About OOW
Our team
Officers On Watch has brought a wide scope of expertise together in one team.
At the center of our company is a deeply embedded curiosity and interest for the maritime and military sector.
The goal of OOW is to facilitate the maritime domain awareness industry by giving them advice all the way from policy and regulatory aspects up to use cases based on our own practical experience. We keep an eye on the quality and give direction to what the market needs today and in the future.
Our five team members are introduced below:
Rodrigue Bijlsma
Managing Partner
VTS, Port and Risk Management
He has mulitple experiences as a project manager and is a seasoned VTS (Vessel Traffic Service) supervisor and instructor with a wealth of experience in the dynamic realm of port operations. Over the years, he has honed his expertise in overseeing and optimizing the flow of maritime traffic to ensure the safety and efficiency of the waterways within the Ports of Antwerp Bruges, Duqm and Cotonou.
In addition to his role as a VTS supervisor, he has excelled as a project manager specializing in maritime systems. His portfolio includes the management of critical components such as radars, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), VHF (Very High Frequency) communication systems, CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television), and intricate networks. His hands-on experience and meticulous approach has allowed him to successfully deliver projects that enhance the technological infrastructure vital for maritime safety and security.
Capt. Naomi Vanderstockt
Managing Partner
Risk Management, Safety, Cruise and Luxury Industries
Naomi is a Master Mariner with extensive sailing experience onboard within a broad spectrum of the industry: LNG (Exmar), dredging (Jan de Nul), tugs (URS), and passenger vessels ranging from the largest cruise vessels (RCCL), to the unique and private residential yacht (The World), to the very first ship of the new luxury cruise line Explora Journeys.
Her seagoing career has always been thread tightly together with a deep dive into the entrepreneurial world of upcoming innovative maritime companies. “I strongly believe in the importance of the involvement of those with operational experience in the creation of the future of their industry; be it in the field of research, product development, technological advances, or the improvement and implementation of regulations and standards,” she adamantly points out.
She speaks 8 languages, and is fluent in 5, and has a vast experience in safety trainings, safety organization (muster list assignment and all aspects involved), safety maintenance onboard, nautical operations, vessel new-builds, and involvement on an executive level in the development of cutting-edge maritime technology involving sensor-fusion and AI.
On a more personal level, her deep connection to the sea can be traced back to her early teen years, when she sailed around the world for over a year on a 44-foot catamaran. “My youth in general in which I moved to a different country or continent every few years, made the vast multicultural world we live in my home,” she says and pauses. “It most probably contributed greatly to the value I put on connection –in all its facets- and the belief that there is so much knowledge hiding in plain sight, just waiting to be connected to the solutions we seek.”
Ir. Constantijn Martens
ir. Constantijn Martens, an academic researcher and project engineer with a master in Civil Engineering. He was one of the inventors that won the INEOS Challenge with Officers on Watch. The challenge was about inventing an collision avoidance system for a chemical jetty on the River Scheldt (Antwerp). Moreover, he also won a design challenge with his team’s pre-design of an offshore floating solar plant in the Belgian part of the North Sea.
"It is beacon that demonstrates that we are capable of bringing a team together for winning complex challenges."