Rene Gaanderse

Dear friends of Rene Gaanderse, It is with deep sadness that we advise the passing of our friend and colleague, Rene Gaanderse, who passed away in his sleep earlier this week. Rene was a larger than life character, who lived life to its fullest, and loved his family, his friends, and he especially loved shipping. Rene was born in the Netherlands in July 1943, obviuously a tough start during the occupation. At a young age he started with a ship agency in Rotterdam, and through his ambition, drive and intelligence , seeking loftier goals, he started with HCI/Andino Shipping, soon transferring to HCI Houston, and before he even got a chance to buy cowboy boots he landed in HCI Colombia, where he was instrumental in growing HCI’s storage, distribution and shipping interests. In Colombia in addition to his business accomplishments , he grew his family, gained the honorary ‘Don’ before his name, and learned ‘Besame Mucho’ line by line, in Spanish amnd English. Don Rene the shipping entrepreneur established, along with his original partner Hans Jans (since deceased) ‘Panamerican Tankers’ (Parcel Tanker Services) in the late ‘70’s, first in Manhattan (where I first met him in 1981) then in Stamford CT. Panam/PTS is the grand daddy of the now Nordic Tankers, via several evolutions (Copenhagen Tankers,Clipper Wonsild,Clipper Tankers, etc). After selling his interest in Panam/PTS and ‘retiring’ in the early 2000’s, he realized shipping was too big a part of his life and Rene started his association with SPI Marine (then SoundTanker) in early 2004 in CT, joining us in Houston in 2010. In addition to doing business with Rene from the early 80’s, driving together 8 hours in my rental car from Fairfax VA to CT on Sept,11,2001 when the skies closed following the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks, I have had the pleasure and honor of working with Rene for the past 12 years and being his friend. He will be sorely missed by his SPI family, and by all that knew him. A Memorial Service Celebrating Rene's life will be held Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 10:30 AM in the Chapel at Dettling Funeral Home, 14094 Memorial Dr., Houston, TX 77079.

Rene Gaanderse

July 16, 1943 - February 10, 2016