We are both proud and sad to announce that effective as of 1 July, Carlos Maenhout is retiring from his position as Founder and Managing Director of BMT Belgium. The company that he and his wife originally founded in 1991, and which was subsequently sold to the BMT Group in 2005, is today a firmly established marine survey and consultancy player in the market and is an integral part of BMT’s Survey group. In the specialist marine consultancy market in which the BMT Belgium and The Netherlands offices operate in, they are by far considered to be the most respected market leaders serving in marine, offshore, recreational and legal sectors.
Carlos Maenhout qualified with a Master of Science in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of Ghent, and with an Honours Degree in Maritime Science from the University of Antwerp. His rich consultancy career in maritime has spanned over four decades, and since 1981 his positions have covered a wide variety of work in ship repair yards, a classification society and a shipping company. Since 1990, Maenhout has built extensive experience and a solid track record working as both a naval architect and marine surveyor. In 1991, Maenhout founded Techmar International NV in Belgium. Since 1991, the company has grown significantly thanks to Maenhout’s ‘intimate’ consulting approach and expertise, his drive and customer-oriented approach. As testament to his professional successes, we are proud to say that under his command the Belgium office has delivered over 20,000 assignments for our customers to date.
The BMT Surveys group, with strategically-located offices in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Groningen and Arnhem, form a high-performance consultancy and advisory expert group. It provides industry sector-specialism services in cargo, nautical and technical matters that cover a broad range of mainstream and non-mainstream services. Working with over 500+ surveyors in 250+ ports worldwide, the group offers 24/7 global support to cross-jurisdictional customers and industrial partners.
Ahead of Maenhout’s retirement, and as part of BMT’s global efforts to ensure the continuation of excellent business services being delivered by its offices in Belgium, four experienced consultants have been hired over the past three years. In their capacity as surveyors and consultants, they are providing fully insured marine surveying services to all ship and boat types of all sizes, and are equipped with a mission to deliver a high level of services which serve to benefit an international array of clients, their businesses and safety and quality aspects both for today and for the future. Maenhout has appointed Bruno Storms as his successor, as of immediate effect. Storms has been with the organisation for almost 20 years, and is a trusted individual that Maenhout has every confidence to assume the role of Director and an aspiring leader.
With Maenhout phasing into retirement, he will not be expected to completely disappear from the maritime consulting scene. He will continue to conduct ad-hoc investigations on behalf of the Belgian Courts. In that legislative capacity, he has frequently been appointed as a court surveyor by several Belgian Tribunals as well as by the French Tribunal at Caen, and by the Dutch Tribunal at ‘s-Hertogenbosch. In addition, he has received several arbitrator expert appointments regarding ship design, ship stability and newbuilding quality by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Arbitral Tribunals of Brussels, Paris, and Luxemburg, and by the Netherlands Arbitration Institute (NAI).
The BMT executive committee and employees would like to thank Carlos Maenhout for his tremendous hard work and commitment to customers, partners and staff. After his many years of service and leadership to BMT, we wish him all the best with his retirement and devotion to post-retirement activities as well.
Source: BMT Group