For the first time, Damen has established a presence in Finland. The Helsinki office has been set up to take advantage of the engineering expertise that exists in the country.
The move follows the group’s entry last year into building large vessels for the RoPax, cruise and offshore markets via its new Romanian yard, Damen Shipyards Mangalia. The new office is to augment and extend Damen’s engineering capability in this market segment.
Leading in Ice-class Cruise Vessels
Finland was selected as the location because, along with Italy, Germany and France, it is one of the leading countries in the world in the design and build of cruise and RoPax vessels. This in combination with particular expertise in ice-class vessels, a growing segment of the cruise market. Thanks to good connections with Poland and the Netherlands, optimal collaboration is possible between the Damen engineering entities situated in Gdansk and Rotterdam.
Damen Engineering Helsinki Oy will focus on concept and basic engineering with an initial target of around thirty people to be based there by the end of 2020 working in close cooperation with their colleagues within Damen.
Local Cooperation
The office is also intended as a showcase for Damen in Finland and will seek collaboration with local, specialised maritime engineering entities. To do so, Damen has selected a recently renovated building in a central location in Helsinki.
Cruise and RoRo Vessel
'We are now focused on building the team,' said Damen’s Frank Rebel, 'and we already have two projects to start with: a cruise vessel and a RoRo vessel. Members of Damen’s Helsinki team will have the opportunity to add real value to these and other projects in the future.'
Picture: Damen Engineering Helsinki is already working on the group’s first newbuild cruise ship, 155-metre, Polar Code 6 Class Mega Yacht Seadream Innovation.
