On 20 June 2024, the DCA hosted its 30th anniversary celebrations in Amsterdam to mark the association’s 30th birthday. The celebrations began at the Four Elements Hotel and continued in the afternoon and evening on a ship of the Royal Fleet.
The DCA welcomed an impressive number of over 70 participants from 40 companies. The board was particularly pleased that three founding members of the association, Wolfgang Hausmann, Hans Ringers and Denis Pellerin, accepted the DCA’s invitation. While the former has been in well-deserved retirement for some time now, Denis Pellerin is still an associate member of the association with his company HDDP Solutions.
The event kicked off with a joint lunch at the Four Elements Hotel in Amsterdam, right next to the marina in Iburg. The highlight of the day for the members was an afternoon cruise on a ship with a royal past, the Hydrograaf. This well-known ship in the Netherlands has a rich nautical and royal history. The former steamship, which was built in 1910 at the Fijenoord naval shipyard in Rotterdam, sailed for the Royal Dutch Navy until 1962. It is best known as the ship of the queens, as Princesses Emma, Wilhelmina and Juliana used the ship for official visits to the Dutch islands in the 1920s and 1930s. King Willem Alexander and many other celebrities also used the ship. But it is also the ship of Sinterklaas, on which many children pay their respects to Sinterklaas at Christmas time.



After a bus journey and a short walk, the guests were welcomed at the landing stage near the Spieringbrug by accordion music and a truly magnificent ship with three DCA flags. Captain in Spe Jorn Stoelinga himself, president of the DCA, and Antje Quante from the DCA office, welcomed the guests by handing out specially made DCA caps to all members and founders. These were used immediately and the guests then spread out on the outside deck. After a short speech by the president, the guests enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere with beer and wine as well as various snacks typical of the country. A short time later the ship passed through the lock in Muiden and sailed out onto the Markemeer, part of the IJsselmeer. The sun also made an appearance and made the afternoon perfect.
Towards the evening there was a barbeque on deck with a delicious buffet. The seats on the lower decks with their luxurious padouk furnishings, a tropical type of wood and many red and green accents, were populated, as was the bar, where the Royal Majesties were already seated. The cruise continued across the Markemeer and the harbour facilities of Amsterdam before setting off on the return journey.
Shortly before reaching the pier of the Four Elements Hotel, the sky bade farewell to the guests with a spectacular sunset. But the event was not over yet. The DCA gathered in the hotel’s Sky Bar to celebrate 30 years of DCA.
We are delighted that so many of our members were there on this day.