J. J. Ooyevaar

J. J. Ooyevaar (civil servant)
Born	14 June 1897
Died	10 December 1978 (Age 81)
Nationality	Dutch
Alma mater	University of Utrecht
Dutch civil servant who was involved in the formation of international shipping politics. Attended Bilderberg/1956.

Jan Johan Ooyevaar (also Oyevaar) was a Dutch civil servant who was involved in the formation of international shipping politics. He attended the 1956 Bilderberg meeting.

Education and early career

Ooyevaar grew up in the environment of the Amsterdam middle class. After school he joined the Stoomvaart Maatschappij 'Nederland' (SMN) in 1912, which sailed on the Dutch East Indies. He began his career at the Amsterdam headquarters and gradually rose in ranks. Subsequently, Ooyevaar held various positions at agencies of the SMN in Southeast Asia.

In order to broaden his possibilities, Ooyevaardecided to study Indology in Utrecht, which ended with a doctoral degree in 1936. That same year, he joined the Economic Information Service of the Department of Economic Affairs.

After the mobilization of 1939, he became deputy director of the bureau for shipping, which was to take care of the overseas supply of goods to the Netherlands in wartime. During the WW2 German occupation, the possibilities for shipping to and from the Netherlands, and thus also the activities of the bureau, were increasingly limited. Ooyevaar's work gradually became more focused on domestic transport.

Post-war career

In 1947 "At the Department of shipping, the director-general, Mr. J. J. Ooyevaar [in black suit], presented awards on behalf of H. M. The Queen to relatives of members of the Dutch merchant fleet."

In retrospect, his pre-war career was only the prelude to the important role that Ooyevaar would play after 1945. He became director-general at the Ministry of Transport and Water Management in 1946. His main task was the restoration of the Dutch merchant marine, which had been halved in the war. Under his leadership, a scheme for compensation for lost ships was worked out with the Shipowners, and over forty ships were purchased in the United States in the period 1946/1947. Thanks to this vigorous action, the merchant navy returned to its pre-war size, faster than expected, in 1949.

Ooyevaar was also closely involved in the formation of international shipping politics. Ooyevaar chaired some international conferences, including the one at which the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organisation (IMCO) was founded (1948). In addition, he chaired the Maritime Transport Committee (MTC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

He was part of the 1948 delegation discussing an economic union with Belgium.

In 1952, Ooyevaar joined the Board of Directors of Phs. van Ommeren NV, a company engaged in maritime shipping and related activities. Ooyevaar also had several side activities, especially in the sphere of shipping and trade relations. Among other things, he remained chairman of the MTC until 1965, was a board member of the Dutch Shipowners' Association and the central body for economic relations with foreign countries, sat in informal clubs of politicians, civil servants and entrepreneurs, and had commissariats, including at OGEM and Wilton-Feyenoord.

 

Event Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Bilderberg/1956	11 May 1956	13 May 1956	Denmark Fredensborg	The 4th Bilderberg meeting, with 147 guests, in contrast to the generally smaller meetings of the 1950s. Has two Bilderberg meetings in the years before and after

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.