Lady sponsor Annemie van der Ven- Scheeren, who named the ‘Coastal Voyager’ of Acta Marine in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) on 28th February, has not taken her task lightly. The spouse of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Acta Marine not only wished vessel and crew well, but also held a marvellous speech on the history of inauguration customs. Beforehand, she took the opportunity to go on board to witness the trial of the Damen Shoalbuster 3209 Coastal Voyager.
In a way the inauguration took place in an historic environment: that of Het Scheepvaartmuseum (the National Maritime Museum) at the Amsterdam city centre. Both shipbuilder Damen Shipyards Hardinxveld and customer Acta Marine look back on a festive event of the new Shoalbuster, which was delivered precisely on the contract date. “That is customary”, remarked Damen Shipyards Hardinxveld MD Jos van Woerkum, who added that the multi-purpose vessel has been custom-built to do the dredging and marine contacting projects on hand. The Costal Voyager is planned to be deployed for offshore wind farm projects in the North Sea.
More vessels
Acta Marine MD Govert-Jan van Oord says that it is possible to deploy the Shoalbuster anchor handling tug elsewhere, in case its assistance is needed. “End last year, early this year, we also bought three of these older vessels from the existing Damen Marine Services charter fleet. The fourth one is newbuild. In fact it is the fifth of the series, as Damen Shipyards Hardinxveld delivered the Shoalbuster Coastal Vanguard December, 2010.”
Van Oord proudly added that – having five Shoalbuster vessels deployed – Acta Marine can be considered as being one of the larger players worldwide in the dredging and marine contracting market, in the oil and gas industry and in the market for offshore wind. Its Shoalbusters 2609 are deployed in the Persian Gulf. The third of the series Shoalbuster 3209 – active in Singapore – and the new vessel are larger: 3,300 horsepower units and a Bollard Pull of 45-50 tonnes. These two vessels are the sister ships of the Coastal Vanguard.
Acta Marine
Acta Marine is an independent maritime services provider based in the Netherlands. The company owns and operates more than 40 vessels.
Damen Shipyards Group
Damen Shipyards Group (est. 1927) operates more than 50 shipyards, repair yards and related companies
worldwide. Damen employs over 7,000 people in 35 countries, has delivered over 5,000 vessels since 1969 and
delivers some 150 vessels annually to worldwide customers. Based on its unique, standardised ship-design concept
and short delivery times, Damen is able to guarantee consistent quality.
Damen’s focus on standardisation, modular construction and keeping vessels in stock leads to short delivery times,
low ‘total cost of ownership’, high resale value, proven technology and reliable performance. Damen offers a wide
range of products, including: tugs, workboats, patrol vessels, high speed craft, cargo vessels, dredgers, offshore
support vessels, oil-spill response vessels, frigates and super yachts. For nearly all vessel types Damen offers
a broad range of Services, such as Lifecycle Maintenance Services, Customer Finance, Training and transfer of
(shipbuilding) knowledge.
In addition to ship design and shipbuilding, Damen Shiprepair & Conversion offers a network of 14 ship repair &
conversion yards worldwide, most of which are conveniently located along the North Sea coast from Brest (France)
to Gothenburg (Sweden). Damen Shiprepair & Conversion operates dry docks of all types and sizes and offers
onsite/onboard repair services. Conversion projects range from refitting small fishing vessels into private yachts to
the complete conversion or rebuilding of large jack-up rigs.
