17/01/25

New Year meeting 2025 was ‘Simply The Best’

Thursday, January 16, 2025 was AYOP’s annual New Year’s Meeting. More than 100 guests, consisting of members and their partners, were present at the new Port Theater IJmuiden to usher in the new year. Before we enjoyed the performance “Simply The Best of Tina Turner” with musical star Nurlaila Karim in the Port Theater, AYOP director Dionne Ruurda updated the network on the state of the offshore energy sector in North Holland.

 

Reflecting on industry movements

A special welcome was extended to guests of new AYOP members RelyOn Nutec and N-Sea. Dionne spoke about the new wind farms IJmuiden Ver Alpha and Beta, Zeevonk II and the preparations for Hollandse Kust West. She also reported that Oranjewind is going to establish itself in Den Helder and Ecowende is establishing itself in IJmuiden. This endorses that North Holland is a unique location that will be central to the future for offshore energy.

The new year is all about cooperation and a lot is about to happen. The large offshore ship Aeolus is already in the North Sea Canal and the even larger offshore installation ship Boreas is on its way to Breman in TMA in Amsterdam. However, there are also challenges: framework space and port sites are scarce, especially with the size of the projects coming our way in the next few years. Dionne expresses her hope for a breakthrough around the IJmond Energy Port.

 

AYOP’s plans in the new year

Dionne also informed attendees about AYOP’s plans in 2025. We are going to work on putting North Holland on the map as the heart of the Netherlands’ energy ambitions. We will do this during flagship events such as the Offshore Experience in Den Helder in September and the Offshore Energy fair in Amsterdam in November. Creating an optimal business climate for our members remains most important for AYOP. We do this by organizing events and sharing knowledge with and also between members. Next year we will organize an AYOP Business call every month to share that knowledge.

Many events are planned for the coming year: Member Meeting Member Meetings, Gluren bij de Buren in Antwerp/Vlissingen and joint trade fair visits at home and abroad. Another big highlight is that AYOP is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. We are going to celebrate this in a big way. More about this will be announced later.

 

A successful musical evening

After a delicious walking dinner, provided by Van Es Catering, the performance started. The guests visibly enjoyed the well-known hits of Tina Turner. Afterwards they talked afterwards while enjoying a drink. After this evening we can once again conclude: the AYOP network is ‘Simply the best’.