the clipper stad amsterdam story.

The Clipper Stad Amsterdam is a vessel with a story. It all started during the SAIL Amsterdam 1995 event, when five municipal councillors were travelling by barge from the VOC-ship Amsterdam to the mayor’s official residence. “Wouldn’t it be great,” one of them said, “to build another of those great sailing ships from the past, as a symbol of the commercial spirit of the city of Amsterdam?”

During the '90s, the building of ships offered opportunities to school leavers and the unemployed. The chance to work with master craftsmen provided them with a set of skills that would later help them find new positions.

The ship officially launched in 2000. Rita Kok, wife of the serving prime minister Wim Kok, christened the ship and the Clipper was revealed to the public for the first time during the SAIL Amsterdam 2000 event. The press and public were very enthusiastic: at last, the Netherlands had its own historic flagship, sustainably built and having provided working opportunities to many of the country's less fortunate.