Damen Shiprepair Brest welcomes third LNG carrier

08 Feb 2013

With the arrival of the LNG carrier ARCTIC SPIRIT Damen Shiprepair Brest continues to recover market share in the LNG repair business, following Damen Shipyards’ acquisition of French shipyard Sobrena just under a year ago.

Damen Shipyards acquired Sobrena, which is particularly well respected for its LNG expertise, in April 2012.

Early February the Teekay owned and managed ARCTIC SPIRIT, which has a capacity of 89,880 cu m, arrived in Brest and is due to stay for approximately three weeks. The vessel is one of the few LNG carriers with an IHI SPB Prismatic Cargo Containment System, which makes it a somewhat special and highly complex vessel.

Industry majors return
Damen Shiprepair Brest Managing Director, Jos Goris comments: “We are very pleased and proud that an industry major such as Teekay has proven confidence in our yard.” Late last year Shell and Hyproc had also chosen to dry-dock LNG carriers at the yard.

Able to carry out dry-docking, refit and repair works, the Damen yard is determined to become a reliable and long-term business partner for the LNG community. “We have a very clear and open business concept which is built on transparency, mutual trust and customer service. In the current challenging climate we understand that our clients need to perform more than ever and the selection of the right shipyard plays an important role in being successful,” emphasises Mr Goris.

In the past the shipyard has carried out more than 100 LNG carrier refit projects. Damen Shiprepair Brest is confident that it can continue to show the LNG community that the shipyard has the expertise and experience needed to serve this specialist sector.

Bringing healthy competition back to the LNG repair sector
He points out that since Sobrena closed in September 2011, there had hardly been any competition in the North West European region for LNG dry-docking and repair. However, most LNG carrier owners and managers trading in the region had indicated that they are willing to support fresh alternatives, he adds. “We are very confident that the LNG community will support us with more bookings and at sustainable price levels.”

He stresses: “Damen Shiprepair Brest is very keen to bring healthy competition to the market again. We are aware that there is some heavy discounting going on but would question whether such low rates will benefit the LNG sector in the long-term.”

During the first nine months of operations as part of the Damen Shipyards group Damen Shiprepair Brest has serviced more than 40 vessels from majors such as Knutsen, Odfjell, Hyproc, STASCO, Columbia Ship Management, Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, Northern Marine Management, Wallem, Bourbon and CMA-CGM.

About Damen Shiprepair Brest:
Damen Shiprepair Brest offers a broad range of services to key markets, handling many vessel types including LNG carriers, oil tankers, semi-submersibles, shuttle tankers, FPSOs, offshore construction vessels, jack-up rigs, ro-ro vessels and ferries.

The well-established repair yard has modern facilities and three graven dry docks, as well as several repair berths. The largest of the dry docks measures 420 x 80 metres and is one of the biggest in Europe, which allows the yard to accommodate almost any vessel in the world. The highly skilled workforce stands at 220 people.

Damen Shipyards Group press release