Vierverlaten sugar factory

The Vierverlaten sugar factory is one of the two remaining beet sugar factories of the Netherlands. It is located in the hamlet Vierverlaten near Hoogkerk, in the municipality and province of Groningen, Netherlands. It mainly processes sugar beet to produce white sugar. The factory used to be part of the independent company Noord-Nederlandsche Beetwortelsuikerfabriek. Later it became part of the Centrale Suiker Maatschappij (CSM), and it is now part of the cooperative Cosun Beet Company.

Vierverlaten sugar factory
The sugar factor in 2012
Built	1896
Operated	Since 1897
Location	Hoogkerk
Coordinates	53°12′51″N 6°29′50″E
Industry	Sugar industry
Owner(s)	Cosun Beet Company

Vierverlaten sugar factory was built at its current location for several reasons. First of all, the northern part of the Netherlands did not have a beet sugar factory in the late 1890s. When it came to choosing a location, railways and waterways were decisive. The way that sugar beet were transported to the factory is interesting, because the whole mix of maritime, rail and road transport was used. The factory actually still receives a significant part of its resources by motor barge.

Context

In the second half of the nineteenth century the Dutch beet sugar industry began to develop. In time, it began to process sugar beet from Frisia. These beet had to be transported by boat or rail. The transport cost offered an obvious opportunity to establish a local sugar factory that could acquire the beet at a lower price.^[1]

In the early 1890s, the Frisian Society for Agriculture (Friesche Genootschap van Landbouw) appointed a committee to investigate the possibilities for founding a Cooperative beet sugar factory. The committee concluded that such a factory would be very advantageous for Frisian agriculture, but it also concluded that there were not enough farmers who were willing to invest.^[1]

A similar initiative for a cooperatieve sugar factory was started by the Groningen and Westerkwartier industrial societies. These performed several experiments that showed that the soil in Groningen was very suitable to sugar beet cultivation. However, even a plan to found a bank to finance the shares of the potential owners did not convince local farmers.^[2]

Some industrialists then took up the plan and founded the company Noord-Nederlandse Beetwortelsuikerfabriek in 1896.^[3]

Foundation

The company

Reitze Bloembergen

The company Noord-Nederlandse Beetwortelsuikerfabriek was founded as a public company with a share capital of 1,000,000 guilders divided in 1,000 shares of 1,000 guilders each. A hundred shares would not be issued initially. The founders took 320 shares, the rest was offered to the public. The influence of the Brabant sugar manufacturerers was visible in where the public could subscribe to these shares. This was in Amsterdam, The Hague, Groningen, Friesland, and in the small Brabant towns of Roosendaal and Bergen op Zoom. Bergen op Zoom housed one of Paul Wittouck's factories. Roosendaal had two sugar factories.^[3]

The director of the company would be A. Springer, or L. de Ram.^[4] The supervisory board consisted of a selection of the Friesland and Groningen elite led by the very wealthy Jan Evert Scholten. Other members of the supervisory board were: R. Bloembergen Ezn., F.E. Botma, J.L. Hilarides, Mr. D. van Houten, Ern. Laane, Lanmbert de Ram, F. de Ram, G. Reinders, Mr. W.J. van Welderen Baron Rengers. J.K. Rienks, D.K. Welt,^[5] G. Zylma.^[3] Laane was a banker in Roosendaal, the De Rams were sugar manufacturers from the south. Later on, Bloembergen was said to have been instrumental in founding the company together with his friend Scholten.^[6] In September 1896 O. Borchert became director.^[4] The other leaders were: Secretary R. Bloembergen Ezn; A. van Rossum, and President-Commissaris J.E. Scholten.^[2]

While this company was owned by the shareholders, it was planned to operate on a participation system. During the campaign, the farmers would get advance payments based on the actual sugar price. Of the final profit, 45% would then be divided over the supplying farmers.^[2] The participation system would become very popular. However, initially many farmers opted to simply sell their beet for a somewhat higher price instead of participating in possible profits.

The terrain

Pl. IX, the pulp transporter in action along the Hoendiep

A terrain for the new sugar factory was found at Vierverlaten, a small hamlet just west of Hoogkerk, which was in turn about 5 km west of Groningen. Vierverlaten was named for a lock in the Hoendiep, a canal which connected Vierverlaten to Groningen and Leeuwarden. The Aduarderdiep connected Vierverlaten to the north of Groningen and north-east Friesland. The Peizerdiep was also navigable, but was primarily important because it supplied clean water from the sandy grounds of Drenthe. Vierverlaten was on the Harlingen–Nieuweschans railway. This was important for the supply of coal.^[7]

The terrain was shaped like a triangle, of which one long side bordered the Hoendiep, see plate IX. Here boats could moor over a length of 500 m. All along the Hoendiep, channels had been dug. After offloading, the beet could be shoved into these channels and then flushed towards the factory. There was also an automated beet pulp transporter that efficiently loaded beet pulp back into the boats.^[7] All along the quay, the Hoendiep was made six meters wider.^[8]

The short side of the triangle was partly taken by a specially constructed port of 80 by 25 m. This allowed more controlled on- and offloading and was near the main factory building. The other long side of the terrain bordered the railroad. A private branch allowed railroad goods to be cheaply delivered to the exact spot where they were needed.^[7]

The factory

Floor plan of the factory

Pl. X, the diffusers c. 1898

Pl. XI, the two quadruple effect evaporators, c. 1898

The factory was built by Braunschweigische Maschinenbauanstalt.^[9] It required no less than 2,500 piles to get a solid foundation for the factory. Work started in September 1896 and aided by electric light, it continued during the nigtht. On 1 October 1897 the factory became operational. The total cost to found the sugar factory with its terrains, railroads, and harbor came to 1,200,000 guilders.^[10][4]

The sugar factory had been sized to find an optimum between economies of scale and what could realistically be produced and sold. This resulted in a projected processing capacity of 1,000t of beet per day. The main building was 130 m long 22 m wide and 23 m high, which allowed plenty of space between the machines.^[10]

The sugar beet were flushed to the factory through channels, which removed part of the attached soil. The machine that washed the beet was on the western side of the factory. After the beet were inserted and washed, the dirty water was moved to settling basins where the pollutants settled down .^[10]

The beet where then moved up to the highest point in the factory. Here they were weighed and thrown into three slicing machines.^[10] From the slicing machines, the slices called cossettes went to the diffusion battery of 28 boilers of 6,500 liters capacity each. The dried out cossettes were removed from the boilers from the bottom. From there, they were transported to 14 pulp presses, which were one level above the washing station. The beet pulp was then transported to the boats by the 64 m long beet pulp transporter, see photo Pl. IX.^[11]

From the diffusion boilers, the juices were pumped to the station for dry separation. From there the juice went to the five big boilers for the first saturation which used carbon dioxide. The juice was then moved to eight presses. These steps were repeated in the second saturation. In a third saturation, sulfurous acid was used next to carbon dioxide.^[11] Plate X shows the slicing machines, scales, and diffusers on the right. On the left are the saturation pans and the filter presses placed higher up.

The factory had two quadruple-effect evaporators, see plate XI. With 2,200 m² of heated surface, these turned the thin juice into thick juice.^[11]

The third main part of the factory was called the sugar house (suikerhuis). The thick juice was pumped up through the filter tower till it reached the pans of the fourth saturation. Here it was again treated with carbon dioxide and sulfurous acid. About three meters below these were the wellblech filters. Below these were three big vacuum boilers according to the Greiner system. This resulted in sugar crystals.^[12]

One floor lower, there were six open maischen. One floor further below, the sugar crystals entered the centrifuges. These were of the largest kind, with a diamter of 1,000 mm. The centrifuges were unloaded from below. An elevator then brought the sugar to the highest floors, which were used for storage. From there, loading towards rail or barges was easy. The syrup left in the centrifuges was processed in a lot of iron boxes, were it could crystallize further.^[12]

The factory was powered by 13 Cornwall boilers, each with a heated surface of 100 m² and a pressure of 7 atm. These provided the steam that put everyhing in motion. Two 45 m high chimneys with an opening of 2.5 m at the top, were required for the exhaust. A large dynamo provided electricity during darkness, a smaller one sufficed in daylight. Two ovens provided the lime needed for the process, as well as the carbon dioxide for the saturation.^[12]

History as Noord-Nederlandsche Beetwortelsuikerfabriek

The company that had been founded was called Noord-Nederlandsche Beetwortelsuikerfabriek. The first campaign started on 1 October 1897 and was finished before the end of November. It was a kind of test campaign, which of course met with a lot of difficulties caused by a lack of experience. This had been foreseen, and so the factory had not contracted for much beet.^[12] During the first campaign, 30,000t of beet were processed. About two-thirds came from Friesland, one-third from Groningen. The beet were brought in small boats of 10-15 lasts, so 20-30t. Freight costs were 37,000 guilders. Labor cost for unloading, weighing and general labor were 36,000 guilders.^[13]

The sugar market was and still is highly cyclical. This was reflected in the profits and dividends of the Noord-Nederlandsche. From 1897/8 to 1912/3, dividends were: 2.5%, 4.5, 5.5, 7, 4.5, 4.5, 3, 6, 10, 7, 6, 10, 10, 15, 15, and 10%.^[14][15] The management of the company was rather stable. In June 1899, J.J. Reese replaced O. Borcherdt as director. In 1907, W.M. Gunning became director, and in September 1918 J.J. Granpré Molière was appointed.^[4]

After the factory had been built, many improvements were made over the years. In 1901, a large laboratory was built. In 1907 a barracks with 200 beds and facilities for temporary laborers was built. In 1913 a facility for drying beet pulp was constructed. In 1921, the boiler house was rebuilt. In 1912, another 380 m long harbor was dug along the railroad, but it still did not give enough space for the barges to unload. ^[8]

By the early 1920s, the terrains allowed for storage of 20,000t of beet, 14,000t of coal, 7,000t of lime, etc. The unloading capacity at the factory was critical. At first, unloading was done by hand, but in time electrical and steam-powered cranes became operational. By the early 1920s, 2,700t of beet could be unloaded per day in the most favorable circumstances.^[8] In the 1921/22 campaign almost 140,000t of beet were processed.^[16]

The factory had a negative impact on the environment. In October 1906, pollution killed probably all the fish in the Aduarderdiep. As the suffocating fish surfaced, most of it was caught by the local population.^[17] After repeated incidents, the municipality of Hoogkerk revised the permit for the factory. In the initial permit, it had stipulated that there would be four settling basins where the waste would settle down at the bottom. In May 1908, the municipality changed these conditions, as they were obviously insufficient. W.M. Gunning, the recently appointed chief executive of the factory appealed this decision at the Council of State.^[18]

The dividends paid in the early 1910s (see above) show that it was very logical for the company to invest in increasing production. In 1911/2 and 1912/3, capacity reached 1,400t a day.^[16] In 1913, work started to increase the daily capacity of the factory to 2,500t of beet per day.^[19]

Part of Wester Suikerraffinaderij

In early May 1918, it became known that the Amsterdam Sugar Refinery Wester Suikerraffinaderij had acquired a majority of the shares in the Noord-Nederlandsche Beetwortelsuikerfabriek. This meant that the company Noord-Nederlandsche Beetwortelsuikerfabriek became a daughter company of the Wester Suikerraffinaderij.^[20] Later on, it became clear that Wester had not succeeded in acquiring all the shares.

The shares had been bought at a price of 265% of the nominal value, i.e. 2,650 guilders per share. A competing offer of 290% by the Friesch Groningsche Coöperatieve Beetwortelsuikerfabriek had not been accepted. The Wester offered guarantees for the factory, employees, and management. The Friesch Groningsche offered guarantees for the employees and compensation for the management.^[20]

Starting in 1915, the Wester Suikerraffinaderij had acquired many sugar factories. The idea was to direct their production of raw sugar to its refinery in Amsterdam. This also made sense, because many big cooperative sugar factories had recently been created. Some of these were starting to produce their own refined sugar.^[21] In fact, the Friesch Groningsche had also planned to use the Vierverlaten factory only to supply raw sugar to its factory and refinery.^[22]

The concentration of the ownership of factories of course strengthened the position of the manufacturers in negotiations with farmers. Another advantage for the manufacturers was that it allowed them to limit production and to close down factories. In 1918, the sugar factory in Lemelerveld was closed. The beet destined for this factory would be processed in Vierverlaten.^[23] Its machinery was also moved to Vierverlaten.

Part of Centrale Suiker Maatschappij (CSM)

Daughter company

In October 1919 the Centrale Suiker Maatschappij (CSM) was founded by: NV Wester Suikerraffinaderij, NV Hollandia Hollandsche Fabriek van Melkproducten en Voedingsmiddelen, and Firma Van Loon en Co. In this new company, Wester Suikerraffinaderij got 6,600 shares, Hollandia 4,200, and Van Loon 1,200.^[24]

After Noord-Nederlandsche Beetwortelsuikerfabriek had become part of CSM, the shares were still occasionally traded. This took place in 1925, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1935, and 1938. Prices were much lower than the 265% at which Wester had acquired the majority. In 1939, shareholders were offered to trade their shares for three shares CSM of a total nominal value of 900 guilders. This resulted in CSM getting practically all the shares of the Noord-Nederlandsche.^[25]

Operations up to 1945

CSM was one of the biggest companies of the Netherlands. In the north, it decided to cooperate with the Friesch Groningsche Coöperatieve Beetwortelsuikerfabriek. This culminated in the foundation of the Beetwortelsuikerfabriek Frisia in Franeker. This was a public company with 40 shares of 100,000 guilders each. The Friesch Groningsch got 20 shares, CSM 19, and CSM's daughter NV Noord-Nederlandsche Beetwortelsuikerfabriek 1 share.^[26]

Some profit, loss and dividend numbers ^[25]

Year	Result	Dividend	Year	Result	Dividend
1909/10	301,112	10%	1931/32	1,464	0
1914/15	340,016	12%	1932/33	170,495	0
1919/20	1,207,237	5%	1933/34	134,894	0
1924/25	491,829	5%	1934/35	35,858	0
1925/26	320,539	5%	1935/36	42,876	0
1926/27	344,050	5%	1936/37	72,853	0
1927/28	236,217	5%	1937/38	91,665	0
1928/29	131,496	5%	1938/39	58,525	0
1929/30	-363,240	0	1939/40	239,581	7%
1930/31	-961,833	0	1940/41	219,569	6%

There were two major crisis for the factory during the interwar period. The first was related to a sudden sharp drop in the sugar price. This dropped from 40.10 guilders in 1919 to 17.30 guilders in 1921. As a result, the amount of cultivated beet dropped sharply in the next season. From the 1921/22 campaign to the 1922/23 campaign, the amount of processed beet dropped from 139,900t to 64,600t. At the Friesch Groningsche, a similar drop in production from 260,083t to 117,438t occurred. Meanwhile, 66,298t of production went to the new Frisia factory.^[27]

The second crisis for the Noord-Nederlandsche was the Great Depression that started in 1929. The 1929/30 campaign saw a loss of 369,893 guilders. This was high, but manageable. The loss over 1930/31 was catastrophic. In one campaign, very low prices caused that a third of the value of the company was lost.^[28]

CSM got similar results, but was also entangled in foreign investments in Belgium, the United Kingdom and Romania. The result was that CSM also had to reorganize financially. In 1935 it wrote off 60% of its shares, meaning that the nominal value of each 1,000 guilder share was reduced to 300 guilders, and 100 guilders were paid back to the shareholder. That same year, it resumed paying dividend, but this was over the recapitalized stock.^[29]

Being a daughter company of CSM was not without risk. On 31 May 1932, other companies owed the Noord-Nederlandsche 298,719 guilders.^[30] By May 1939, the numbers on the balance sheet of the Noord-Nederlandsche Beetwortelsuikerfabriek were healthy. However, it was owed over one and a half million guilders by CSM, which was a big risk.^[31]

A third problem was that for many farmers on the Clay grounds, it became more profitable to switch to cultivating seed potatoes. This severely limited the amount of beet that were grown, especially in Frisia. New areas to profitably cultivate sugar beet were found on the former peat grounds.^[32]

Post World War II

The tower diffusers and silos at Vierverlaten c. 1965

The reduced cultivation of sugar beet on the clay grounds continued after World War II. This was compensated by new cultivation on the former peat grounds. At some time, the factory acquired the capability to refine raw sugar. In June 1951 the Danish MV Uraniënborg called at Delfzijl with 6,000t of Cuban raw sugar from sugarcane.^[33]

Starting in the 1960s, the West-European beet sugar production became regulated by the Common Market Organization for Sugar, which existed from 1968 to 2017. The CMO for beet sugar supported the European sugar production, but it also led to overproduction. Production numbers of Vierverlaten sugar factory give an idea about the development and concentration of the sugar market after World War II.

Processed beet ^[25]

Year	Processed
1950/51	205,334t[34]
1954/55	295,830t[35]
1960/61	503,400t[36]
1964/65	450,000t[37]
1970/71	580,000t[38]
1975/76	770,000t [39]
1980/81	894,000t[40]
1990/91	1,600,000t[41]

During this period, the future of the Vierverlaten factory depended on transport costs for its location, on where CSM had invested earlier, and on its location relative to other factories. In the late 1960s, CSM closed its Amsterdam refinery and its factory in Sas van Gent, which was close to its factories in Breda and Steenbergen. In the 1970s, Oud Beijerland and Steenbergen were closed. After that, it had only its Breda sugar factory, Halfweg sugar factory and Vierverlaten sugar factory.

That the Vierverlaten sugar factory would survive, can be deduced from the investments at the site. In 1961, Vierverlaten got an innovative tower diffuser made by Buckau-Wolf in Grevenbroich. This implemented a continuous diffusion process for 2,600t of the factory's daily production.^[42] In 1964, a second tower-diffuser was taken into use, meaning that only 15% of the beet was still diffused by the old diffuser batteries.^[43]

In 1965, two massive concrete sugar silos were completed. Each had a diameter of 32 m and a height of 46 m. The silos could hold 20,000t each.^[44] The silos were necessary for two reasons. The first was the closure of the Sugar refinery of the Wester Suikerraffinaderij in Amsterdam, which meant that consumer products had to be made by the sugar factories instead of by the Amsterdam refinery. The other was the switch to 1 kg consumer packaging instead of delivering big sacks of sugar to retailers. During his speech that put the silos into production, the company's director said that it was: 'highly questionable that sugar caused obesity and tooth decay'.^[45] In 1976, a third storage silo of the same height, but with a diameter of 40 m was completed. With a capacity of 40,000t, the new silo doubled storage capacity.^[46]

In 2005, the European union decided on a drastic reform of the Common Market Organization for Sugar. Subsidies would be diminished, quotas lowered and sugar from sugarcane would be given more access on the European market. In January 2005 CSM then closed down its factory in Breda making that Vierverlaten became its only factory.^[47]

Part of Cosun

In 2006 CSM sold its sugar division and with it Vierverlaten factory, to its only Dutch competitor, Cosun Beet Company. The move was inspired by the European Union's restructuring of the sugar market, which included subsidies for closing down factories.^[48] Only a year later, the European Union made further cuts in the Common Market Organization for Sugar. Cosun then closed down its own Friesch-Groningensche, and kept the newly acquired Vierverlaten factory.^[49]

Apparently, Cosun was successful in the new market order. In 2015 it expanded the factory, so it could profit from the final cancelling of the European sugar quotas.^[50]

Transport

Freight cars at the factory

The Sugar Factory Vierverlaten is interesting for how the sugar beet were and are transported to the factory. As said above, it could be reached by water and by rail. It is currently one of the few sugar factories that still receives part of its beet over water.

By rail

When the factory was founded, it was already possible to supply the sugar factory by rail. However, in general, transport over water was cheaper. An obvious reason for this was that the waterways were much more finegrained than the railways. In most of the area served by the factory, it was possible to harvest beets, put them on carts, and load them onto a vessel. In most of the area, the railways were so far away from the fields, that using the railways would require a third tranloading step to get the beet on a freight car.

An early frost in December 1921 showed that the limitations of the railways were not only a matter of cost. When all water transport had been blocked by ice, the Vierverlaten factory tried to keep the factory going by bringing in sugar beet by rail.^[51] However, at the time, rail transport simply did not have enough capacity to feed the factories in Vierverlaten and Groningen. The latter then halted its campaign on 6 December.^[52]

Rail transport steadily diminished. By 1960, only 2% of the beet for Vierverlaten were brought in by rail.^[53] Cosun was also the owner of the neighboring Friesch-Groningsche sugar factory in Groningen.

By barge

Tiny harbor of Stitswerd

The December 1921 news about the Friesch Groningsche halting its campaign noted that 400 beet skippers, 100 beet weighers, and 200 bietenvletters would be out of a job too early.^[51] The skippers were professional inland or nearland sailors who commanded a barge. This was a freight vessel for inland navigation. It typically had a single mast (sometimes two) and later on an engine. In Dutch this was colloquially called a schip, but if one wanted to be exact, it was called a binnenschip, or (sailing) barge.

The barge skippers sailed a network of waterways that was much more fine-grained than the current one. E.g. it was only in 1970 that the small harbor of Minnertsga saw its last use for shipping beet.^[54] Today, Minnertsga is not even located on an official canal.

Meanwhile, the main Dutch inland waterways were continuously made deeper and wider. In the late 1930s a project was started to canalize the Aduarderdiep between Vierverlaten and the Van Starkenborgh Canal. This plan to make the Aduarderdiep usable for (motorized) barges of up to 1,000t was only completed by about 1956.^[55]

After the Puttershoek sugar factory was closed down in 2004, Vierverlaten became the only sugar factory in the Netherlands that still received a small part of its beet by barge. These are the beet from the island of Texel that are shipped from Oudeschild and unloaded directly onto the factory grounds.^[56] Limestone is also still transported to the factory by barge.^[57] Later on, Dinteloord sugar factory started to get sugar beet from South Limburg by barge.

By dumb barge (Bietenvletters)

A praam with beet in 1945

The bietenvletters provided water transport over very small waters. A vlet is a small boat with a shallow draught, but here: 'vletter' comes from a verb which means: 'to transport over a short distance'. These bietenvletters were not professional sailors, but simple laborers who rented a boat to transport beet. This was generally called a Pram, which was something like a dumb barge, i.e. a barge without its own means of propulsion. The pram allowed transport over water along canals that were too small for the barges that covered longer distances.

In the 1930s, a Mr. Zwerver worked at a brick factory, but this was seasonal work. In the off-season, he was a bietenvletter. During the sugar campaigns, he rented a praam at café Bulthuis in Eenrum. This particular praam had no sail, but did have cabins where the family lived during the campaign. After loading beet, Mr. Zwerver personally towed this praam from locations north of Warffum to Onderdendam while his wife was at the tiller. From Onderdendam, a steam tugboat would then pull 5-10 of these vessels to Groningen. As most of these Bietenvletters were out of a job after the campaign, they were always in a hurry so they could do one more freight before the campaign closed.^[58]

By road

By October 1947 the vast majority of sugar beet for the factory was still transported over water. A small part of the beet was transported by the railways, and the part transported by road was negilible.^[59] In 1956, the amount of beet brought to Vierverlaten by lorry for the first time surpassed the amount brought in by maritime transport.^[60] By 1960, this amount had grown to 60%.^[53] By the early 1970s, over 80% of beet were brought in by lorry. In 1972, the unloading process for lorries was made more efficient by using a bridge that tilted the lorries to 42 degrees. This made that their load simply fell out onto the factory grounds, giving a very short turnaround time.^[61]

By 2004, road transport had triumphed. In that year, practically all of the 4,500,000t of beet that the two remaining Dutch sugar factories processed was transported by road.^[56] However, this is now perceived as a problem, because the huge number of lorries involved causes congestion and impacts the environment.