De Ruyter News

Since the beginning of May, Royal IHC has been busy replacing the propulsion gearbox mountings on the HNLMS De Ruyter. This work is part of a maintenance program for the Air Defense and Command Frigates (LCF). Royal IHC will replace the mountings on all four LCF-frigates for the Royal Netherlands Navy.Annemieke Selbach, Head of Purchasing at the Royal Netherlands Navy, said, “Royal IHC has taken on an enormously challenging project in the replacement of the mountings on the frigates.

The Defense Material Organization has awarded three contracts to Goltens Worldwide’s Green Technologies business unit for the engineering and turnkey installation of sixteen Optimarin Ballast Systems (OBS) on 10 Naval vessels. An official signing ceremony was held May 25 at the Defense Material Organization in The Hague whereby Captain RNLN J. F. Kwak, Head Projects Procurement Division, officially signed the contract on behalf of the Ministry of Defense. M. C. Jeronimus, Vice President of Goltens Europe, signed on behalf of Goltens Green Technologies.

A cargo vessel that went adrift off the west coast of Cornwall and Devon after encountering engine difficulties is currently under tow, the U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) reported. The 91-meter-long vessel reported that it was drifting without power y Thursday just after 12:30 p.m. The ship is carrying a cargo of scrap metal, and all seven crew have remained on board. The vessel is currently 5 nautical miles north west off Hartland Point heading to Lundy Island, and the Appledore and Padstow RNLI lifeboats are currently on scene along with the Dutch war ship HNLMS De Ruyter. The HNLMS De Ruyter is now towing the vessel to Lundy Island, North Devon where the vessel can anchor and shelter from the weather. Bremen Fighter, a tug from Holyhead Harbour is also on its way.

On Monday 25 February Dutch EU Naval Force frigate HNLMS De Ruyter transferred nine suspected pirates to the Seychelles authorities for prosecution. The transfers happened after HNLMS De Ruyter, who was conducting counter piracy patrols, stopped two skiffs on 19 February 120 nautical miles off the Somali Coast and apprehended nine suspected pirates on board. During the operation, helicopters from both HNLMS De Ruyter and EU Naval Force flagship ESPS Mendez Nunez, together with the Spanish EU NAVFOR Maritime Patrol Reconnaissance Aircraft (MPRA), were able to locate the two skiffs and in a combined effort, stop them in the water approximately 200 nautical miles north east of Eyl.

Dutch EU Naval Force Frigate 'De Ruyter' apprehends 9 suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia. A Panama-flagged merchant ship reported the presence of the pirate group and soon after the warship's helicopter located the two skiffs, whose occupants threw material overboard, and split up in an attempt to escape. The first skiff was stopped by assets of the Dutch frigate. The second skiff was located and stopped with support of the helicopter from the EU Naval Force flagship ESPS Mendez Nunez.

On 29 January, Dutch warship HNLMS De Ruyter, part of NATO's counter-piracy operation Ocean Shield, freed the crew from merchant vessel New York Star after they had barricaded themselves into a “safe room,” (also known as a “citadel”) when their ship came under attack by pirates. As the pirates climbed on board, the master of the New York Star was able to put out a mayday call, which was picked up by an Australian maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), which was on counter-piracy patrol in the area.

CSX World Terminals LLC (CSXWT) announced the appointment of two key management positions for its Pusan, South Korea, container terminal development project. Gerard van den Heuvel has been appointed as director-operations and John M. Elliott has been hired as commercial director. Van den Heuvel began his new assignment in May 2004, and Elliott will begin his new role on July 19, 2004. Both will report to Rob Walker, CSXWT vice president-South Korea. In his new position, van den Heuvel will be responsible for development of the Pusan terminal and terminal operations once construction is complete. Van den Heuvel has more than 15 years of experience in terminal and vessel operations management.