Norwegian company specializing in the distribution of fish feed, Eidsvaag, has contracted Damen to carry out a conversion of a platform supply vessel into a fish feed carrier.
Damen Shiprepair Amsterdam (DSAm) will conduct the conversion work.
“ One of the main things that made Damen stand out as a strong candidate in the tender process was their previous experience with the vessel, ” said Vidar Eidsvaag , general manager and owner at Eidsvaag.
The vessel, now renamed Eidsvaag Opal, was part of a six-vessel order Damen built for the offshore supply company, World Wide Supply, and was delivered in 2013.
The Eidsvaag Opal arrived at the yard in the final weeks of 2019, where the stripping soon got underway. The first order of business was the removal of the main deck, after which the vessel was cut in half and the sub-contractor Mammoet moved the aft section of the vessel 10 meters back in order to allow space for the fitting of the new 4.9-meter section.
31 new steel sections are now being inserted into the hull and divided into sponsons and the new big bag hold. In total, 650 tonnes of new steel will be fabricated by Niron Staal, Damen’s specialist steel fabricator, and installed in Eidsvaag Opal while it is in drydock at DSAm.
300 tons of redundant ship’s structure will also be removed as part of the conversion process.
The project will also include increasing the beam with side boxes to give additional stability and extra cargo capacity. Each side box will be 1.2 meters.
Damen will install 35 silos as well as cargo holds. When complete, the vessel will be able to transport 2,800 tons of feed at a time. There will also be 5 new cranes as well as the discharger installed.
“ It is really helping speed up the project with Damen already being familiar with the design of the ship, ” continued Vidar. “Of course, there were other reasons for their success in the tender process. In addition to knowledge of the actual vessel, Damen was able to demonstrate the successful completion of a relevant conversion for the aquaculture industry.”
“ We really appreciate the close cooperation that we have with the client ,” added Tjeerd Schulti ng, managing director at DSAm. “We sailed with the client for a trip, which is something that we do not often have the opportunity to do, and it gave us a close understanding of the way the client works. This project really is a joint effort between the client and ourselves.”