First post-war years Immediately after the war the NSM continued the investments in her new shipyard on the other side of the IJ. Wilton did the same in Rotterdam / Schiedam. In 1919 the launched tonnage of 149,391 did not increase from the wartime years. In 1920 the Dutch shipyards launched 298,991 brt, and the Netherlands were the third shipbuilder of the world. Meanwhile freight tariffs plummeted. This did not bode well, and when the ships in progress had been finished, very few new orders came in. By January 1922 the NSM had already laid off 400 men, and it expected to shrink further. Over 1920 and 1921 the NSM paid 8% dividend.
The new shipyard On 6 October 1922 the new shipyard on the north side of the IJ was opened. Many of the workshops were in a main building of with
overhead cranes and many modern machines. There was a drill machine that made up to 32 holes at a time, with the sheet metal moving automatically to the next position for the holes to be drilled. There were also very heavy metal cutting machines. In an engine house there were machines to transform the electricity from the municipal grid to the kind required to drive power tools, all machines being driven electrically. There were three concrete slipways, each long and wide, situated in parallel. The lower end of these slipways was below the waterline and closed of by doors, so ships could easily be launched by letting water onto the slipway.
Crisis of the early twenties On the day of the opening the new shipyard started its activity with the construction of a new floating drydock using two of the slipways at the same time. It was ordered by the ADM and measured by and had a hold of 56? feet. In 1923 the English shipbuilding industry began to recover, but this was not the case for the Dutch shipbuilders. The only Dutch shipbuilder that had enough work happened to be the NSM. In late December 1923 NSM missed a very large order by the SMN. It was for a new Ocean liner and the first order in 18 years that the SMN did not place at the NSM. NSM offered for 6,270,000 guilders, but the
Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire in
Saint-Nazaire offered for 4,900,000 guilders, something made possible by currency manipulation. The
MS P.C. Hooft would be 520' pp long by 67.9' wide with a 38.6 ' hold for 14,000 brt.
P.C. Hooft would be launched on 23 April 1925. The results for 1924 would vindicate the careful approach of the board of NSM. The profit was 141 guilders and 30 cents while 126,301 went to
depreciation. After the drydocks under construction at the new shipyard had been delivered, the NSM did not succeed in getting orders for the new shipyard. The primary cause of trouble was a lack of laborers combined with the high wages in Amsterdam. As a result the new shipyard was idle. Therefore the new shipyard was valued way too high in the books, requiring a 5% depreciation a year. As a consequence the profits would have to be designated to depreciations for years, before any dividends could be paid. In 1925, the NSM pursued multiple orders for cost price, or below, but would not succeed in getting a single order. A proposal to reduce the nominal share value by 50% was rejected in an extraordinary shareholders meeting on 22 June. In the evening of 10 December 1925, a fire broke out below the long big slipway on the Conrad street. On this slipway was a tanker for the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company. It was about to be launched on the 19th, making that the slipway had been greased. The fire would last for days. It totally destroyed the tanker as well as the slipway. The tanker was insured for 3,000,000 guilders, and a new one was laid shortly after on the new shipyard on the other side of the IJ. The slipway was also insured. On 23 January 1926, a replacement for the lost tanker was laid down at the new shipyard on the other side of the IJ. It was the first ship that was laid down on the new shipyard. The tanker
Clam would be launched after a short construction time on 14 August, probably because the rear of the ship that had burned proved fit for re-use and had been brought over from the Conrad street. The board noted that these two orders were very welcome, but were still taken at a loss. In December 1926, NSM also got the order for the
Nieuw Holland for the KPM. On 14 December 1926, the company officially moved to the new shipyard when the offices and seat of the board were moved. By then, 1,000 employees were working on the new shipyard, while 350 were busy on the Conrad street, working on the
Clam that would be finished there. The Sumatra had been commissioned in May 1926. Only the iron works, forge and some cranes still had to be moved. In a meeting on 11 August 1926, the shareholders had agreed to reduce the nominal value of shares by 50%. The profit over 1926 was 94,436 guilders.
1927: the situation stabilizes In the first three quarters of 1927, 22 sea-going ships were laid down on Dutch shipyards. For the whole of 1926 this had been 7. The number of ships launched always lagged behind, but was 7 for the whole of 1926, and 33 for the first three quarters of 1927. This was not enough to keep the shipyards in operation, but the numbers did announce the end of the crisis. For the NSM this had been much worse than for RDM, ADM and Wilton that each had a repair branch. In January 1928, the SMN ordered two 18,000–19,000 brt ships of 14,000 hp at the NSM. The first was
Johan van Oldebarneveld, to be delivered in February 1930, the other was to be delivered in July 1930. Both were the largest ships built in the Netherlands till that date, and the dimensions (
Marnix: long, beam) proved the necessity of the move to the new shipyard. By then the NSM had orders for 10 ships, and in 1928 production would hit a record high. The dividend over 1928 was 5%, the first dividend since that of 1922. 1929 was a still better year in terms of production hitting a new record high. Dividend over 1929 was 6%.
The Great depression NSM suffered far less from the
Great Depression than other Dutch shipbuilders. It was the only Dutch shipyard that was able to continue to build a significant number of ships for foreign customers. This was in part achieved by innovation: NSM shifted to building tankers and concentrated on motor ships and other innovations. NSM also profited from institutional political connections. Finally, necessity played a role. Unlike other shipyards, NSM did not have the option to try to ride out the crisis by repairing ships. Operating on the world market for ship construction, Dutch shipbuilders were severely impeded by the Dutch government clinging to the gold standard. The tonnage ordered by and under construction for Dutch companies on Dutch shipyards had diminished from 213,000 brt to 182,400 brt. From the end of 1930 till the end of 1931, these numbers were 189,720 and 48,800 brt. The Great Depression did not immediately hit NSM. In January 1931, it got orders for
Both and
Reael of for KPM. In March 1930, it received an order for two tankers of 10,500 tons for
Anglo-Saxon Petroleum. In early 1930, finishing
Johan van Oldebarneveld and
Marnix van St. Aldegonde still gave so much work that the NSM employed 2,500 men. At the end of the year, there were 1,600 employees left. In 1932, NSM launched three
refrigerated cargo ships for
Westfal-Larsen. One of these,
MS Moldanger suffered from a disastrous fire, occasioning a costly partial rebuilt. That same year NSM did rigorous cost cutting, and succeeded in still making a profit of 81,958 guilders. There was no dividend over 1932, and work in progress dwindled down to a handful of ships and bridges in early 1933. 1933 showed almost the same activity as the previous year, but it showed a loss. Prices were getting worse because the currencies of surrounding countries that built ships were deprecated. In 1934, the crisis seriously hit the results of the NSM. It incurred a loss of 194,879 guilders. The comment of the board was that all major shipbuilding countries had deprecated their currency by at least 40%. Indeed the Dutch shipbuilding industry slipped from third place to seventh place in these years.
Recovery 1935 saw a slight increase in the number of ships under construction at NSM, but orders were still taken at a loss. Over 1935, the government paid part of the loss of 270,957 guilders. The board noted that Dutch shipyards could build ships in less man hours than foreign shipyards. Nevertheless, at the same price in the buyer currency, the NSM had to work at a loss while foreign companies made a profit. The work on
HNLMS Tromp laid down in January 1936 gave some air to the NSM. On 27 September 1936, the Netherlands finally left the gold standard. By early 1937, the effects on the NSM, were already noticeable with orders coming in almost immediately. From the depth of 250 employees, it was back at 1,500 employees in February 1937. From a financial perspective the orders in progress in 1936 or concluded before the devaluation would not contribute much to profits, because many materials would have to be bought with a weak guilder. Indeed the profit over 1937 would be a meager 178,711 guilders (before depreciations), which was booked against earlier losses. In 1938, the NSM finally had a normal year from a financial perspective. The result allowed a depreciation of 251,463 guilders, and a (real) profit of 133,988 guilders, which allowed a dividend of 5%. 1938 was also memorable for the launch of of and . In 1939, the operational result of the NSM almost doubled, and the company decided to build a fifth slipway. In the shareholders meeting of 25 April 1940, the board stated that this fifth slipway had a direct relation with the expected construction of battle cruisers, cf. the
Design 1047 battlecruiser. Of the result of 683,555 guilders, most went to depreciation, in part to pay for a switch to electric welding. From the net profit of 133,990, a dividend of 5% was paid. == World War II ==