As a bastion of ship production in the under 10,000-dwt-vessel range, the industry in the northern Netherlands continues to demonstrate true global competitiveness in its chosen fields of endeavor. While much of European shipbuilding bewails the intensified onslaught from the Orient, impinging on an ever-greater range of ship types and ever-widening circle of European shipowning communities, the yards and allied firms in the northernmost Dutch provinces are putting down building blocks in new market areas. Key points of the investment-underwritten drive to increase market reach and develop business volume are a push towards larger vessels, up to 20,000-dwt in some cases, and the forging of new relationships with builders in Eastern Europe.