Shipdock Amsterdam News

On January 1, 2015, Shipdock Amsterdam and Shipdock Harlingen changed names to Damen Shiprepair Amsterdam (DSA) and Damen Shiprepair Harlingen (DSH) respectively. During the last two years, both yards have successfully integrated into Damen Shiprepair & Conversion (DSC), itself part of the Damen Shipyards Group. For example, the close collaboration between DSH and Damen Shipyards Den Helder (DSDH) strongly highlights how customers benefit from the network of yards. Damen Shipyards Group acquired the two Shipdock yards in February 2013.

Shipdock Amsterdam, part of Damen Shiprepair & Conversion, has been certified by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance for aligning its quality, safety and environment management systems with internationally recognized standards, Damen reported. A three-man audit team audited the yard’s management systems, implementation and awareness among its employees and other people working at the Amsterdam repair yard. Managing Director Flip van der Waal commented, “Applying for certification of an integrated management system of all three disciplines is considered to be an ambitious exercise.

The Seajacks Hydra, a jack-up vessel owned by Seajacks UK Ltd., was commissioned within 10 days at Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam, which is part of Damen Shiprepair & Conversion. In late July, a heavy-lift vessel shipped the Seajacks Hydra platform into the port of Rotterdam. Seajacks Hydra was towed to the repair yard. It was a time-constrained project since the platform had to be delivered to a project of Seajacks which started in August. In spite of the tight schedule, Hydrawas delivered on time. The scope of work was among other the installation of four azimuth thrusters (rudder propellers).

For its recent retrofit of two antiroll tanks onto GulfMark UK’s Highland Defender and Highland Guardian, Shipdock Amsterdam said it is most proud of its rapid response and production speed, along with the ratio of 150 metric tons of steel deployed and processed relative to the contract’s limited total lead-time. In consideration of the fact that all work, from scratch, was carried out within one single location as a complete turnkey package by two Damen Shipyards subsidiaries, is a close second on the shipyard’s satisfaction scale.

Seajacks Leviathan and Seajacks Kraken are prepared for their coming assignments, following a series of repair and renewal jobs by Shipdock Amsterdam. The shipyard, part of Damen Shiprepair & Conversion, had been commissioned for the two jack-ups by Seajacks UK Ltd. The Great Yarmouth (United Kingdom) based company has assigned the shipyard various and different major and minor adjustments on the two jack-up sister vessels in between North Sea offshore windfarm and oil & gas installation contracts.

Systems integrator Alewijnse Marine Systems has been awarded the contract for the full electrical refit of the seismic vessel Polarcus Naila. The ultra-modern, 12 streamer 3D/4D seismic vessel will arrive in February 2014 at the Damen-owned yard Shipdock Amsterdam for a refit scheduled to last 35 days. The refit involves the replacement of the current thrusters. The ship repair and conversion yard Shipdock in Amsterdam has subcontracted the electrical repairs and modifications to Alewijnse Marine Systems…

Ship repair and conversion yard Shipdock Amsterdam, part of Damen Shipyards Group, received a contract for the propulsion upgrade of the 3D Seismic Vessel Polarcus Naila. The ultra-modern vessel will arrive at Shipdockin February 2014 for its six-week conversion. In addition to the propulsion upgrade the vessel will also undergo modification works in order to be classified as a Special Purpose Ship. Furthermore, the scope of work includes Ballast Water Treatment installation, installation of a new workboat and davits, relocation of the MOB and the five-year special survey.

In October 2012 Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam (DSR) won the contract for installing the first Becker Twisted Fin on seven container vessels of the fleet of Hamburg (Germany) based liner shipping company Hamburg Süd. To complete the project in time, the vessels were routed in such a way that they could each be dry-docked for a maximum of 6 days every consecutive week. All ships have now been re-delivered. The first vessel starting the cycle, MV Santa Catharina, was expected the December 30, 2012. However, this vessel was operationally delayed, which reduced the available time with three days.

As of this week, Damen Shipyards Group is the new owner of Dutch ship repair yard Shipdock. Shipdock, a well-known shipyard group with roots dating back to 1877, operates facilities in Amsterdam and Harlingen. The yard will continue its ship repair and conversion services, with Shipdock Harlingen servicing ships up to 120 m and Shipdock Amsterdam servicing vessels up to 250 m. Furthermore, its personnel and management will remain in place, guaranteeing a seamless transition of the yard into the Damen Shipyards Group…

The increase in offshore activities means a lot of new work for the repair and conversion industry - and Shipdock is busily improving its position in this market: most recently with the lengthening of the GMS Endeavour’s four massive ‘legs’. New orders are streaming in at Shipdock Amsterdam from the rapidly growing offshore wind energy activities on the Dutch and British North Sea shelf. Serious financial and political support from the two countries make it possible to develop new wind turbine parks in deeper waters. The offshore wind industry has to keep up with continually improving technology;  5 MW turbines have become commonplace, so offshore vessels and jack-up barges need to be equipped to install them at sea.

Secret weapon’: dedicated on site steel construction and machining facility. The skyline of the Amsterdam harbours has been visibly altered in the neighbourhood of Shipdock, Amsterdam’s premier ship repair and conversion yard. The company has recently secured four major contracts for the upgrading and maintenance of the jack-up vessels GMS Endurance, GMS Endeavour, Seajack Leviathan and Seajack Zaratan. These vessels, equipped with elevating legs of over 100m in height, will be keeping the shipyard busy throughout the summer months.