Willem Vlasblom graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering from Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands in 1968. From 1968 through 1992 he worked for several international dredging companies with a four-year interlude at the Provinciaal Waterleidingbedrijf of North Holland. In 1992 he became Head, Production and Planning Department, Airport Platform Marine Contractors J.V., and was thus responsible for the dredging work at the Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong. In 1994 he became a professor at Delft University and is presently Chair of the Dredging Technology Department.