Damen Yachting to Open Vlissingen Superyacht Yard on 10 October

Damen Yachting will open its Vlissingen shipyard to the public on Saturday 10 October 2026, giving visitors a rare look inside one of the Netherlands’ major superyacht construction facilities. The biennial Open Day will run from 10:00 to 16:00 and is designed to showcase yacht building, engineering, craftsmanship and maritime career opportunities to the local community and future industry entrants.

The Vlissingen yard will open from 10:00 to 16:00

Damen Yachting says the Open Day will allow visitors to experience the Vlissingen facility beyond the public-facing finished yachts normally seen at boat shows. The programme is intended for students, local residents, maritime enthusiasts and families of employees, with last entry scheduled for 15:00.

Opening a working superyacht yard to the public provides a different view of the industry from a marina exhibition. Visitors can see the scale of infrastructure, engineering and production activity required before a yacht reaches launch, sea trials or delivery, making the event as much about industrial capability as finished design. The difference is important because many of the decisions that determine reliability, maintainability and build quality disappear behind panels and finishes by the time a yacht reaches a public show.

The event focuses on craftsmanship and engineering

Damen frames the Open Day around the people and technical disciplines behind its yachts, including design, engineering, construction and specialist craftsmanship. The Vlissingen facilities support work across the company’s Amels Limited Editions, Full Custom, Xplorer, Yacht Support and refit activities, giving the site a broad role within the group’s superyacht portfolio.

That mix is useful for visitors because modern yacht construction depends on far more than traditional shipbuilding trades. Electrical integration, propulsion, automation, interiors, project management, classification and sustainability engineering all form part of the production process, creating career routes that extend well beyond welding and outfitting. It also helps explain why large yacht yards rely on dense networks of subcontractors and specialist suppliers. A single project can involve hundreds of people whose work has to be sequenced and quality-controlled across several years.

Open days can help address the industry skills pipeline

European yacht builders continue to compete for skilled technical staff while also needing to attract younger workers into maritime careers. Events that expose students to real yards can help make those roles visible before career choices are fixed, particularly when the industry is competing with automotive, aerospace and other advanced manufacturing sectors for engineering talent.

For Damen Yachting, the community dimension also matters because Vlissingen and the wider Zeeland region have deep maritime roots. Demonstrating how superyacht construction contributes to local employment, supplier activity and specialist training can strengthen the connection between a globally focused luxury-yacht business and the city in which the yard operates. Recruitment is only one part of the challenge; retaining expertise and transferring practical knowledge between experienced tradespeople and younger employees are equally important. Public engagement can support that pipeline by making shipbuilding careers tangible rather than abstract.

The Open Day sits within a busy Damen Yachting programme

Damen Yachting enters the October event after a Monaco Yacht Show season that included Amels 80 PANGEA, Amels 60 QU2 and Amels 242 SYNTHESIS, while its wider orderbook spans Amels, Xplorer and Yacht Support projects. The Open Day shifts attention away from sales presentation and back toward the physical yard and the people building those vessels.

For owners and industry professionals, the event is primarily a public outreach day rather than a commercial yacht show. Its wider value lies in making the industrial side of superyachting more visible and in showing future workers how advanced shipbuilding translates design concepts into operational yachts. That contrast gives the public a more complete picture of the sector: Monaco presents the completed product and owner experience, while Vlissingen exposes the manufacturing, systems integration and workforce required to create it.

Official sources: www.damenyachting.com.