Damen Opens JV Yard in Vietnam

On March 20, 2014, Vietnamese Minister of Transport Nguyen Hong Truong, cut the ribbon for the latest addition to Damen Shipyard Group’s portfolio. Damen Song Cam is a new yard, and is one of the largest in the group and represents Damen’s first formal Joint Venture yard in Vietnam.
Damen said Song Cam is considered state-of-the-art, bringing a western shipyard designed to meet European health, safety and environmental standards into a Vietnamese environment. The yard will produce around 40 ships per year in phase one. Damen has an established history in Vietnam and has been working with five shipyards for more than 12 years.
“We have successfully built 226 vessels in Vietnam with our partner yards,” said Pim Schuurman, Managing Director of Damen Holding Vietnam. “Vietnam has a lot of shipbuilding knowledge, the people are very hard working and in the next stage of Damen’s Vietnam journey we are looking forward to having our own Joint Venture shipyard, which has been designed to maximize efficiency.”
With direct access to open sea, the new yard is based on a 43-hectare site, of which 500m is directly alongside the River Cam. The yard has a 120 x 85 m outfitting hall, plus extensive paint and carpentry workshops.
Damen Song Cam’s shipbuilding hall is in fact a dedicated outfitting hall, with three 25 metric tons overhead cranes over every bay. Swing arms on the top of the vessels give access to power, oxygen and compressed air. A Rolls-Royce Syncrolift shiplift, with a platform of 60 x 24 m, is also on site. And directly next to the site of Damen Song Cam there is another 43 hectares, which will be developed as a maritime industrial zone.
Currently 300 people work at Damen Song Cam. Phase 2 envisions 80 vessels per year and 800 employees. Damen works with Song Thu (Da Nang), Song Cam/Ben Kien (HaiPhong), 189 (HaiPhong) and Ha Long Shipyard (Ha Long). Recently, the original Song Cam Shipyard merged with Ben Kien and this organization is owned by Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (SBIC), formerly known as Vinashin. By the end of 2014, Damen will have formed a joint venture with the newly merged company Song Cam/Ben Kien, as well as with Ha Long.
www.damen.com

 

(As published in the April 2014 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - http://magazines.marinelink.com/Magazines/MaritimeReporter)