Arie started a career at sea in 1993 in the Royal Dutch Navy as a watch/ops officer. In 2001 he changed to working with juvenile delinquents on a training vessel (MV Koningin Juliana) for 8 years and in 2008 he started pilot training while working on tugboats and dynamic positioning (DP) vessels.
Arie is an active blogger who regularly publishes articles and short posts on social media and in international magazines and advises shipping companies when they have questions regarding pilot transfer arrangements.