The Dutch Naval Maintenance and Sustainment Agency (Directie Materiële Instandhouding, DMI) is responsible for maintaining the Royal Netherlands Navy’s ships and has selected Nevesbu as its engineering partner. In the coming years, Nevesbu will provide multidisciplinary engineering services for all Dutch navy ships.
To maintain the Royal Netherlands Navy’s ships for as long as possible and ensure optimal performance with safe and reliable equipment, many projects are in the pipeline in the coming years.
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Fleet-wide engineering support
DMI and Nevesbu have a long history. Nevesbu has had a framework contract with DMI for the maintenance of the Walrus-class submarines for many years. The company has also been commissioned by DMI to help maintain a large number of surface ships. The modernisation of air defence and command frigate HNLMS Evertsen is a recent example.
The “fleet-wide engineering support” framework contract covers both submarines and surface ships and runs for 48 months. After that, the framework contract can be extended twice for another twelve months. Examples of multidisciplinary engineering services that Nevesbu will provide to DMI include ship structure designs and mechanical and electrical installations.
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Complex projects
DMI will outsource various engineering work to Nevesbu in the coming years. The work is characterised by technical complexity. The missions for which the naval vessels are deployed are crucial. In addition, the safety of the crew must be guaranteed at all times. The requirements for naval vessels are extremely stringent.
In existing ships, it is often a complex puzzle to fit everything in the space available. Designing naval vessels really requires specialist knowledge. Nevesbu has been designing submarines and naval vessels since 1935 and has that knowledge in-house.
DMI says: ‘Nevesbu plays an added role in supporting and delivering engineering products that are precisely tailored to DMI’s internal processes and products. This means a contribution to the success and to the efficiency and effectiveness of our own internal operational procedures. This synergy allows us to offer high-quality engineering solutions that seamlessly meet the needs of both our internal and external partners.’
‘We are proud that Nevesbu has been selected for this major framework contract and that we will contribute to increasing the material readiness of the Naval Forces Command,’ states Bart van Rijssen, managing director at Nevesbu. ‘We look forward to building on the good cooperation we already have.’
Picture: Nevesbu has had a framework contract with DMI for the maintenance of the Walrus-class submarines for many years (picture by Dutch Ministry of Defence).
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