Private company

Burgerhout

Dutch company

Burgerhout was a Dutch company in Rotterdam, active from 1852 to 1932. In 1865 it became a machine factory. In 1909 it started to build ships and in 1927 it branched out to the aircraft industry.² Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1852Founded¹

Industrymechanical engineering, shipyard, smithy¹
HeadquartersRotterdam¹
Legal formcorporation¹

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Burgerhout was a Dutch company in Rotterdam, active from 1852 to 1932. In 1865 it became a machine factory. In 1909 it started to build ships and in 1927 it branched out to the aircraft industry.²

The story

Foundation

In September 1852 Hendrik Adolph Burgerhout (1825–1913) took over Bouwmeester's smithy in the Zwanensteeg at Leuvehaven, Rotterdam. Burgerhout announced that he would continue the business under his own name, and that it still made household, shipping and mill work. It also made hearths, stoves, ship- and household kitchen stoves, and safes. It is likely that the less than successful takeover by Bouwmeester and Grunzig set back the company. The fact that Burgerhout's advertisement did not mention work on steam engines might be related to such a setback.

Burgerhout would prove more successful. By 1853 he was recruiting skilled workers. In 1855 he won a tender for making galvanized iron roofs over 8 gunboats in Hellevoetsluis naval base at 7,669 guilders. In 1858 Burgerhout won a tender for the iron part of a bridge over the Rotte for 10,097 guilders. The bridge was 30 m long and 7 m wide. In spite of these successes the company continued to be a large smithy. It might work on steam boilers, and do repair work, but in 1857 it was not classified as a machine factory.

Machine factory Burgerhout & Kraak (1865–1877)

On 1 November 1865 Hendrik Adolph Burgerhout and Arie Kraak founded the company (Dutch: Vennootschap) Burgerhout & Kraak. Its goal was the construction and repair of (iron) ships, steam engines, boilers, iron bridges, and other big iron constructions. The association would last at least until 31 December 1877.

Bridges

Burgerhout & Kraak continued to attract orders for bridges and other large constructions. In February 1866 it won a tender for an iron swing bridge near the Witte Leeuw for 5,394 guilders. In January 1867 the company won a bid for renewal of the Leuvebrug for 22,533 guilders. It consisted of a fixed iron part and an iron swing bridge. In 1869 Burgerhout & Kraak got the assignment to repair the 'Nieuwe Leuvebrug', which included a lock.

Steam engines for river navigation

The machinefactory of Burgerhout & Kraak was on Leuvehaven. In 1869 the factory of Burgerhout & Kraak was mentioned as being on the Houtlaan (Hout street). The Houtlaan was south of the Zalmhaven, i.e. the front door of the shipyards on the Zalmhaven was at the Houtlaan. In 1870 a big fire at Zalmhaven almost reached the 'Machinefactory de Maas' of Burgerhout & Kraak. Indeed, Zalmkade No 10 was next to their 'Grofsmederij'.

Burgerhout & Kraak seems to have specialized in small steam engines for river vessels. One of its first engines was one of 10 hp with a 16 hp boiler. The company repeatedly advertised it in 1866. This machine probably evolved to a proper engine of 16 hp. In October 1869 the company had the order to build the 16 hp machines for the iron river ship Maria en Johanna, under construction at Fop Smit. After that Burgerhout & Kraak was repeatedly mentioned as building 16 hp engines for ships.

Machine factory Burgerhout & Son (1878-1909)

The Burgerhout's sole proprietors again

In January 1878 H.A. Burgerhout made a contract with his son Jan Burgerhout (1852–1900) to continue the activities of Burgerhout & Kraak as the company Burgerhout & Son (Dutch: Burgerhout en Zoon). By the end of the 1880s, Burgerhout was a major employer in Rotterdam. In December 1889, 70 employees of Burgerhout did not turn up because of a strike.

Expansion in river navigation

Burgerhout continued to specialize in machines and boilers for river navigation. In time it outgrew the very basic small steam engines it made. In 1882 it got order for a machine of 30 hp. In 1893 Burgerhout build two compound machines of together 80 hp for Dieu Donne V. In 1894 it built the engines of the steamtug Loreley I and the passenger liner Reserve III for the Maas and IJssel Line in Rotterdam.

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Burgerhout now grew from a simple constructor (copier) of steam engines to a company capable of designing engines and even ships. In 1901 Burgerhout was involved in the design of the Johann Knipscheer XV. It was a river paddle steamer of 10 m long, 18.60 m wide, a draft of only 1.07 m and 800 hp engines. As regard construction Burgerhout only built the boilers for this vessel. Burgerhout was also involved with the double screw river steamer Max Honsell, of 82.9 m length.

Tugboat service

In the 1880s Burgerhout & Son also ran a tugboat service. From 1885 to 1887 the tugs Burgerhout, Burgerhout II and Burgerhout III were noted on the Rhine, and these were not all of the ships of Burgerhout's tug service. Burgerhout's tugboat service had of course always used Burgerhout engines. The vessels themselves however, had been built by others. E.g. in 1907 a steel tugboat was launched for Burgerhout at the shipyard of H. van Vlaardingen in Gouda. While in the same year Boele in Slikkerveer was constructing Wacht am Rhein III for Burgerhout.

From Wikipedia’s article on Burgerhout, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.³

Products and brands

Burgerhout Shipyard and Machinefactory

New shipyard at Varkenoord

By 1909 a new shipyard was under construction for Burgerhout at Varkenoord (somewhat upstream from Fijenoord on the southern shore of the Meuse). The shipyard was considered advanced for multiple reasons. It was a parallel slipway instead of a perpendicular slipway. It was made of 21 concrete short patent slips built like aqueducts. The whole was supported by 1,700 piles. The most visible parts were 2 kilometers of rails and a kilometer of chains, all used to move the 21 carriages by which a ship was pulled out of the water. Every 'slip' had a winch that could pull 12.5 ton. Four 25 hp electro engines drove the winches via an axle that run along the slip.

The new slipway could handle a ship of up to 120 m long, but the idea was to simultaneously handle two Rhine ships or six tugboats. More capacity was available by shoving a ship from the carriages to some blocks. A ship could be taken out of the water in about 30 minutes. One of the unique advantages of the slipway was that it was far safer in handling very weak ships (like sand barges). The traditional perpendicular patent slip puts great strain on the hull when part of the ship is out of the water, and part of it is still floating on the water. With the spectacular increase in the length and beam, but not in the draft of river vessels, these became ever weaker. In a few years the whole company was moved to the new location.

Public Company

In 1910 Burgerhout became a public company. The capital was 500,000 guilders divided in 500 shares, 300 of them placed. The official name became Burgerhout's Machinefabriek en Scheepswerf. The first CEO was H.A. Burgerhout jr. The change to a public company might also have been related to ensuring the continuity of the company. H.A. Burgerhout junior died on 2 January 1911 at age 49. On 10 January 1911 his widow M.W. Burgerhout-Molenaar and his eldest son H.A. Burgerhout (1886–1932) became executive officers, while Hugo Burgerhout became vice president. H.A. Burgerhout studied at ETH Zurich.

Further expansion

By 31 December 1909 Burgerhout had 9 tugboats under construction, 8 for German customers, and one for an English customer. The tug for the English customer was Kurt van Andreae, 35.5 m by 6.25 m with a 2.7 m hold. The machinery was a vertical triple expansion engine of 525 ihp. Kurt van Andreae was the first ship completely built by Burgerhout.

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Despite these big investments Burgerhout seems to have stuck to its niche market: tugboats and specialty vessels. On 31 December 1911 Burgerhout had 5 tugboats under construction. On 31 December 1912 it had a sea tugboat under construction, as well as a number of pontoons for South America and other vessels. Among the vessels that Burgerhout had under construction on 31 December 1913 was a cargo steam boat of (436 GRT).

World War I

World War I was a bonanza for the Dutch shipbuilding industry and a lot of other industries. For Burgerhout, this was not immediately the case, because transport on the Rhine was severely affected by the war. Burgerhout thus had to shift to building seaworthy ships, but this was easier said than done. In 1915 Burgerhout launched only two tugboats and two ocean-going tugs.

The turning point came in 1916, when Burgerhout launched the steam freighters Boekelo, Amstel, Loosdrecht and Eva of 1,700–3,000 GRT. In 1917 Burgerhout launched four comparable steam freighters. In 1918 Burgerhout slowed down like the rest of the industry and only launched two steamtrawlers and a sea tug. Apart from building ocean going ships, Burgerhout was also involved in designing them. It furthermore built a lot of steam engines for other shipyards. The number of employees rose from 80 in 1910 to about 1,000 in 1921.

Aircraft

Hosts precursor of Koolhoven

Hendrik Adolph Burgerhout (1886–1932) was twice involved with the aircraft industry. By March 1922 the company NV Nationale Vliegtuig Industrie (NVI) of Mr. Carley was temporarily housed on the shipyard. It was incorporated somewhat later. On 15 December 1922 a fire significantly damaged the aircraft production facilities and some other parts of the shipyard. NVI then bought a new factory building in The Hague.

Burgerhout founds Aviolanda

In 1927 Maatschappij voor Vliegtuigbouw Aviolanda NV was founded by H.A. Burgerhout and Shipyard Gebroeders Pot in Bolnes. It acquired the lease for the terrain of Shipyard vh de Weduwe A. v. Duyvendijk in Papendrecht. All this suggests that H.A. Burgerhout was primarily involved as a private person, but in fact the shipyard had previously acquired machinery and staff to produce aircraft. The first order for the new company was the construction of 18 Dornier Do J 'Wal' flying boats. The order would give employment to 100–150 people. The order for the Dornier 'Wal' was followed by others, and when Burgerhout Shipyard was discontinued, the separate company Aviolanda survived. After World War II it was merged into Fokker.