Damen Shipyards Group recently held a keel-laying ceremony for the CEMEX Go Innovation at DAMEN Shipyards Mangalia in Romania. The vessel is the first DAMEN MAD – the next generation of marine aggregate dredgers. The construction of the new vessel is drawing upon collaboration with multiple companies within the DAMEN Group, as well was with external partners, working together towards the development of a new standard in marine aggregate dredging, the company said in its press release.
Damen has designed the future-proof vessel for long-lasting durability for operations in North Sea conditions over the coming decades. Particular attention has been paid to sustainability, safety and performance. The MAD will extract sand and gravel from the seabed at up to -55 metres.
During the ceremony, CEMEX Marine Fleet Engineering Manager Mark Williams undertook the traditional role of welding the coins. On this occasion the coins used were a British Pound, a Dutch Guilder and a Romanian Leu, commemorating respectively the regional base of the client, the home country of the shipbuilder and the location of the shipyard.
The keel-laying is the first to take place since DAMEN began the operational management of the shipyard now known as DAMEN Shipyards Mangalia in July this year. The yard, on the Black Sea coast, has three drydocks with a total length of 982 metres and 1.6 kilometres of berthing space. The 48 and 60 metre wide docks provide DAMEN with the capacity to cater for larger maritime vessels and structures.
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.