Just a few months after opening an office in Stavanger, Damen Shipyards is set to deliver a second Stan Tug to a Norwegian owner-EB Marine A/S-a family-owned diving company, which is one of the oldest diving companies in Norway. This latest order for a Stan Tug 1204 follows an order for a Stan Tug 1004 earlier in the year. Damen Shipyards opened the office in October 2012 to serve the offshore industry and Norwegian shipowners. This represents the first time the Dutch group has opened a sales office outside of the Netherlands. The STu 1205 will be delivered on March 20th in Stavanger.
Torgeir Erga, Deputy Manager of EB Marine, says: "We have been awarded a contract for the subsea work for the foundations of a new bridge in Molde, in northern Norway, therefore we needed a new tugboat, with a lot of power that had to be delivered in a very short time." The contract is due to begin in April.
Sales Manager of Damen Shipyards Stavanger, Remko Hottentot, says:"The advantage of Damen is that we can deliver from stock and this proved the ideal solution for EB Marine. Damen builds its standard vessels for stock, which means that companies can still take part in tenders even if they don't immediately have the resources in-house. Damen can then provide a vessel in just two to three weeks.
Mr Erga adds: "I knew that Damen built vessels for stock but not that it had a new office here in Stavanger. It was great to be able to speak to Remko directly in Norwegian."EB Marine visited Damen's headquarters in Gorinchem (The Netherlands) and took the new vessel, named Broltus, out for a trial. Mr Erga was impressed with how much power the Stan Tug 1205 has. "Probably half of our work involves pulling heavy, weighted pipelines so the new tug will be very suited to this work, as well as the foundation contract," he emphasises.
Delivery in just a few weeks
"We were looking at yards in Norway and Turkey, but with Damen Shipyards, we know that is has built tugs for decades so we know exactly what we are getting."After some modifications, including extra navigation equipment, she will sail from Damen Head Quarter in Gorinchem to Rotterdam where she will be transported on a Wagenborg carrier on March 18 to Stavanger. 'Broltus' in Norwegian translates as someone who does a'hell of a job'. Mr Erga laughs saying that this is what EB Marine expects from its new Damen vessel!
Commenting on the Norwegian market, Mr Hottentot says: "Norway of course, is much more than the offshore industry, it has some 60,000 km of coastline. From our portfolio we can provide vessels for several markets-ferries, pontoons, fisheries and aquaculture vessels, maintenance & inspection vessels, research vessels, tugs, LNG-powered vessels and those from our offshore series."
Currently, six Platform Supply Vessels 3300 vessels are under construction for Norwegian client WWS. Although the standard PSV has a 750 m² spacious deck, Damen can also build PSVs with decks of up to 1,000 m² - all from the newly designed PSV-range.
Being based in Stavanger since 1989, Mr Hottentot adds: "Norway is a very interesting, broad-based market. There are a lot of opportunities here. We want to show that we provide top-quality vessels, at a competitive price. And as can be seen from the last two orders in Norway, Damen is specialized in fasty delivery due to standardised designs, stock vessels and standardised logistics. We arrange the entire transport of a vessel, from the shipyard top the Norwegian client, enabling owners to take delivery in just a few weeks. This vessel will literally be delivered to the front door of EB Marine!"
