About us

Back in time ...

The existence of the company name Cascade actually 'arises' in 1980 when the parents of David van de Runstraat - the current owner of the shipping company - bought their first cargo ship, which was renamed 'Cascade'. In the same year, David was born and travelled with his parents through the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany until his sixth year. One of the main areas of work at that time was the gravel holes of Midden - Limburg. With the cargo ship they have transported hundreds of thousands of kilos of sand and gravel to Belgium. The cargo hold of the cargo ship was like a huge sandbox for David, where he played for hours with the sand from the Limburg gravel lakes. Still ignorant, that these gravel lakes would later become his work field, where he would earn the daily expenses.

In 1986, David had to go to elementary school and had to go to the shippers' boarding school in Maasbracht. In this village he attended primary school and then started at the VWO (pre-university education) at the College in nearby Echt. In 1998 he left the College and at the same time the boarding school with the VWO diploma in his pocket. He then briefly followed a course in Shipbuilding at Delft University of Technology. Soon the urge came to move back to Limburg and then started from Maasbracht with a study in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at Eindhoven University of Technology.

As a small child, David dreamed of running his own catering business once. By following a technical study, the future in the hospitality industry seemed to be definitely off the mark, but when he returned to Maasbracht after his short study in Delft, he decided to look for a job in the neighbourhood. He worked diligently and passionately in various cafeterias and restaurants in the region and later also larger events, such as Pinkpop or catered during football matches on behalf of a catering company.

The start of the shipping company

In 2000 David's parents sold their then inland vessel and decided to permanently 'go ashore' in Maasbracht. In the meantime Father looked forward to another challenge, in which at the end of 2001 his eye fell on a tour boat, which was offered for sale by Cees van Stiphout, the former owner of Rederij Stiphout from Maastricht. In the meantime the dream of a 'private catering company' came to David again. After some market research together with Cees van Stiphout, the Southern Maasplassen seemed to be ready for a serious cruise company. In July 2002, Rederij Cascade was a fact and father and son from Wessem started with the exploitation during the Sand Sculpture Festival in Thorn.

The shipping company had a flying start and soon there was a need for additional capacity, because the ship 'Cascade' could no longer meet the requests. Both the tourist tours and the parties on the water grew considerably and it was inevitable that an extra ship was put into service in 2005. From that moment David's partner Bianca also worked in the company. The 'Stadt Wessem' was used, so that touristic tours and events on the water could be organized simultaneously. From 2009 onwards, the growth levelled off, largely as a result of the credit crisis, but nonetheless 'Cascade' managed to hold its own, especially where many other catering companies were forced to end their business due to a sharp drop in turnover or not being able to realize of necessary investments with regard to legislation and regulations.

Shipping company Cascade 2.0

In 2013, David and his father concluded that it would be better if David would continue independently with the shipping company. David, after all, had plenty of ideas to innovate and invest with the aim of moving on to a larger shipping company. In September 2013, David became 100% owner of Rederij Cascade and together with his partner Bianca he started executing the spearheads from the business plan that formed the basis for the acquisition. Bianca went to work with the financial administration and personnel affairs, while David took care of the planning and organization and was also responsible for the strategy. The plans from the business plan proved to be a real success, because plans could be made for the large restyle project of the ship 'Stadt Wessem', which was realized at the beginning of 2015.

In the meantime all business processes were automated, including going through and managing reservations and assignments. This was necessary to be able to manage the ever-growing team efficiently and to be able to give them more and more responsibility during the execution of the boat trips and events. Shortly after the restyle of the 'Stadt Wessem' the chance passed to move the ships permanently to the Cruise Terminal Maasbracht, 'in the middle of' the harbour boulevard of Maasbracht. This location would offer even more exposure, so that there were again opportunities for further growth. That opportunity was also turned into cash: in 2016, Bianca and David, together with their enthusiastic crew, managed to achieve substantial growth in turnover, so that plans are being made for new investments and extensions of existing operations.

In addition, Bianca and David are also proud parents of their eight-year-old son Lucas and the young sprout Julian, who was born in October 2016. Lucas has been aiming for a future as a roller coaster and amusement park owner since the age of four, which makes traveling from theme parks one of our hobbies, as well as traveling to the sunny parts of the world. Preferably every winter, just to relax, recharge the batteries and get inspiration for our Middle Limburg business.