Page 102 - Damen Shipyards Group

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“WE’RE GETTING FASTER
ALL THE TIME. ONCE UPON
A TIME, CLEANING A SHIP’S
HULL WAS A MAJOR JOB.
NOWADAYS, WE CAN
COMPLETE ONE SIDE OF A
300-METRE VESSEL IN UNDER
FOUR HOURS.”

Fast, talented response
“There’s a bit of a juggling act with a lot of what we do. Alongside “This is what I mean when I talk about our people being able to
precision, our clients are also looking for speed. The point of port maintain their professionalism and quality in such a dynamic
repair is to get a vessel safely underway again without the time- environment. We’re getting faster all the time. Once upon a time,
costly experience of a drydocking. I’m very proud of our track-record cleaning a ship’s hull was a major job. Nowadays, we can complete
in providing timely solutions in a manner that exceeds expectation.” one side of a 300-metre vessel in under four hours.”

He offers a number of examples, including one very recently that So far, so good then, for this relatively new Damen entity, but how
saw a vessel in Le Havre requiring fast hull repairs in order to be able does Jozeph intend to measure that things continue to head in this
to sail again. “Our inspection suggested we would need eleven days direction during the upcoming drive for expansion.
to do it. The port authority was convinced that was not enough time.
In the end, we did it in seven days. We’re a 24-hour operation, we “We will know from our clients whether we are doing things in a
don’t stop until the work is done. way that suits them. At the moment, it’s clear they are happy with
our work. We can see this in the way we attract new clients and
“Another example recently was the replacement of a valve on a returning clients alike. I intend to make sure that, wherever in the
crossover tank in South Africa. With Damen’s facilities in Cape Town world someone calls upon Damen Harbour & Voyage Repair, they
we were able to pre-fabricate the part and, upon the vessel’s arrival, can count on getting the high standard of service they expect from
replace it within just three hours. our name, now and in the future.”