Thor at Damen Shipyards Dunkerque
The DP1 jack-up vessel Thor owned by the DEME Group has completed a short stay at Damen Shiprepair Dunkerque (DSDu). During her time at the yard her hull was repainted in the new DEME livery and her thrusters inspected.
Measuring 70 metres by 40 metres, she spent four days in one of the yard’s drydocks. A special docking solution was required due to the size of her aft thrusters, which are 3.825 metres high. Standard dock blocks are just 1.80 metres. Fortunately, her design supplied the answer as well as the problem, and her four legs were used to maintain the hull at the height required to keep the thrusters clear of the dock bed while the inspection was conducted. In order to spread the considerable load of each leg, wooden platforms were positioned beneath them to ensure that no damage was done to the dock. Following the successful completion of the assignment, Thor departed for Antwerp.
Carlos de Vliegere, Sales Manager for Belgium, commented: “Damen Shiprepair & Conversion (DSC) has an excellent relationship with the DEME Group. During 2014 and 2015 we drydocked and repaired 11 vessels for them.”
DSC’s ability to react quickly and deliver fast turnarounds with short lead times is valued by the client, as is the quality of the work. Additional projects that DSC has undertaken in the current year for DEME include a thorough maintenance, repair and survey programme in the spring for the 20, 000 tonne fallpipe vessel Flintstone, at Damen Shiprepair Amsterdam.
“At Damen we do our utmost best to continue and strengthen our relationship with the DEME group, ” added Carlos de Vliegere. “We look forward to receiving the next vessel for drydocking and maintenance at one of our yards.”
Damen Shipyards Group
Damen Shipyards Group operates 32 shipbuilding and repair yards, employing 9, 000 people worldwide. Damen has delivered more than 6, 000 vessels in more than 100 countries and delivers some 180 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, anchors, anchor chains and steel works.
In addition to ship design and shipbuilding, Damen Shiprepair & Conversion has a worldwide network of 15 repair and conversion yards with dry docks ranging up to 420 x 80 metres. Conversion projects range from adapting vessels to today’s requirements and regulations to the complete conversion of large offshore structures. DSC completes around 1, 500 repair and maintenance jobs annually.
