Group Ocean Orders Two Damen Workboats

Dutch based Damen Shipyards Group said it has signed a contract with Canada’s Group Ocean for the delivery of two new workboats that will provide dredging support services at an oil sands project in northern Canada.

The new vessels, both Modular Multi Cats 1205, are made of standard, container-sized units that enable easy transport. The versatile Multi Cat workboat used in many sectors for operations such as towing and anchor-handling, dive support, marine engineering, offshore energy operations and for dredging and dredging support.

Group Ocean’s new Multi Cats will go to work on oil sands tailings ponds that inland are not easily accessible by water. According to Damen, the modular nature of the vessels means that they can be easily transported to site by truck and then quickly assembled for operation on location.

“In addition to the ease with which we can transport these vessels to inaccessible locations quickly and cost-effectively, Damen’s standardized shipbuilding process meant that they already had one of the vessels on stock for extremely fast delivery. It will also allow us more flexibility for future development across Canada,” said Tommy Theriault, Business Development Director for Ocean Marine Works and Dredging.

Because one of the Multi Cats was in stock already, the first delivery will take place in February – less than three months following the contract signing in December 2017. The second vessel, which is being built at Damen Shipyards Kozle in Poland, will follow in the second quarter of 2018.

Damen Regional Sales Manager North American, Daan Dijxhoorn, said, “The speed with which we are able to deliver these vessels, as well as the convenience that results from modular construction, really goes to show the unique advantages of standardized shipbuilding as practiced at Damen.”