The Damen Group is a Dutch defence,

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

, and engineering

conglomerate company A conglomerate () is a type of multi-industry company that consists of several different and unrelated business entities that operate in various industries. A conglomerate usually has a parent company that owns and controls many subsidiaries, ...

based in

Gorinchem Gorinchem ( ), pronunciation respelling, also spelled Gorkum, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. It had a population of in . The munici ...

, Netherlands. Though it is a major international group doing business in 120 countries, it remains a private family-owned company. Damen Shipyards Group is a globally operating company with more than 50 shipyards, repair yards, and related companies − as well as numerous partner yards that can build Damen vessels locally. Since 1969 it has designed and built more than 5,000 vessels and delivers over 150 vessels annually. With over 30 shipyards and related companies worldwide, Damen is involved in ship construction as well as maintenance and repair activities. It has a wide product range, including

tugs A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, such ...

, workboats, patrol craft, cargo vessels,

dredge Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing ...

rs,

superyacht A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts, but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts, ranging from to ...

s and fast

ferries A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

. Product design and engineering are carried out in-house and a broad range of designs are available.

History

Overview

Damen was established in 1927 in the town of Hardinxveld-Giessendam in the Netherlands by Jan and Marinus Damen. The two brothers ran a successful, mainly Dutch-oriented, shipyard for decades. Over the years they managed to build up a small, but loyal customer-base. Damen Shipyards Hardinxveld, located about 10 km from the Damen Group headquarters in Gorinchem, still exists today. It is specialised in designing and building workboats, especially 'multi cats' and shoalbusters. In 1969 Jan Damen's son, Kommer Damen, took over. In July 2023 it was reported that Damen Marine Components had been awarded a contract by

Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish corporation, Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the Marine propulsion, marine and energy markets. The core ...

to provide steering equipment for two landing platform docks (LPD) that will be built at

ASMAR The Astilleros y Maestranzas de la Armada ''(English: Navy Shipyards and Armories)'', better known by the acronym ASMAR, is a Chilean state-owned shipbuilding company with autonomous administration, which provides services to the Chilean Navy, mai ...

for the

Chilean Navy The Chilean Navy () is the naval warfare service branch of the Chilean Armed Forces. It is under the Ministry of National Defense (Chile), Ministry of National Defense. Its headquarters are at Edificio Armada de Chile, Valparaiso. History Ori ...

World Bank Debarment

On March 16, 2016, the

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Group ...

announced its debarment of Damen Shipyards Gorinchem for 18 months. As stated in a press release on the World Bank official website : ''"The company engaged in a fraudulent practice under the West Africa Regional Fisheries Program"'' The sanction follows an agreement between the World Bank and Damen Shipyards Gorinchem hence a reduced debarment of 18 months, as stated : ''"Damen has cooperated with the World Bank’s investigation and has taken remedial action, including strengthening its corporate compliance program"''

Statistics

Key figures and statistics for Damen Shipyards Group in/as of 2015 include: Annual turnover: 2.1 billion Euro Damen Shipyard Group: 32 yards worldwide * The Netherlands: 14 * Abroad: 18 Employees: 9,000 worldwide * The Netherlands: 3,000 * International: 6,000 Annual deliveries 2015: 180 * Tugs / Workboats: 82 * Offshore Vessels: 8 * High Speed Craft & Ferries: 62 * Pontoons & Barges: 10 * Dredging & Specials: 15 * Naval & Yachts: 5 * Stock hulls: >200 Total number of deliveries since 1969: * 6,000 ships Key Figures Damen Shiprepair & Conversion 2015 Annual turnover (2015) : 500 million EUR Damen Shiprepair & Conversion: 15 yards in 6 countries * 40 dry docks * Largest dock 420 x 80 m Employees: 1,500 * Delivered projects (2015): >1,500 repair, maintenance, refit and conversion projects

Divisions

* Damen Shipyards Gorinchem — in

, an independent member of the Damen Shipyards Group. * Royal Schelde;

Warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is used for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the navy branch of the armed forces of a nation, though they have also been operated by individuals, cooperatives and corporations. As well as b ...

division. * Amels Division;

Superyacht A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts, but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts, ranging from to ...

division, based in

Vlissingen Vlissingen (; ) is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the southwestern Netherlands on the island of Walcheren. With its strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea, Vlissingen has been an importan ...

and part of Damen Group since 1991.

Products

Warships

Currently produced

Frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

s: ** ** ''Anti-Submarine Warfare Frigate'' class *

Corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

s: ** *

Patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and they ...

**''Crossovers'' ** ''Stan patrol'' vessel (Patrol, emergency response, search and rescue) **Military: ***OPV 1800, OPV 2200, OPV 2600 **Coast guard: ***OPV 1400, OPV 1800, OPV 2400, OPV 9014 **''FCS 4008 ( XV Patrick Blackett)'', Romanian Border Police **Interceptors: ***''Interceptor 3007, Interceptor 1503 FRP, Interceptor 1102 FRP'' **Military RHIB * Amphibious: **Landing Platform Docks '' Enforcer'' **Landing vessels: ***''Landing ships (Stan Lander 5612, LSL 80, LSL 90, LST 100, LST 120, LST 120H)'' ***ESB1604 / **Assault crafts: ***FAC 1604 *Support vessels ** ''Den Helder'' class **''LSS 9000'' **''LSS 11000''

Produced in the past

s: ** ** ** *

Patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

s: ** ** ''Warrior'' class inshore patrol vessel *

Amphibious transport dock An amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform dock (LPD), is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. Several navies currently oper ...

s: ** * Support ships ** ''Karel Doorman'' class ( joint support) ** ( logistic support) ** (submarine support) *Training vessels ** *Research vessels: ** ** *Tugboats: **

In development

* drone-carrying Multi-Purpose Support Ship (MPSS) ** ''MPSS 7000'' (multi-purpose support vessel) *

Replenishment oiler A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. Th ...

: ** ''Den Helder'' class *

s: ** Anti Submarine Warfare Frigate **MKS 180 ( F126 – ''Niedersachsen'' class)

Freighters

Container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

s (Damen Container Feeder) * Tankers (Damen Tanker) *

Heavy-lift ship A heavy-lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be transported by normal ships. They are of two types: *''Semi-submersible'' ships that take on water ballast to allow the load—usually another vessel—to be fl ...

(Damen HLV) *

Cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

(Damen Combi Freighter and Combi Coaster)

Passenger ships

Catamaran A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a watercraft with two parallel hull (watercraft), hulls of equal size. The wide distance between a catamaran's hulls imparts stability through resistance to rolling and overturning; no ballast is requi ...

s *

Ropax Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or usi ...

— & MV ''Legionnaire'' (2015–2016)

Superyachts

* (1986) * (1988) * (2016)

Mining

* ''Benguela Gem'' (2022)

Customers

US Coast Guard

The

US Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, mi ...

Sentinel-class

Fast Response Cutter (FRC-B) The Sentinel-class cutter, also known as the Fast Response Cutter or FRC due to its program name, is part of the United States Coast Guard's Deepwater program. At , it is similar to, but larger than, the lengthened 1980s-era s that it replaces. ...

long, and capable of speeds of over is based on the Damen 4708 design, and will be built by the

Bollinger Shipyards Bollinger Shipyards is an American constructor of ships, workboats and patrol vessels. Its thirteen shipyards and forty drydocks are located in Louisiana and Texas. Its drydocks range in capacity from vessels of 100 tons displacement to 22,000 t ...

of Lockport, Louisiana. The firm fixed-price contract for the first ship is worth €88m (

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

120m); the approximate maximum value of the contract, if all options are exercised for a total of 34 patrol boats, is €1.5 billion ($2 billion) over a period of between six and eight years.

Canadian Coast Guard

On September 2, 2009, the Ministry of Public Works and Government Services of Canada announced that nine mid-shore patrol ships based on a 'Canadianized' version of the Damen Stan Patrol 4207 would be built by

Irving Shipbuilding Irving Shipbuilding Inc. is a Canadian shipbuilder and in-service support provider. The company operates as a subsidiary of J.D. Irving Limited. As of 2024, Irving Shipbuilding employs over 2100 shipbuilders. Irving Shipbuilding owns two shipya ...

in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

for use by the

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; ) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues in Canadian waters, such as navigation aids and i ...

in conjunction with the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

. The Canadian

Department of Fisheries and Oceans Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO; ) is a department of the Government of Canada that is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada's economic, ecological and scientific interests in oceans and inland ...

had originally wanted twelve patrol craft.

De Beers Marine Namibia

In 2019, Damen Shipyards was hired by De Beers Marine Namibia to build a 177 meter diamond mining vessel, which would be the largest of its kind, for $468 million. The vessel was completed in 2022 and named ''Benguela Gem''. It is used for subsea diamond extraction from depths of between 90 and 150 meters off the coast of Namibia. The diamonds are then processed using the vessel's onboard equipment.

Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard

Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard The Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard (DCCG) ( (''KWCARIB'')) is the coast guard of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Dutch Caribbean. The unit is a joint effort of all constituent countries within the Kingdom. Prior to the dissolution of the Neth ...

operates three Damen Stan Patrol 4100 vessels.

Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Coast Guard

On October 27, 2005, the JDF Coast Guard commissioned HMJS ''Cornwall'', the first of three Damen 4207 vessels (termed County class by the JDFCG). The second County-class vessel, HMJS ''Middlesex'', was commissioned on April 7, 2006. The third and final vessel, HMJS ''Surrey'', was commissioned on June 26, 2007. The vessels are dubbed County class as they are named after the three counties of Jamaica. On June 25, 2020, the JDF Coast Guard commissioned HMJS ''Nanny of the Maroons'', a Damen FCS 5009 Cutter. The vessel is named after the Jamaican National Hero

Nanny of the Maroons Nanny of the Maroons Order of National Hero (Jamaica), ONH (c. 1686 – c. 1760), also known as Queen Nanny and Granny Nanny, was a Jamaican revolutionary and leader of the Jamaican Maroons. She led a community of formerly-enslaved escapees, the ...

Hong Kong Marine Police

The Marine Region of the Hong Kong Police Force is having Stan 2600 patrol boats built by Damen. Damen Mk I boats were used in Hong Kong and now retired after Keka-class patrol boats were delivered.

Ecuadorian Coast Guard

In November 2011 the Ecuadorian Coast Guard ordered Damen Stan 2606 patrol vessels, to be built in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

by Astinave.

Vietnam Coast Guard / Vietnam Maritime search and Rescue Coordination Center

Damen Group has already delivered some Damen Stan 4207 patrol vessels for

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

missions managed by the Vietnam Maritime search and Rescue Coordination Center (VN MRCC) under the Vietnam National Maritime Bureau and reporting to the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

. The Vietnam Coast Guard also cooperated with Damen Group to build large vessels with Dutch license, such as one offshore patrol vessel 9014, one hydrographic survey vessel 6613, four salvage tugs 6412. These vessels will be built in Vietnam by the Song Thu company.

Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard

Damen Group has already delivered 3 of 12 vessels purchased by the

Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard The Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It consists of the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment, the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, the ...

. A coastal patrol vessel (CPV) CG 25, interceptor (vessel) and supply vessels were delivered in July to strengthen border security and stop the illegal flow of guns, ammunition and drugs into the country.

Group Companies

Damen is a large group. Some of the group companies are: * Amels * Albwardy Damen Sharjah * Damen Dredging Equipment * Damen Marine Services * Damen Schelde Marine Services *

Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding Damen Naval is a Dutch shipyard, and a continuation of the Koninklijke Maatschappij De Schelde, responsible for a number of ships used by the Royal Netherlands Navy. It is owned by the Damen Group. Damen Naval is situated in Vlissingen. History ...

* Damen Shiprepair Amsterdam * Damen Shiprepair Brest * Damen Shiprepair Curaçao * Damen Shiprepair Harlingen * Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam * Damen Shiprepair Vlissingen * Damen Shipyards Bergum * Damen Shipyards Cape Town * Damen Shipyards Den Helder *

Damen Shipyards Galați Damen is German language, German for "Ladies". More specifically, it may refer to: Surname *Damen (surname), a Dutch surname Given name *Damen Auguste, a character from "The Immortals" novels *Damen Shaw (born 1974), Australian rules footballer * ...

* Damen Shipyards Gorinchem * Damen Shipyards Hardinxveld * Damen Shipyards Koźle * Damen Shipyards Mangalia * Damen Shipyards Singapore * Damen Trading * Damen Maaskant Shipyards Stellen * Damen Shipyards Antalya * Damen Shipyards Turkey * Damen Shiprepair Oranjewerf * Damen Verolme Rotterdam * Nakilat Damen Shipyards Qatar * Damen Engineering Gdansk

References

{{Authority control Defence companies of the Netherlands Multinational companies headquartered in the Netherlands Gorinchem Hardinxveld-Giessendam Manufacturing companies established in 1927 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1927 Dutch brands Dutch companies established in 1927 Shipbuilding companies of the Netherlands