 The municipality of Amsterdam voted to begin converting northern rural areas into industry fields, a policy which was started by the establishment of the Stoomvaartmaatschappij Nederland, Koninklijke Nederlandse Stoomboot-Maatschappij (KNSM) and others.The Amsterdam Drydock Company, founded on their initiative, built a ship repair yard on the north bank, and the Nederlandsche Dok en Scheepsbouw Maatschappij (NDSM) established a new shipyard.In 1900, the municipal council decided to move the sulfuric acid plant of Ketjen, which caused a great deal of disruption in Overtoom (Amsterdam-Zuid), to a new facility in Amsterdam-Noord.