Roxette Voogt - Co-owner of Voogt Maritiem
On this website, women from the maritime sector share their stories. This is the story of Roxette Voogt.
In the maritime sector, people often think in clearly defined roles.
The captain. The technician. The man.
And somewhere alongside them: the woman.
I stood there too.
Seemingly on the sidelines.
As the partner of someone with twenty years of technical experience.
But what wasn’t visible was that I had already spent years leading projects, building structures, and helping businesses grow.
That I wasn’t just contributing ideas. I was helping build them.
In the beginning, I was the quiet force behind his step into entrepreneurship.
Until we came to a realization together that changed everything:
Not him, or me.
But us.
Today, we are building Voogt Maritiem, a company specialized in maintenance, overhauls, and technical services for the inland shipping industry, operating across the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and France.
He brings technical expertise.
I bring strategy, structure, and growth.
Together, we form one whole.
And yet, I still notice how often the story is told differently.
How quickly success is attributed to a single face.
How a woman is still too often seen as “the partner of,” rather than as a co-builder.
But behind every strong company is not a single driving force.
There is a system. A vision. A partnership.
I am not a woman standing beside the story.
I am one of the forces steering its course.
I am not a woman standing beside the story, I am one of the forces steering its course
