The Damen Shipyards Group has signed a contract with the Dutch and Swedish Ministries of Defense for a seven-year, in-service maintenance contract covering a total of five vessels. All of these are tugs purchased from Damen.
The agreement covers all maintenance, both scheduled and non-scheduled, with the exception of the routine operational activities which fall within the remit of the crew. The scheduled maintenance will take place according to a pre-determined plan that has been agreed between all the parties concerned. Both Ministries will also have full access to a 24/7 service desk in the event of additional works.
The crews may receive training from Damen for their routine maintenance tasks, and training in vessel handling and maneuvering at the simulator training center operated by 360-Control in IJmuiden.
The agreement with the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) covers three Damen ASD 2810 Hybrid tugs. Two of these, the Noordzee and Waddenzee, were delivered in February and April. The third, named the Zuiderzee, is due for delivery in June. Their maintenance will be provided by the nearby Damen Shipyards Den Helder.
For the Swedish Royal Navy, Damen Shiprepair Oskarshamnsvarvet on Sweden's Baltic coast will be performing the maintenance on their two Damen ASD 3010 tugs (ICE class), named HMS Hector and HMS Hercules.
MX-suite software will be used to remotely monitor the operations of all five tugs, with real-time information on data such as engine hours being used to ensure that servicing takes place exactly when it is due.
The procurement of the tugs is a joint venture between the Defense Material Organization of the Netherlands and the Swedish Forsvarets Materielverk (FMV). The maintenance contract was signed by Anders P. Nilsson, Head of Surface Warfare, Swedish Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Defense of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Captain RNLN J. F. Kwak, Head of Project Procurement, on behalf of the Dutch Materiel Organization), Jelle Loosman, MD of Damen Shipyards Den Helder and René Berkvens, CEO of the Damen Shipyards Group.
Peter van den Berg, Deputy Director of Damen Shipyards Den Helder, commented: “The maintenance management solutions that we and Damen Shiprepair Oskarshamnsvarvet will be providing will relieve the navies of the time and effort needed to ensure that these vessels are fully operational at all times.”
“The Den Helder location ensures that we are just a short distance from where the Dutch tugs are based, and means that we can also take responsibility for storing the spare parts. At Den Helder we have also established a specialized training team to support organizations and companies adapting to the new technology of hybrid vessels. The Oskarhamn location is situated exactly between the operational areas of the Swedish tugs. The two ways flow of information that is generated as a result ensures that our vessels continue to develop so that they best meet the needs of our customers,” he added.
Damen Shipyards Group operates 32 shipbuilding and repair yards, employing 9,000 people worldwide. Damen has delivered more than 6,000 vessels in more than 100 countries and delivers some 180 vessels annually to customers worldwide.
Damen offers a wide range of products, including tugs, workboats, naval and patrol vessels, high speed craft, cargo vessels, dredgers, vessels for the offshore industry, ferries, pontoons and superyachts.
For nearly all vessel types Damen offers a broad range of services, including maintenance, spare parts delivery, training and the transfer of (shipbuilding) know-how. Damen also offers a variety of marine components, such as nozzles, rudders, anchors, anchor chains and steel works.
In addition to ship design and shipbuilding, Damen Shiprepair & Conversion has a worldwide network of 15 repair and conversion yards with dry docks ranging up to 420 x 80 meters.
