Dutch shipbuilder Damen Shipyards Group has opened a new engineering center in Helsinki, establishing its presence in Finland for the first time.
As informed, the new office has been set up in order for Damen “to take advantage of the depth of engineering expertise that exists in the country”.
This follows Damen’s last year’s entry into building large vessels for the RoPax, cruise and offshore markets via its new Romanian yard, Damen Shipyards Mangalia .
“The new office will augment and extend Damen’s engineering capability in this market segment,” the group said.
Damen further said it selected Finland as it is, along with Italy, Germany and France, one of the leading countries in the world in the design and construction of cruise and RoPax vessels. It also has expertise in ice-class vessels, a growing segment of the cruise market.
What is more, the new unit would be able to collaborate between the Damen engineering entities in Gdansk and Rotterdam.
Damen Engineering Helsinki Oy will focus on concept and basic engineering with an initial target of around 30 people to be based there by the end of 2020, the shipbuilding group informed.
“We are now focused on building the team and we already have two projects to start with: a cruise vessel and a RoRo vessel,” Damen’s Frank Rebel commented.
Damen Shipyards Group currently operates 36 shipbuilding and repair yards.