Henk Grunstra News

The Government of Ontario has accepted Damen’s proposal to build two ferries with full electric propulsion. Damen is building a 68-meter Road Ferry 6819 and a 98-meter Road Ferry 9819 to operate in the Canadian waters of the Great Lakes. The vessels will be the first fully electric, non-cable vessels in Canada. As part of the tender process for the contract to build the ferries, Damen was required to identify future innovations and green technologies for sustainable power solutions. The Government of Ontario has accepted Damen’s electrification proposal.

Damen Shipyards Group has appointed Andrea Trevisan as its new Sales Director Cruise New Building, as the company plans to further expand its standing in the flourishung expedition and small size cruise vessels market. Trevisan will oversee Damen’s global commercial and marketing activities with regard to new build cruise vessels. “I will be a sort of Damen brand ‘ambassador’ for the cruise industry, working in close coordination with our well established regional sales organization and with my colleagues Mr. Henk Grunstra, Product Director Cruise and Ferries, and Mrs.

TransLink, Metro Vancouver’s regional transportation authority, has signed a contract with the Damen Shipyards Group for an additional SeaBus, to ferry passengers between downtown Vancouver and North Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. The order comes as TransLink celebrates the 40th anniversary of its SeaBus service. Once the new vessel comes into service in 2019, SeaBus will have three vessels in operation at the same time – allowing TransLink to increase service frequency to every 10 minutes during peak periods.

To mark this year’s Interferry Conference in Manila, the Philippines, Damen Shipyards Group has teamed up with Netherlands Shipping Training Centre (NSTC), Managed by the international maritime education and training organisation STC-Group. Damen and NSTC have developed a training course for the Philippines-based ferry crew. The training package will feature a number of elements, including rules and regulations (ISM code), crew and crisis management and – important in public transportation – cross cultural differences. Damen has worked with STC-Groupfor many years in the provision of seafarers’ training, as Martijn Voorham, General Manager NSTC,based in Palompon, Leyte explains: “Damen and STC-Group have travelled the world together.

Damen Shipyards Group has unveiled its recently completed Expedition Cruise Vessel design, which resulted from its partnership with Expedition Voyage Consultants Ltd and the Danish Naval Architect firm Knud E. Hansen. From the outset of this project, Damen has collaborated with Expedition Voyage Consultants, whose practical expedition experience (with their team having led well over 500 expeditions) was instrumental in creating a fit-for-purpose vessel with safe and efficient operations embedded into its design. Knud E.

Damen and Expedition Voyage Consultants team up to develop globally capable expedition ship. In response to interest from clients in the fast-growing expedition cruise market, Damen has teamed up with Expedition Voyage Consultants Ltd. to develop a specialist Damen cruise ship, with capacity for around 100 passengers. The cruise ship combines Expedition Voyage Consultants’ unmatched operational experience with Damen’s shipbuilding excellence, providing unforgettable experiences in luxury travel to destinations from Polynesia to the Northwest Passage. Henk Grunstra, Damen Product Director says: “This expedition ship will be a significant advance in the market, making it possible for expedition companies to deliver their customers the best expedition experience.

The Damen 80-meter ice class RoPax ferry MV Veteran handover to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (GNL) took place in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada on October 23, 2015. Launched earlier this year by Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania on March 27, the vessel will start services from Fogo Island and Change Islands before the end of November. MV Veteran was delivered from the shipyard on time and within budget. MV Veteran is the first of a two-vessel contract, with a design stemming from a Canadian-Danish partnership between Fleetway and Knud E. Hansen.

Afai Southern shipyard visited by Dutch diplomat, and elsewhere, Chengxi Shipyard gets order for 2 bulk carriers. Mr. Karel Hartogh, Director of Department of Asia and Oceania at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands and Ms. Anne Luwema, Consul General of Netherlands Consulate in Guangzhou visited Afai. the Director of Damen Fast Ferry, Mr. Henk Grunstra , Damen Site Manager, Mr. Bert and General Manager of Afai, Mr. Wu Mingyi met the guests. Mr. Henk Grunstra introduced the layout and developing situation of Damen in China…

Damen Shipyards and Afai Southern Shipyard contracted to build 35 m ferry for Liuzhou Yinliu Hotel Management. Liuzhou Yinliu Hotel Management Co. Ltd. (China) has ordered a Damen Ferry 3508 with Afai Southern Shipyard (China). The DFe 3508 is a 35m Aluminium Luxury Sightseeing Ferry and is designated for the municipal government of Guangxi Liuzhou. As Liuzhou is the main business port of the Guangxi Zhuang region, the city will use the ferry for receiving both government and industry representatives for official meetings and sightseeing tours along the Liujiang River.

Damen has been tasked with developing the first environmentally friendly ferry design for the Dutch shipping company Rederij Doeksen. Based in Harlingen, Rederij Doeksen operates passenger and car ferries between Harlingen and the Dutch Wadden islands of Vlieland and Terschelling. This will be the first time Gorinchem-based Damen has specifically designed a ferry aiming at a sustainable solution and this is the first ferry of this type for Doeksen. Henk Grunstra, Damen Product Director, said: “This project is particularly interesting because we have to look at the existing ferries, the specifics of the waterways in the Wadden Sea which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the passenger, car, cycle capacity and the peaks and troughs in demand.

A three-year, 29-vessel contract came to an end as the last tugboat of the huge Serco contract was named SD Deborah at the Damen headquarters in Gorinchem on 3 December 2010. Due to be deployed at Devenport, one of the main bases of the British Royal Navy, the SD Deborah was the smallest ASD tug in the order, which has included pilot boats, tugboats, high-speed craft, barges and a worldwide support vessel. SD Deborah is one of four sister tugs. The 16 Damen vessel types included in the order ranged between 39.3 ft and 282 ft.