First things first: let’s congratulate Damen Shiprepair Vlissingen (DSV) on scoring the biggest project in the company’s history. “This was very much a team effort involving many people who have been working on this for at least a year,” says DSV’s Commercial Manager Jeroen Schotel. “This involved several departments: the legal team who were helping us almost on a daily basis, the project managers and their team who worked on the planning of the project, in addition to the procurement and compliance teams.”

The project in question is the interior and exterior outfitting of the REV Ocean: a state-of-the-art research and expedition vessel. The 194.9-metre-long vessel was constructed by VARD in Norway and arrived at DSV on 8 March. At the beginning of April, the vessel was moved into DSV’s covered drydock. “This project will last for at least 18 months, during which time we expect to have around four or five hundred people working on the vessel at the peak of activities. Besides our own team, these will be from the numerous subcontractors and suppliers, working together to finish the interior and exterior of the vessel in yacht quality,” Jeroen says.

The contract signing (from left): Bas Loohuis (Commercial Director Damen Shiprepair), Michiel de Vliegher (Managing Director DSV), Jeroen Heesters (Managing Director Damen Shiprepair), Violetta Kegeian (Head of Legal Damen Shiprepair), Jeroen Schotel (Commercial Manager DSV), George Gill (Project Director & Owner’s Representative for REV Ocean) and Wesley de Marco (Project Manager DSV). The contract signing (from left): Bas Loohuis (Commercial Director Damen Shiprepair), Michiel de Vliegher (Managing Director DSV), Jeroen Heesters (Managing Director Damen Shiprepair), Violetta Kegeian (Head of Legal Damen Shiprepair), Jeroen Schotel (Commercial Manager DSV), George Gill (Project Director & Owner’s Representative for REV Ocean) and Wesley de Marco (Project Manager DSV).

The REV Ocean is the largest yacht in the world. This means that DSV’s work over the coming period will yield some undoubtedly impressive stats. “The ship was delivered from the construction yard as a more commercial platform with, of course, a steel hull,” continues DSV Managing Director Michiel de Vliegher. “So a large part of our work will be to give the REV Ocean a mirror-smooth yacht finish; across every part of its 10,000 square metre hull.”

With such a large and lengthy project taking place at DSV over at least the next 18 months, how is the team approaching the extensive scope of work? “We are going to be running a marathon with this project, when we are used to performing in sprints. We will be taking this into account in our work methods and organisation on this long-term project,” Michiel says. He goes on to say that securing such a high profile and high-quality project has “put us firmly on the map, increasing our visibility in the yacht outfitting and refit market”. This once again raises the question about whether to invest in a second covered dock at DSV’s facilities. “The demand from the market shows that with our one covered dock, we are already fully booked. A second covered dock is more than desirable, it is almost a necessity,” concludes Michiel.

Upon arrival in March, REV Ocean sailed past the boulevard of Vlissingen. Upon arrival in March, REV Ocean sailed past the boulevard of Vlissingen.

Want to find out more about the REV Ocean?
The Schelde Schakels will be visiting DSV over the next year and a half to report more of the details of the substantial REV Ocean project. The vessel has its own website. In the meantime, here are the main specs.
Length: 194.9 metres
Beam: 22 metres
Draught: 5.7 metres
Air draught: 38 metres
Power: 13 MW

REV Ocean’s highlights include:
A three-person acrylic submersible capable of depths of 2,300 metres
A 6,000-metre depth-rated tethered ROV
Airbus ACH145 helicopter
A wide array of acoustic sensors
Onboard laboratories preservation, processing, analyses and storage of specimens.
7.7 x 5 metre moon pool

To overview