Damen Shipyards Group has announced the opening of a new branch office in Houston, Texas. This expansion, under the name of Damen North America, meets the increasing demand for Damen’s unique shipbuilding concepts and repair and conversion services, the company said in its press release.
The branch office – representing the Damen Shipyards Newbuild, and Damen Shiprepair & Conversion businesses across North America and Canada – has decided to open offices in the heart of the Energy Corridor of Houston, to ensure it can accommodate customers in the best possible way.
Arnout Damen, Chief Commercial Officer, said: “In this difficult economical climate, we are of the opinion that it is important to support the oil and gas market and are thrilled to expand our business to customers across North America and Canada. I am therefore pleased that we are expanding office locations to North America and improving service and product offerings to these markets.
“We seek to provide our customers the best quality, proven designs, short delivery times, low maintenance and excellent resale value and trustworthy repair & conversion solutions, combined with our commitment that we will deliver an unrivaled service to the highest safety and reliability standards.”
“Establishing an office out of Houston demonstrates the power of the Damen global presence for mutually beneficial and cost effective solutions,” said Jan van Hogerwou, Manager USA & Canada for New Buildings. “I look forward to working closely together with both ship operators as well as shipyards to maximize the value of having a local presence with the use of proven designs, high quality craftsmanship and low Total Cost of Ownership.
“We expect a lot from our new License to Build program in which we offer our ship designs and our construction expertise to any shipyard in the US. Our standardized shipbuilding approach, known as The Damen Standard, has become one of our fundamental core values. It gives us the ability to offer our customers well-proven, innovative vessels and/or designs for competitive prices.”
“We’re incredibly excited about the potential of this new office,” said Ruud Haneveer, Market Development Executive for Damen Shiprepair & Conversion. “We are proud to work for Damen, to operate as one family and teamwork is key to our success.
“The new office demonstrates our ever-expanding focus on customers’ needs. Through this local office, we are closer to our customers in the region. We value our customers’ feedback and the contribution it makes to advancing our ambition to improve our performance continuously and to set new standards in the repair and conversion of ships. The repair & conversion services represented by us are related to the group’s Shiprepair and Conversion shipyards located outside the United States of America.”