year. Following a number of accidents on charter vessels but also on luxury yachts, requirements in this area were tightened. Inspection requirements were tightened considerably, leading to differences of opinion between authorities and skippers and a lot of mutual stress. Nevertheless, it is a good thing that safety remains in the spotlight.
In the coming year, we will therefore pay extra attention to safety by regularly reporting on the activities of the Platform Veiligheid Chartervaart. In that body, government, insurers, classification societies, the BBZ and skippers come together to work on safety, not only on the ships, but also in the minds and hands of crew members. Since such a thing is a long-term process, we will start paying regular attention to it.

Other topics

Museums and archaeology knew how to find their way to the Scheepspost. Ship stories were also well represented there. Only in a few cases did we also forward these reports to the Scheepspost. To a lesser extent, this was also the case for events. The theme of sustainability was posted more on Zeepost, but given the pressure on sailing heritage to reduce their CO2 emissions and the restrictions on ships, it is a theme that will certainly require more attention in the future, including from Scheepspost readers.

Reports on nature, and especially the ecology of the Wadden area, we brought to the attention of Zeepost readers in particular, thinking about charter shipping on the Wadden Sea and the educational role skippers and mates have in this vulnerable area. Nevertheless, we can imagine that Scheepspost readers feel disadvantaged by this and would like to see their interest reflected there too. We would love to hear from that target audience! Send your response to redactie@scheepspost.info

Windassist

De Zeilpost, the little brother of Zeepost, changed its name to Windassist and became bilingual. This required quite an effort from our IT people, but it did eventually lead to a nice result. We want to give all innovative developments at sea a place here, not only WASP (Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion) applications, but also small commercial and charter shipping at sea, including School at Sea. Windassist is now the fastest-growing member of the ‘Posts’, with a reader growth of 5% per month.

Advertorials

Finally, a word of thanks for the advertorials placed 15 times on both Sea and Ship Posts. Well-recognisable in their own category, they also gave another financial backing to the Posts.

Windassist sponsor