Damen strengthens position in Sweden

Damen Shipyards Group has entered a strategic partnership with Lazarus Industriförvaltning to expand its presence in the Swedish market.

In addition to the yard in Oskarshamn, Damen says customers can now also use the services of Stockholms Reparationsvarv, a full-service ship repair yard located in Stockholm, Sweden.

“Sweden has always been an important market for us,” says Martin Verstraaten of Damen Shipyards Group. “For the Swedish Coast Guard, for example, we are currently building seven patrol vessels which will eventually be shipped to our shipyard in Oskarshamn to install and test owner’s deliveries.

“We have an order in production for four icebreaking tugs for Försvarets Materielverk (FMV) to be delivered in the end to the Swedish Navy and, in addition, we are still closely working together with Saab Kockums on the replacement of the Dutch submarines.

“We have been working to increase our footprint in Sweden for some time now, initially through acquisitions. That did not yield any results and so we have now opted for a partnership with Stockholms Reparationsvarv and our largest steel supplier Eurosteel in Nybro.”

The partnership involved transferring the ownership of Damen’s Oskarshamn shipyard to Lazarus Industriförvaltning, which also owns the two other companies.

Claes Jonson, partner at Lazarus Industriförvaltning AB, comments: “We at Lazarus Industriförvaltning, together with our portfolio companies Eurosteel and Stockholms Reparationsvarv, are enthusiastic about this new partnership. Eurosteel already works closely together with Oskarshamnsvarvet, to deliver state-of-the-art solutions to our customers. Through these new arrangements and the combined footprint of Oskarshamnsvarvet and Stockholms Reparationsvarv, we will going forward have two well established ship repair yards on the Swedish east coast, providing further strengthened offering to existing and new customers.”

Verstraaten adds: “Damen Shipyards Group can now serve our customers in Sweden with service hubs in both Oskarshamn and Stockholm. Those service hubs are supported by Damen Services from the Netherlands and our New-Build Sales organization. In addition, we will also be supplying the Swedish market with our unique Damen Modular Barges (DMBs) from both locations. These are standard pontoons that you can assemble like Lego bricks to provide comprehensive floating solutions.”

Earlier this year (April 2023), Damen announced that it had joined forces with AkzoNobel and Philips to develop a fouling control solution that uses UV-C light technology to keep ships’ underwater hulls clean.