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While Air Defence and Command Frigate HNLMS De Ruyter was leaving the Damen Shiprepair Vlissingen (DSV) yard, HNLMS Karel Doorman was just on its way to Vlissingen-Oost. The Joint Logistic Support Ship (JSS) arrived on 20 March for the second Planned Maintenance Programme (BO2) and the first Sustainment Programme (IP1).
Text: Eefje Koppers
DSV Project Manager Stefan van Damme.
DSV is the main contractor for the project and is being assisted by several other Damen divisions. For example, later this spring the ship will enter dry dock at Damen Shiprepair Rotterdam, and Damen Naval will take on part of the engineering for the Sustainment Programme. “The second planned maintenance can be briefly described as a ten-year service overhaul, and the sustainment programme as modifications to the ship to keep it up to date with the times,” explains DSV Project Manager Stefan van Damme. “As part of the sustainment programme, new defence systems will be installed, and the hardware and software of various monitoring systems will be renewed.”
In addition, the ship’s interior will be inspected; the entire exterior hull will be repainted; the RHIB davits will be replaced, along with newly installed shell doors in front of them to provide more protection against incoming seawater.
For Stefan, this is his first project for DSV. He worked in the oil and gas industry until 2018, then moved to Damen Yachting where he first worked as a project manager and later as a tender manager for refits. “As a tender manager, I missed the dynamics of the projects and the connection with the production environment. I saw a job opening at DSV and was immediately able to take on this project. It is my first naval project and the largest naval project the company has received so far.”
HNLMS Karel Doorman is currently at DSV for its second Scheduled Maintenance Programme and its first Sustainment Programme.
In this case, Stefan says the challenge lies not so much in the work itself, but rather in the different parties involved. “That makes it fun, varied and challenging.” From the Royal Netherlands Navy, these include the Directorate of Materiel Sustainment (DMI) for the BO2, COMMIT for the sustainment programme, and those responsible for the onboard systems installation. Other parties involved are Damen Naval and Damen Shipyards Den Helder for the engineering of the modifications, as well as subcontractors and suppliers, and classification society DNV.
Stefan: “In total, around 80 subcontractors are involved in the project. At the moment we are working with around 100 people on the project, but I expect that to increase to around 300 during the docking period in Rotterdam. All of that has to be coordinated, and that makes this an incredibly interesting project. It’s going to be a great job.”