Mr Kommer Damen, Chairman of Damen Shipyards Group, has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Seawork Innovation Awards Dinner. Seawork International is in its fifteenth year and is the largest European workboat event. Arnout Damen, COO of Damen Shipyards Group, accepted the award on Tuesday night on behalf of Kommer Damen from the hands of Ms Caroline Dinenage, MP.
In 1969 Kommer Damen took the helm of the family business (est. 1927) and its six workers and soon introduced several key concepts that have lasted to this day, among which are keeping vessels in stock and the standardisation of ship types and their supply chains. Furthermore, he introduced the modular shipbuilding concept for small (work)boats, which was later applied to bigger vessels, such as frigates and corvettes.
Today, Damen Shipyards Group is a successful global enterprise with more than 6000 employees in 35 countries. The family-owned company operates over forty shipyards, repair yards, joint ventures and related companies worldwide. Damen has designed and built over 5000 vessels for a wide range of markets and builds forty per cent of the world’s new tugs.
