Damen Shipyards Galati opens historical exhibition as part of continuing 125 year anniversary celebrations

Displaying an extensive collection of historical maritime memorabilia, DAMEN Shipyards Galati has opened an exhibition in the Lower Danube University in the Romanian city of Galati. The exhibition is part of the yard’s 125 year anniversary celebrations that began with the annual Shipbuilder’s Day festivities on 15 August.

The exhibition opened on 1 September with a ceremony attended by numerous invited guests including Damen Shipyards Group Board President Jason Bronscheer and the mayor of the city of Galati, Mr. Ionut Pucheanu. Containing various items such as photographs, postcards, maps, books and other special pieces, the exhibition – open until 30 December – thus reflects the rich maritime heritage that has been grown at the yard since its founding in 1893.

Some items, such a photo of the Romanian Navy minelayer NMS Amiral Murgescu, demonstrate shared aspects of Romanian-Dutch history. This vessel, for example, was built at the yard in 1941 to a Dutch design. Other items include two paintings painted in the 1950s by the then painter of the yard, Armin Muller, and a heavy duty diving suit dating back to 1913.

Shipbuilding operations on the site that is now known as DAMEN Shipyards Galati started back in 1893 when metalworking specialist and business entrepreneur Gheorghe Fernic founded a metal foundry and later in 1897 a shipyard. The shipyard quickly became internationally recognized for the complexity of the ships it was building, and so began a long and continuing tradition of shipbuilding in Romania.

“2018 is a very special anniversary year – we celebrate 125 years since the founding of this yard,” says Mr. Rino Brugge, the Managing Director of DAMEN Shipyards Galati. “We are very proud of Romania’s maritime heritage and the role that this yard played in Romania history - including the long series of ships delivered to the Romanian Navy.”

Damen Shipyards Galati has been part of the Damen Shipyards Group since 1999.

Damen Shipyards Group
Damen Shipyards Group operates 35 shipbuilding and repair yards, employing 12,000 people worldwide. DAMEN has delivered more than 6,000 vessels in more than 100 countries and delivers some 160 vessels annually to customers worldwide. Based on its unique, standardised ship-design concept DAMEN is able to guarantee consistent quality.

Damen’s focus on standardisation, modular construction and keeping vessels in stock leads to short delivery times, low ‘total cost of ownership’, high resale values and reliable performance. Furthermore, DAMEN vessels are based on thorough R&D and proven technology.

Damen offers a wide range of products, including tugs, workboats, naval and patrol vessels, high speed craft, cargo vessels, dredgers, vessels for the offshore industry, ferries, pontoons and superyachts.

For nearly all vessel types DAMEN offers a broad range of services, including maintenance, spare parts delivery, training and the transfer of (shipbuilding) know-how. DAMEN also offers a variety of marine components, such as nozzles, rudders, winches, anchors, anchor chains and steel works.

Damen Shiprepair & Conversion (DSC) has a worldwide network of eighteen repair and conversion yards of which twelve are located in North West Europe. Facilities at the yards include more than 50 floating and (covered) drydocks, the largest of which is 420 x 90 metres, as well as slopes, ship lifts and indoor halls. Projects range from the smallest simple repairs through Class’ maintenance to complex refits and the complete conversion of large offshore structures. DSC completes around 1,300 repair and maintenance jobs annually, both at yards as well as in ports and during voyage.

About DAMEN Shipyards Galati
Damen Shipyards Galati (DSGa), set over 55 hectares, this year celebrates its 125th anniversary. Since becoming part of the Damen Shipyards Group, the yard has delivered 29 defence and security vessels to thirteen different countries, including NATO and EU members. It also has built anchor handlers, coast guard vessels, patrol ships/navy vessels, combi-freighters and container feeders, RoRo ships, ferries, dredgers and barges. Signature DAMEN vessels like the ASD Tug 3212 regularly roll off the Galati slipway on the Danube.

As well as workboats, crew and cargo vessels, DSGa has rapidly built up a diverse reference list of vessels at the top end of Damen’s product portfolio. Noteworthy vessels include the 205 m Joint Support Ship ‘Karel Doorman’ for the Royal Netherlands Navy, the first 28 m full-hybrid tug for Dutch towage company Iskes, the Flemish government’s research vessel ‘Simon Stevin’ and Jumbo’s heavy lift vessel ‘Fairplayer’. More recently, DSGa completed six DAMEN PSV 3300s for Norwegian offshore company World Wide Supply, of which the first four are under charter for Brazil’s oil and gas major Petrobras and two will work the North Sea.

As well as the group’s quality standards, DSGa has integrated a Quality Policy System in its management processes. The system is accredited by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance based on the ISO 9001:2008, OHSAS 18001:2008 and ISO 14001:2005 requirements.

To reduce delivery times substantially, DSGa builds a wide variety of standard hulls on spec and keeps them in stock. Part of the DAMEN approach to shipbuilding – the DAMEN Standard – these vessels can be configured with various options to suit customer demands. The approach strikes the right balance between standardisation and custom builds. In addition, DSGa regularly fabricates and stocks hulls for completion at other DAMEN yards.