Atlantico Business Development
Welcome to Atlantico Business Development!
Atlantico Business Development provides business development services to high profile private sector customers, focusing on maritime markets on both sides of the Atlantic.
More than seven years ago we started out with a focus on Portuguese speaking countries: Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cabo Verde and Mozambique and later spread our wings to Spain, the UK and the US.
Meanwhile we extended our client base from our hometown Rotterdam well into the Benelux (the so called ARA-region).
We are active in port promotion, ship registration and maritime security, as well as innovative business development in the wider maritime sector.
More concretely Atlantico Business Development serves shipping companies on maritime security and ship registration matters and port and terminal operators on commercial port and terminal development, besides advising and coaching numerous Dutch startups and scaleups.
Atlantico Business Development is a network organization. We operate with a small and dedicated team from our headoffice in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, while maintaining an extensive network of consultants and assistants in our core markets. We are able to upscale our team for a specific project with specific demands at any time.
Dutch startups and scaleups
For six months of export coaching
Free of charge!
Are you a Dutch entrepreneur or do you represent a Dutch SME and are you looking for international expansion? Then sign up for six months of free of charge export coaching by Atlantico Business Development.
Doing business is not easy and doing international business is even harder. The world is huge and there are lots of opportunities out there, as well as a lot of risk and unkown factors.
Setting up an export or international strategy for your young company appears to be a daunting task. Sometimes exports start off by incidental contacts or they thrive out of pure luck, in other cases entrepreneurs find themselves hardpressed for directions and are forced to hesitate at the many crossroads they encounter.
The latter happens a lot more than the former. Never take the success stories of others for granted. That's why you already talk to people to find answers.
So many questions
Maybe we can be of assistance too! You want to export your products or services but are not sure how. You wonder about things like:
- what are the best markets for you,
- how will you organize your exports,
- if you need agents or importers,
- what steps you need to take to get where you want to be,
- what organisations may be able to help you,
- where do you get information on markets and possible partners,
- what are the specific laws and business cultures of the markets you would like to enter,
- how to build contacts and networks in foreign markets,
- what specific skills you may need,
- if your company is organized and staffed for international activities, etc.
You can do this alone or... let's find out all of that together without any cost to your company!
Arnout Nuijt, Managing Director of Atlantico Business Development is among the small and select number of Dutchmen accredited by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Trade for the so called SIB (Starters International Business) program. Under this program Dutch exporters of any sector can purchase expert market knowledge from a commercial consultant by using a socalled "coaching voucher" obtained from RVO (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland). You can read more about this program here.
Arnout has already coached dozens of Dutch entrepreneurs or SME's under the SIB program and has great international experience and many contacts abroad.
Maritime and other sectors
Atlantico Business Development as a business tends to focus more and more on the maritime sector, but we do have substantial experience in other exporting sectors too, like agribusiness, renewables, IT, etc. If you are not active in the maritime sector, but are nevertheless interested in our coaching offer, do not hesitate to contact us anyway. There could still be a match!
What you need
In order to qualify for onbtaning the SIB coaching voucher you need the following:
- your company is registered at the Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands,
- your company is considered a Small or Mediumsized Enterprise according to Dutch standards;
- the company is not older than three years at the time of the application for the coaching, or, if the company is older, your exports in the last year were no more than 25% of total turnover;
- an open mindset.
What you get
What you get is the following:
- three to five two-hour coaching/sparring/brainstorming sessions over a six month period. In case you are on tight schedules these can be planned including lunch (our treat);
- insight in our international business and government network and acccess to our international experience and knowledge;
- a final memo about the steps to be taken by you or your company in order to successfully start your exports. This may include certain key contacts and other crucial market information.
Interested?
If you are interested in our free of charge coaching offer, please contact us through our contact page and we get back to you straight away to see how we can be of assistance to your international ventures.
N E W S
Atlantico Business Development, the independent port promoter and maritime business developer of ARA is proud to announce the second edition of Ship2ARA!
Ship2ARA aims to highlight maritime business opportunities as well as the latest trends and developments in the many and diverse ports of Flanders and the Netherlands. The first edition took place on March 25th 2021 and featured speakers from Rotterdam Short Sea Terminals, Port of Rotterdam, Port of Antwerp, North Sea Port and Kloosterboer. This first edition was sponsored by Port of Antwerp, North Sea Port, Green Award Foundation, Rotterdam Partners, Katoen Natie, Boluda Towage Europe and Rotterdam Short Sea Terminals.
The second edition of Ship2ARA will take place on June 17th, from 15.00-16.30 hrs CET. We are happy to announce Katoen Natie, Verbrugge Terminals and Green Award Foundation as sponsors.
Speakers will include Albert-Jan Ars of Katoen Natie, Dolf van Dijk of Verbrugge Terminals, Dirk Koppenol of SmartPort and Prof. Hercules Haralambides,Maritime Economics & Logistics.
More info to follow here.
Atlantico Business Development, the independent port promoter and maritime business developer of ARA, is proud to announce the first edition of a new online series of events: railcargo4iberia!
The first edition of railcargo4iberia will take place on May 27th 2021 from 15.00-16.30 hrs CET and will focus on the huge opportunities of rail cargo in the Iberian peninsula as well as between Spain and Portugal and the rest of Europe. Among the speakers of railcargo4iberia will be Nuno Araújo, CEO of the Port of Leixões, Philipp Krueger, International Business Development at Iberian rail cargo operator Transfesa Logistics, Diogo Castro, Regional Sales and Logistics Manager at terminal operator Yilport Iberia, Javier Lopez, Head of Commercial Dept. Port of Algeciras, while further speakers will be announced soon!
Besides the above mentioned organisations, railcargo4iberia is also sponsored by the Port of Aveiro. For more information please look here.
Cabo Verde
Shipping Forum
Atlantico Business Development is happy to announce its sixth webinar: the 3rd (online) Cabo Verde Shipping Forum, set to take place on February 25th, from 15.00 - 16.00 hrs CET (Amsterdam Time). The event will be broadcast live from our studio in the Rotterdam port area.
Keynote Speaker will be H.E. Dr Paulo Veiga, Minister for Maritime Economy of the Republic of Cabo Verde, while the other speakers will include Alcídio Lopes, CEO of ENAPOR, Cabo Verde's port authority, Guilherme Gomes, Commercial Manager of shipping company GS Lines as well as Luís Viúla, Director of Business Development of bunkering supplier Enacol and Elisa Zamora, Member of the Board of MedCruise.
Sponsors of the 3rd (online) Cabo Verde Shipping Forum are Antão Shipping, the Grupo Sousa shipping group, shipping line GS Lines, shipping agent PMar, shipping agency Miller y Cía, national port authority ENAPOR, the Port of Lisbon, shipping agency Pérez y Cia. and bunkering supplier Enacol, while the event is supported by MedCruise and the CaboDutch International Business Chamber. More info here.
Ship2iberia 7
On January 28th, from 15.00-16.00 hrs, Atlantico Business Development, the independent port promoter and maritime business developer of Rotterdam, organized another successful event: the seventh (online) edition of Ship2iberia. The webinar was hosted from our studio in Rotterdam. Ship2iberia is the go-to event for maritime business in Spain and Portugal and takes place annually in Rotterdam or Antwerp.
During the seventh (online) edition of Ship2iberia a panel of speakers from various Iberian port authorities and terminal operators discussed the present situation in their respective ports or companies, shared their perspectives on the state of shipping, as well as the measures they have been taking, such as applying innovative technology.
The panel on January 28th consisted of speakers from the Port of Sines, Port of Aveiro, the Port of Algeciras and the Port of Lisbon.
The Port of Sines, the Port of Aveiro, the Port of Algeciras, the Port of Lisbon, Green Award Foundation, Grupo ETE, Navex, ETE Logistixx, Yilport Iberia and Transitex were the sponsors of this edition of Ship2iberia. More info here.
Ship2Brazil 2
The second edition of Ship2Brazil took place on December 3rd 2020 (15.00 hrs CET). We are proud to have hosted the following speakers: Marcelo Werner Salles, CEO of the Port of Itajaí, Luiz Fernando Garcia da Silva, CEO of the Port of Paranaguá and Leonardo Cerquinho, CEO of the Port and Industrial Complex of Suape. Ship2Brazil 2 was sponsored by Rotterdam Partners, Unimar Agênciamentos Marítimas, Portos do Paraná, Green Award Foundation and Logitrade. More info here.
Save the date for our next webinar: Ship2Texas, focusing on the largest ports of the Texas Gulf Coast! Atlantico Business Development, the independent port promoter of Rotterdam, has taken the initiative to promote Texas ports and shipping in an international webinar.
Ship2Texas will run on November 5th, 2020, from 16.00-17.00 hrs CET (09.00 hrs Texas), broadcasting live from the World Trade Center in Rotterdam. During Ship2Texas we will focus on the most important ports on the Texas Gulf Coast: the Port of Corpus Christi and the Greater Houston port area, represented by the leadership of the Port of Corpus Christi, Port Houston and the Greater Houston Port Bureau.
Ship2Texas will be sponsored by Rotterdam Partners, the Green Award Foundation, Onego Shipping & Chartering and the Port of Corpus Christi. More info on Ship2Texas can be found here.