BMT announces the retirement of Carlos Maenhout and the appointment of Bruno Storms for BMT in Belgium

The company that he and his wife founded initially in 1991 and subsequently sold to the BMT Group in 2005 is today a firmly established marine survey and consultancy player in the market. It is an integral part of BMT’s survey group. The specialist marine consultancy market in which the BMT Belgium and Netherlands offices operate is considered the most respected market leaders, serving 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 an Honours Degree in Maritime Science from the University of Antwerp. His prosperous consultancy career in Maritime has spanned over four decades. Since 1981 his positions have covered a wide variety of work in a ship repair yard, a classification society and a shipping company.

Since 1990, Maenhout has built extensive experience and a solid track record working as a naval architect and marine surveyor. In 1991, Maenhout founded Techmar International NV in Belgium. Since 1991, the company has grown thanks to Maenhout’s ‘intimate’ consulting approach and expertise, drive, and customer-oriented approach significantly. As a testament to his professional successes, we are proud to say that the Belgium office has delivered over 20,000 assignments for our customers to date under his command.

Our surveys group, with strategically-located offices in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Groningen and Arnhem, form a high-performance consultancy and advisory expert group. We provide industry sector-specialism services in cargo, nautical and technical matters covering a broad range of mainstream and non-mainstream services. Working with over 500+ surveyors in 250+ ports worldwide, we offer 24/7 global support to our 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 provide fully insured marine surveying services to all ship and boat types of all sizes. They are equipped with a mission to deliver a high level of services that benefit our international array of clients, their businesses, and the safety and quality aspects both for today and the future. Maenhout has appointed Bruno Storms as his successor, with immediate effect.  Storms has been with our 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 disappear from the maritime consulting scene completely. He will continue to conduct ad-hoc investigations on behalf of the Belgian Courts. In that legislative capacity, he has frequently been appointed as Court Surveyor by several Belgian Tribunals and 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).