Damen’s Gorinchem shipyard to undergo major upgrade

Damen Shipyards Group is to upgrade its Gorinchem yard by adding more repair facilities and a 150-tonne ship lift. Preparations are already under way for the project that is geared to boosting the Netherland’s maritime manufacturing sector and is due for completion late next year.

As part of a wider restructuring of the company’s facilities in the Netherlands, the entire workforce at Hardinxveld-Giessendam – about 70 people in total – will be transferred to the Gorinchem yard. By then, Gorinchem will be an optimal location for design, construction, maintenance, repair and conversion of ships up to 90m in length, the company said in a statement.

The new facilities, particularly the ship lift, will give more flexibility, according to Jos van Woerkum, managing director at the Hardinxveld facility. “We are seeing how, in the future, more work will be done for Dutch customers in the Netherlands,” he said.

“There is no room for further growth at our yard in Hardinxveld-Giessendam and so we are turning to Gorinchem … This means we will have a lot more options than at our yard in Hardinxveld where we have a 40-tonne ship lift. As a result, we can respond to rising demand from local companies in the region, who have been customers in our hometown of Hardinxveld from the very beginning.”

The shipyard group will maintain a presence in Hardinxveld-Giessendam where about 90 people working for Damen Marine Components will be based.