6 Cover photo Van Oord’s Nexus, Damen Offshore Carrier 8500, outfitted as cable layer TABLE OF CONTENTS 06 28 DAMEN MAGAZINE COLOPHON Editors 12 18 Damen Communications department, Carlijn Potma, Helen Hill, Yellow & Finch, Clearline Communications (Matt Johnson), John Gauldie, Menno Steketee UNITED 06 Executive Board KINGDOM Translations SPECIAL Balance2.nl 10 The world of Damen Design & Art Direction 12 High-tech heritage Damen PR department, most remarkable bv A stunning 87 metre vessel 46 United Kingdom Special Britannia on the waves Photography 16 History Cosmin Atanasiu, Flying Focus, Photo & Video How a simple, tough hard worker 48 History Productions Van der Kloet, Remco Bohle, Tijmen took on the world Kielen, Ruud Binnekamp, Hans Sloot, Bram van de 50 Damen in the UK Biezen, Jeroen Snel 18 Damen ASD Tug 2913 New compact 80 t tug from Damen 52 Interview: Delta Marine Printing Catalyst for progress Tuijtel 20 Working@Damen: Jeroen Heesters 54 Interview: Maritime Craft Services For more info please contact: 22 Yard focus: Damen Shipyards Galati Ready for action Jan-Hein Reeringh, Editorial Director, Ben Littler, Communications 28 Amels 180 56 British Beer Gijs Lokker, Creative Director, A Saronic Gulf cruise A Sceptered Isle of tradition Marielle Prinssen, Project Manager [email protected] 30 Working@Damen: Florin Pavel 57 Facts & figures All rights reserved 32 Offshore Patrol Vessel 58 Deliveries Copyright 2015 Damen Shipyards Group Next generation Nothing in this publication may be reproduced 64 Under construction without permission from Damen. 34 Components True definition 68 Repair, maintenace, conversion Maximum attention was paid to matters of safety in the making of this publication. Any imagery featuring 36 Petrojarl I 72 Innovation: Research & Development a production environment, in which safety wear is First EPC redeployment upgrade contract not shown, was created at a time when no work was to be carried out in Europe 74 Interview: Guardia di Finanza taking place. Safeguarding Italy's borders 40 Green developments: Ecoliner Damen Shipyards Group, Avelingen West 20, 78 Interview: Vittoria Shipyard 4202 MS Gorinchem, the Netherlands 42 Yachting Sharing Knowledge www.damen.com, [email protected] Amels takes the next step 44 Damen Customer Finance A helping hand for financing Damen vessels 7 92 74 130 72 52 46 124 100 88 118 80 News 92 New design: Damen RHIBs 114 Yacht Support - Sigma 10514 PKR frigates RHIBs according to the Damen philosophy: The ten reasons why... - Hybrid Rotortug ART 80-20 standard concept, flexible outfitting - Custom barge delivery for FSV Group 116 Working@Damen: Solco Reijnders - Crossover; one ship - multiple roles 94 Shiprepair & Conversion - Volvo Ocean Race: from start to finish Keeping cruise ships in top condition 118 Yard: Maersk Supply Service chooses - Fast Crew Suppliers Galati for new subsea support vessel - Licensed to build 98 Underwater mining - Modified Cutter Suction Dredger receives Working to develop Europe's hidden resources 122 Green developments new classification Ballast Water Treatment - Cruise ship Magellan completes maintenance 100 Defence & Security: Karel Doorman stopover at Damen Shiprepair Amsterdam 124 Interview: Royal Bahamas Defence Force - Service Hub network expanding rapidly in 2015 106 The Mauritshuis Sandy Bottom Project - Customised Stan Launches for Multraship Blending tradition and innovation port operations 130 Highlights 2014-2015 110 Significant steps 88 Bluetec: green energy modular solution Damen takes Health, Safety, Environment 137 Damen Webshop & Quality standards to the next level Damen gifts, clothing, office items & scale models 90 Working@Damen: Rose Damen 8 STRATEGY | EXECUTIVE BOARD 9 UNLOCKING DAMEN’S FULL POTENTIAL Damen is steadily gaining ground as the group strives to provide its customers with the best products and services in all its niche markets. But, as the organisation continues to grow, can it maintain the necessary process and production efficiencies to remain competitive? This has been the main task of the four members of the newly strengthened Executive Board – Chief Executive Officer René Berkvens, Chief Commercial Officer Arnout Damen, Chief Financial Officer Frank Eggink and Chief Products Officer Jan-Wim Dekker. Here, they share their views about Damen’s performance and its future. 10 Q. Many will remember 2014 as the year Damen delivered high profile ships like the three-masted steel clipper RNOV Shabab Oman II and “Damen is getting HNLMS Karel Doorman, the largest ship in the Royal Netherlands Navy. How does Damen’s Executive Board look back on 2014? stronger and we’re René: We’re certainly proud of those vessels and the many others that we’ve delivered to satisfied customers. Damen is getting stronger and we’re performing well… crucially also in the built-for- performing well” stock series production that Damen is known for, and where we’ve faced the greatest challenges in terms of capacity and logistics. Our improving performance is the result of keeping a very strong focus on our customers while we consolidate the rapid growth in the last Q. Did Damen’s performance in 2014 reach your expectations? few years. However, we still have a lot more work ahead of us to unlock the full potential in our organisation. Frank: The Group financial results were satisfactory and improved on 2013. Our turnover rose to some EUR 2 billion in 2014. Our Arnout: Last year was also significant for the opening of our profitability was also up, in line with budget. All other financial new joint venture yards Damen Shipyards Sharjah and Damen performance indicators improved compared with 2013 – which Song Cam Shipyard. The latter is set to become the largest series arguably was a transition year. Last year’s shipbuilding performance producer in the Damen Shipyards Group. Seeing these yards move was helped by strong demand in the Offshore and Defence & from development into production is very rewarding. Also, we saw Security markets. Our luxury yacht builder Amels delivered robust a strong growth in Offshore Wind and the Americas. results and most other segments performed satisfactorily. Sales in Seagoing Transport, Inland Shipping and Public Transport markets continued to be slow. Damen Shiprepair & Conversion In last year’s issue of Damen Magazine, the Executive Board Q. is developing positively, with progress being made with the turn- highlighted booming business in Offshore, Defence & Security and around and integration of recently acquired yards in France and the Yachting. A year later, all three market segments are facing a slowdown Netherlands. The sales organisation successfully secured a number in investment. Is this affecting Damen’s performance and strategy? of interesting and challenging repair and conversion contracts. Regrettably, the repair yard in Gothenburg was no longer viable René: Well, that’s a reminder of how highly cyclical shipbuilding due primarily to competition, particularly from Polish yards, and was can be. We take a long-term view and I think if you look at all closed. The components business turned in another robust result. the niche markets that our customers operate in, you get quite a diverse picture. For example, Offshore Wind continues to develop positively while Offshore Oil & Gas is indeed feeling the effects of less investment in exploration and production. Declining activity Q. Can you also share Damen’s outlook for 2015 and beyond? in that market and the related reduced demand for our products and services may have an adverse impact on our financials. Our job Frank: Global shipbuilding is extremely competitive and we now is to be creative and push hard to develop the products that expect that to only intensify in the years to come as a result of, our customers need to succeed in these challenging markets. amongst other things, the declining oil prices and sanctions against Russia. Although the weakening of the euro helps, we’re taking At the same time, we are developing our position in Jan-Wim: additional measures to shore up Damen’s competitiveness. These new markets. For example, we see rising potential in Blue Growth should contribute to cost reduction, quality improvement and an sectors like aquaculture, ocean energy and seabed mining. increasingly agile organisation. We aim to continue our growth, but at a sustainable pace that puts the interests of our customers first. We’ve improved our controls framework and management of working capital, which should contribute to controlled growth. Over the last year, our order intake was strong, finishing with a record orderbook. We expect a satisfactory result for 2015, both in terms of production value as well as profitability, improving on 2014. We’ll continue to work hard to sustain that performance in 2016 and beyond. 11 Q. What are customers asking for to help succeed in their markets? Arnout: Reliable and proven technology that reduces downtime, with high safety standards. And reducing the Total Cost of Ownership is still the core focus for many of our customers. We will continue our research into ship motion and fuel efficiency, which reduces operating costs as well as helping the environment. Seeing our first hybrid ASD tug at work proves the benefits of our R&D programme, and this year we’re delivering the first Damen air lubrication system on a new Damen vessel. Jan-Wim: The fact remains that many sustainability solutions are still on the edge of economically viable operation, largely depending on the exact operational profile. You can develop great fuel-saving technologies, but if they cost more than you can ever save on fuel, then you’re not really reducing the Total Cost of Ownership. This is the biggest challenge we face in these types of innovation projects. Q. What are your main priorities as you develop the Damen organisation? René: We still need to make improvements and investigate other Jan-Wim: One of Damen’s major ambitions for 2015 is the further new technologies. We also believe that standardisation is one of industrialisation of the shipbuilding process to shorten lead times, the answers to keeping investment costs low, which is why we are reduce costs and improve quality.