Damen opens its doors for another Workboat Festival

If the variety and quantity of products on display are an indication of the company’s state of health it appears to be maintaining its strong position in the industry, particularly when considering that tugs and workboats are but one sector in this ever-expanding shipbuilding and ship repair company with an extensive global footprint.

This second Workboat Festival attracted over 200 guests and was again held at the company’s head office location at Gorinchem, a natural semi-enclosed harbour providing mooring facilities for stock vessels and those receiving final preparation prior to delivery. The site is dominated by a vast office complex but also has covered production facilities and engineering workshops with slipways.

As mentioned elsewhere in this column, much of Damen’s output originates from countries outside of the Netherlands offering cost-effective production opportunities for series-built vessels but its Gorinchem production facilities, along with the nearby Hardinxveld yard and others in the Netherlands are still busy building vessels on their own home ground.

The event consisted of a shoreside display area complemented by a range of vessels alongside the quay itself and a combination of moored Damen pontoon barges. Ten Damen equipment suppliers including: Caterpillar, MTU, Alphatron, Alewijnse Marine, Reintjes and Rolls-Royce had display stands with a large marquee named ‘House of Damen’ housing stands promoting the wider Damen range such as dredging, automation and financing. This area was also home to the hospitality element of the event extending into the evening.

It was the vessel display area that attracted most attention. Damen’s series-build policy was evident with 12 Stan Tugs neatly moored together in addition to a further six available for inspection and short demonstration runs on the adjacent Boven Merwede river. A Multicat 1908 was attracting particular attention including demonstration runs.

The workboat range extends beyond tugs and multicats of course and a selection of pilot boats, Axe-Bow and Twin-Axe fast crew suppliers and a high-powered RHIB (particularly popular for demonstration runs) were available for inspection. Of special interest was the SAR 1906 (NH 1816) class search and rescue vessel developed for the KNRM and now stationed at Ijmuiden.

Mijndert Wiesenekker, Damen sales director for Benelux said: “We had a very successful second festival … Features such as our apps showing remote monitoring in action, and the finance department generating quotes in real-time in response to customers’ requests, were a big success. The ship models and products on display received lots of interest and we even had a sand suction challenge with a Damen Cutter Suction Dredger simulator for guests to take part in.”

By Peter Barker