Scheepswerf en Machinefabriek De Liesbosch

In 1934, the Amsterdamsche Ballast Maatschappij N.V. bought a neglected shipyard, forge and depot on the Merwede canal in Jutphaas, now Nieuwegein, just south of Utrecht. The Shipyard and Machine factory ‘De Liesbosch’ produced barges, pontoons, suction dredgers and dredgers for the Amsterdamse Ballast Maatschappij and the future Ballast Nedam and for external clients, both nationwide and overseas.
Some background information on Ballast Nedam Dredging: H.F. Boersma set up in business as a contractor in Den Haag from 1899 onwards. In 1917, Boersma founded the company Nederlandse Aannemingsmaatschappij N.V. The existence of the Amsterdamsche Ballast Maatschappij can be attributed to the North Sea canal. Its original operations back in 1877 were simplicity itself: empty merchant ships going to sea obtained dune sand as ballast. In later years, the company also applied itself to dredging. The Ballast Nedam Group came into being through the amalgamation of the two companies in 1969.