Customers of Damen Schelde Marine Services (DSMS) look forward to it every year: the publication of the new Sulzer calendar with photos depicting the history of these legendary diesel engines. The 2023 edition is a combination of old and new: with photos taken in 1929 and almost seventy years later in 1997. DSMS has been publishing the calendar since 2006 and it has become more popular every year, says MT-member Rémy Quist, who has coordinated the calendar’s production for the past eight years.

“The calendar is a great way to thank our customers for doing business with us over the past year and to show them what a rich history our company has,” says Remy. “The Sulzer is a real legacy among engines and because we built them ourselves, it is nice to show that with the calendar.”

Sulzer is a Swiss company that started producing diesel engines in 1898. In 1921, the company granted a licence to the Royal Schelde Shipyard to build the engines in Vlissingen. The huge engines were built in the Machinefabriek and the calendar shows beautiful images from the production halls.

“The calendar is a great way to thank our customers for doing business with us over the past year and to show them what a rich history our company has.” Rémy Quist

Remy: “Sulzer is synonymous with Swiss quality and the name is still very well known. There is still one ship sailing with a Schelde-built engine: the 1976 Høegh Trigger, the last ship to be launched from the Vlissingen ‘city’ shipyard.”

Every year it is a challenge to choose the photos, because with more than 60,000 Sulzer photos in the Zeeland Archives collection, there is enough choice to keep making the calendar for many years to come.

For the 2023 calendar, 500 large copies and 500 smaller desk calendars were produced. “They were sent all over the world: from South America to the farthest reaches of Asia,” explains Arnold Suykerbuyk, Managing Director of DSMS. “We deliberately print a relatively small number because we do want to keep the calendar special.”

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