Wilton-Fijenoord

Wilton-Fijenoord was a shipbuilding and repair company in Schiedam, Netherlands from 1929 to 1999. Presently, the shipyard of Wilton-Feijnoord is part of Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam.

Wilton-Fijenoord was the result of a merger between the ship repair yard Wilton and the old Fijenoord shipyard. The idea was that the new combination would be more efficient on the huge terrain that Wilton had developed in Schiedam. The new company barely survived the great depression. In the 1950s and 1960s it flourished.

In 1964 Wilton-Fijenoord merged with the machine factory Bronswerk to form Wilton-Fijenoord-Bronswerk. In 1968, this combination was torn apart by Stork and Rijn-Schelde Groep. The latter got the maritime activities of Wilton-Fijenoord. In 1971 Rijn-Schelde merged with Verolme Shipyards to become Rijn-Schelde-Verolme. Wilton-Fijenoord was one of many daughters of the conglomerate.

Wilton-Fijenoord became independent again in 1983. Even so, it was not able to compete against shipbuilding in the far east. In late 1987 it ended this activity and became successful as a repair only company. However, by the early 1990s, Wilton-Fijenoord got into trouble by competition from eastern Europe. A failed attempt to get back in to shipbuilding then led to the demise of the company.

Damen Group Rotterdam currently runs a shipyard on the eastern half of what was once the Wilton-Fijenoord shipyard. It uses three of the old graving docks of the company.