Damen Shipyards Bergum sees market revival ahead

Combi Freighter 3850 Nordvliet

MAY 22, 2014 — The shipbuiders at Damen Shipyard Bergum in the Dutch province of Friesland are not sitting on their laurels after the recent deliveries and christenings of two Damen Combi Freighters 3850 (the Noordvliet and Zuidvliet) and the Damen Combi Coaster 2500 MV Anita.

“We are seeing a real market for smaller vessels and an interest in the vessels we build,” says Remko Bouma of Damen Shipyards Bergum.

The specialized yard builds vessels in Damen’s 8200, 2500 and 3850 series, as well as other products in its portfolio.

The Combi Freighters 3850 Noordvliet and Zuidvliet have already been deployed in regular service from the Baltic States to the Black Sea, where their sister ships previously supplied by Damen have already proven themselves.

The Combi Freighters 3850 generally transport project-specific, bulk and non-bulk cargoes.

The Noordvliet and Zuidvliet showed what they could do on their maiden voyages, transporting parts and equipment for wind farms from Germany to the Mediterranean region. Both ships had cargo on both of their two cargo decks.

In his remarks at the christening of another recent Bergum delivery, the MV Anita, Erik Schultz, the yard’s Commercial Director, echoed Remko Bouma’s positive interpretation of the market.

The Anita, a Damen Combi Coaster 2500 sea/river vessel has been chartered by Vertom USC Holding, a Rotterdam-based tramp shipping agency.

Among other things, MV Anita can transport 54 TEU or a total of 2,500 tonnes of dry bulk goods, steel, or other types of cargo. The sea/river vessel runs routes between the U.K. and ports in continental Europe. It incorporates various “eco” features that allow it to be operatedmuch more fuel efficiently than its predecessors in the same class.