The Dutch family-owned tug and workboat company Herman Senior BV has ordered its 12th Damen vessel, a Multi Cat 2712, which will be officially launched and christened ‘Panda’ on March 23, 2017.
Herman Senior has a tradition of naming its ships after famous bears. Panda is expected to be ready for work in four weeks.
Jack van Dodewaard, Herman Senior Managing Director, said: “The new Multi Cat 2712 has the big advantage that she is suited for deepsea work and can sail worldwide under her own keel. At the moment we have our vessels in Latin America, Australia, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe so this new addition will add to our flexibility.
“Our current Damen Multi Cat ‘Yogi’ has a working limit of 30 miles offshore. She has been active in South America for three years so in the first instance we had to go to the expense of transporting her over there.”
Based in Dordrecht, Herman Senior serves the dredging market, offshore wind farms and the oil & gas industry, with services including towage, plough dredging, anchor handling, geotechnical services, diving support and salvage & anchor recovery, amongst others.
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The Multi Cat 2712 has a bollard pull of 32 tonnes and two 290 tonnes/metres cranes on board with a lifting capacity of 11.5 tonnes at 16.5 metres, so is suitable for a wide range of tasks. Panda is largely a standard Damen vessel, which has been built for stock, although some extra navigational equipment has been added.
Jos van Woerkum, Managing Director of Damen Shipyards Hardinxveld, said: “I have personally known Jack for more than 40 years when I was just starting my career at Damen. We are very pleased to be able to assist the company with its latest fleet expansion. It is great that he is still a satisfied customer all these years later. We have a relationship based on trust, they know if we promise to do something, we do what we say.”
