About us

The history of Dirigo bv goes back generations. The origin of the current shipping company lies in 1952, when M.A. van Strien satrted working as a self-employed sailor. Followed in 1978 by the establishment of Vof van Strien and son, by M.A. van Strien and J.A.M. Van Strien. When Tonny van Strien joined, this vof was renamed in 1992 to Vof in Van Strien and sons. In 2000, Tonny and his wife Marie-Jozé took the first step towards their own shipping company. The Vof. Van Strien Van Berkel was founded in 2004 and mts Carpe Diem (Latin for ‘seize the day’) was purchased. This also also marks their switch to tankers. 2007 is an important year! Vof. Van Strien Van Berkel is being converted into Dirigo bv. Together with two partners, Dirigo bv purchases mds Excellent, the ship will be sold again in 2008. With pride they start the construction of a new ship, mts Carpe Noctem (Latin for “seize the night”). In 2008 a limited partnership is established with M. Langendam (the first Dutch limited partnership in inland navigation of its kind) to operate mts Rhody, the exploitation of this ship will be continued independently by Dirigo bv in 2011. An existing ship is added to the fleet in 2009; mts Carpe Auroram (Latin for “seize the morning”). In 2014 mts Mart was newly built for Dirigo bv and a few years later, in 2018 mts Tessa followed. In 2020 Dirigo bv and Henri Mulders partner up and purchase newly built mts Nadia. In 2022 we said goodbye to the ship it all started with: mts Carpe Diem was sold to Eastern Europe. At the end of 2022 we purchased the largest ship of our fleet  and named it: mts Carpe Diem.

Tonny van Strien & Marie-Jozé van Berkel