Geen trader, wel berger

Wednesday, 30 July 2025
On 30 June of this year, IM recovery operator Jan van de Graaf in Rotterdam was taken over by Bergings Combinatie Utrecht ("BCU"). BCU is an IM recovery operator active in the province of Utrecht and a few adjacent areas. Moreover, the company is the sole shareholder in Vreugdenhil Berging, responsible for recovery operations on the majority of the primary road network in and around The Hague. The day-to-day management of Van de Graaf is in the hands of Elvis Remmerswaal. He will be supported in that position for another three months by Richard Doorneveld, former managing director of Van de Graaf.

Richard Doorneveld and Eugenie Pique

Richard Doorneveld began his career in 1992 as a temporary worker in the post room of Richco, the trading house of American master trader Marc Rich. He quickly gained a permanent contract and was transferred to the transport department. His path to a position as a trader had apparently been blocked due to a lack of language skills. His parents, meanwhile, had been successful in the first tender procedure for recovery operations, in 1999, in the busy ZH163 district. They urgently needed to expand the team, so Richard decided to go and work for the recovery company.

Jan van de Graaf, his stepfather and founder of the company, died in 2010 following his return from a holiday in Florida. Richard Doorneveld became managing director and took over the business from his mother a year later. In 2014, Jan van de Graaf was bolstered by the arrival of Eugenie Pique, who dedicated herself to the planning and administrative side of the recovery work. She also became Richard Doorneveld's long-term partner.