Radio Holland Drops Anchor in San Francisco Bay
By Wes Starratt, PE, West Coast Correspondent
It is refreshing that, in these tumultuous economic times there is a firm that is opening, instead of closing, facilities. Jack Haynie, President of Radio Holland USA, at the recent opening of the firm's San Francisco Bay Regional Center, stressed that, "We do feel that the current economic slow-down will affect our business, but, as long as there are opportunities out there, we will continue to roll-out our foot-print, as exemplified by the opening of our regional center in the San Francisco Bay Area." The new office is centrally located in the island city of Alameda, almost adjacent to one of the bay area's largest drydocks, Bay Ship & Yacht. Until now, northern California has been served by a Radio Holland's regional office in Long Beach, but ... with 3,500 ships per year passing through the Golden Gate, including 1,900 containerships, plus tankers, bulk carriers, vehicle carriers, cruise ships, and others, as well as operating the country's fourth largest container port, the Port of Oakland, and a score of public and private ports on the Bay, and with inland waterways leading to Sacramento and Stockton, as well as a shipyard with the only dry-dock on the coast capable of maintaining the growing fleet of cruise ships, plus a high-speed Bay Area passenger ferry fleet slated to grow from 40 to 70 ferries and a shipyard capable of maintaining them ... it became apparent that Radio Holland needed a regional center in the San Francisco Bay Area. Hainie explained, "One of the key reasons for the new office is that ships are now coming directly from Asia to northern California. Also, we are interested in the new ferry system that is being developed in the Bay area, since we provide service for ferries in British Columbia and Washington State, as well as Staten Island, as noted in our advertisement in the March issue of Maritime Reporter and Engineering News. So, this market is a place where we need to be." Radio Holland specializes in supplying, installing, and maintaining all types of electronic equipment for the maritime industry. Headquartered in Rotterdam, it has more than 1,000 highly trained personnel operating in more than 60 branches in 21 countries. Radio Holland USA, headquartered in Houston, has four centers on the East Coast, four on the Gulf Coast, and, on the Pacific Coast, centers in Long Beach and Seattle, plus the new office serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The organization has a long and an illustrious history. Jack Haynie explained that the firm was formed in 1916 by a group of Dutch ship owners in response to the sinking of the Titanic and the inability to coordinate that rescue effort using cumbersome Morris-code communications.
Cutting the ribbon to open Radio Holland's new Oakland Center Center is Jack Haynie, President Americas for Radio Holland. Also shown from the left are Dave McGowan, West Coast Sales Reresentative; next Jack Haynie; then Karam Kahlil, Senior Technicial Supervisor; Art Thomas, Vice President, Business Development; and on the right, William Thompson, Southwest Reginal Manager. Photo courtesy Radio Holland USA.
"What Radio Holland did was to put radio equipment and radio officers on ships trading internationally and to continue promoting radio developments." With the establishment of the International Maritime Organization and its requirement for ships to carry global marine distress systems, now called GMDSS, which can be operated by a ship's bridge officers, there was no longer a need to provide radio officers; so, Radio Holland's core business was transformed into providing and maintaining electronic navigation equipment. About 10 years ago, Radio Holland was bought by Imtech, a Dutch engineering design group, and Radio Holland has become a part of the Imtech Marine Group. Today, the Imtech Marine Group designs and supplies electrical distribution, propulsion, navigation, and communications equipment, and Radio Holland installs and maintains that equipment, as well as equipment from the largest electronic brands worldwide.
Navy Commissions Newest Ship
USS Stockdale (DDG 106), the Navy's newest Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer, was Commissioned at Naval Base Ventura County Port Hueneme on Saturday, April 18, during a formal ceremony featuring H. Ross Perot as the Honorary Chair for the event and Admiral Keating as the Keynote Speaker. The fast warship will provide multi-mission offensive and defensive capabilities. As the first destroyer named for the Navy's highest ranking POW, the ship embodies the spirit and patriotism of Medal of Honor Recipient Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale.
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May 2009