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While Damen Shiprepair Vlissingen worked on 86 ships in 2025, that number is likely to be lower in 2026. However, there is a very good reason for this, Managing Director Michiel de Vliegher explains. “This year we have two exceptionally large projects: the outfitting of the research vessel REV Ocean and the second Appointed Maintenance and first Sustainment Programme of HNLMS Karel Doorman. REV Ocean has set the tone. It is a world of difference compared to ten years ago. Back then we handled one major project at a time, and what was considered large then, we would now classify as medium sized.”
Text: Eefje Koppers
REV Ocean has been in the covered Dock 2 since last year and will remain there for the rest of this year. The maintenance project of HNLMS Karel Doorman will take around eleven months in total, running until early 2027. For part of that period the vessel will be in the dry dock of Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam, although the project team will partly relocate to Rotterdam during that time. Michiel says, “The volume of work demands a lot from our team. We have the two major projects, but smaller jobs still come in intermittently. This means we will significantly scale up this year to around 600 to 700 people.”
It is a wide variety of vessels that come to DSV for maintenance or repair.
The activities at DSV range from regular maintenance and special surveys to refits and (de)mobilisation work, where vessels are temporarily modified for specific assignments. The variety is even greater when it comes to the vessels that berth or enter dry dock at the yard: tugboats, pontoons, dry cargo vessels, semi-submersible vessels, gas and bulk tankers, jack-ups, work islands, superyachts, naval vessels, and more.
“Last year we had the Moroccan SIGMA Sultan Moulay Ismail in dock for a project together with Damen Naval, and this year the Air Defence and Command Frigate HNLMS De Ruyter spent two weeks in dock for regular maintenance,” Michiel explains. “In the yacht segment we had a project return for the tenth time for maintenance and works, and it was the icing on the cake that we were able to secure REV Ocean last year. It confirms the years of commitment by our personnel to fully and reliably unburden customers on these types of ship projects. In our market, you are only as good as your last project.”
The Air Defence and Command frigate HNLMS De Ruyter recently spent two weeks in dry dock for routine maintenance.
In terms of location, DSV is situated at the crossroads of shipping traffic between Antwerp, Terneuzen, Ghent, Zeebrugge, and the Channel. As a result, the yard is also popular for so-called lay-by projects, where vessels berth for a short period of one to five days for yard support or quick maintenance that they carry out themselves. “These are quick fixes and the crew performs the maintenance themselves, but we facilitate it with a berth, safety provisions, power supply, cranes, and the like. We are the specialist garage around the corner.”
However, this specialist garage has another highly sought-after capability: the expertise to carry out hot work on tankers that are not free of cargo residues or gas. “We have all the permits and certifications required to perform this work safely,” says Michiel. “For example, we provided a permanent solution for a repeatedly occurring crack in a high sea chest. We sealed the crack with a so-called cofferdam. This solution resulted in minimal downtime and costs for the customer, because no gas freeing was required to carry out the hot work.”
DSV Managing Director Michiel de Vliegher.
Another key indicator of success for DSV is the number of Health and Safety incidents. “Despite the fact that we logged a very high number of working hours, we had virtually no incidents at the yard last year,” Michiel explains. “That is remarkable, because especially on large projects, where you have to hire in more people, the risk increases. So, we are proud that there were no serious incidents.” Contributing to safety at the yard is the large number of in-house emergency responders employed by DSV. “Out of 120 full-time employees, more than 50 are emergency responders. The reality is that we operate in a relatively heavy industry, and when something goes wrong, it is often serious. With so many trained responders, you also create awareness and further increase safety on the yard.”
Michiel has been at the helm of DSV for three years now, and his role has given him no shortage of reasons to enjoy his work. “I still enjoy it very much, especially the contact with customers and employees. There is certainly a sense of pride in what our organisation can achieve. Every time a vessel departs, I think: we’ve done a great job there.”