BUCHAREST (Romania), June 3 (SeeNews) – Damen Shipyards Mangalia, jointly owned by the Romanian state and Dutch group Damen, will start the construction of two hybrid propulsion RoRo ferries for Seaspan Ferries this year, Romania's economy ministry said on Monday.
Each of the two vessels of 149 metres in length has been designed to allow loading and transportation on corridors of total length of 1,034 meters, the ministry said in a press release.
The two ships will enter Seaspan Ferries as part of the company's fleet replacement program and will be operational in 2021.
"We are talking about yet another contract with multiple benefits for the largest construction site in Europe and, implicitly, for Romania's economy. With our specialists at the Mangalia Shipyard we have the capacity to build in Romania a wide range of complex, high capacity and very technologically advanced vessels," economy minister Niculae Badalau said.
Each of the ferries will feature power storage batteries of 2 MWh and will be able store over 200 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas.
"Damen has worked hard to win this project and Seaspan Ferries is delighted to join with them at their new Mangalia site; Romania has a good reputation for quality and has the necessary workforce and infrastructure to build these complex ships for Seaspan Ferries," Seaspan Ferries director of Fleet Engineering and Vessel Development, Harris Penner, said.
The ministry also said that the two companies have worked closely to ensure that the new ships meet the strict safety, performance and operating standards required to provide optimal service to Seaspan Ferries' customers.
"We are very excited to build these two hybrid propulsion systems for Seaspan Ferries and we are proud that such a trustworthy operator has decided to choose Damen for this project. We believe that this is the start of an excellent partnership with huge potential for the future," Damen sales director, Leo Postma, said.
Seaspan is an association of Canadian companies primarily involved in coastal marine transportation, ship docking and ship escort, ship repair and shipbuilding services in Western North America.
In April, the economy ministry said that Damen Mangalia has signed several major contracts for new vessels and plans to make new hires.
In November, Dutch group Damen entered into an agreement with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) to buy its majority share in Romania-based Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries (DMHI) for an undisclosed sum.
DMHI was established in 1997 as a joint venture between South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Romania's 2 Mai Mangalia Shipyard with Daewoo as majority shareholder, with 50.99%. The other shareholders of the joint venture are 2 Mai Mangalia Shipyard, which is owned by the Romanian economy ministry, with 48.99%, and three Korean investors.
Damen already owns a shipyard in Romania, in Galati, a port city on the Danube river, which is currently the group’s largest shipyard. Since joining Damen in 1999, the Galati shipyard has developed into an efficient production facility with a significant output of many hundreds of vessels and structures.
Damen Shipyards Group operates 36 shipbuilding and repair yards, employing 12,000 people worldwide. Damen has delivered more than 6,500 vessels in more than 100 countries and delivers some 160 vessels annually to customers worldwide.