Damen to Buy Keppel Verolme Shipyard at Port of Rotterdam

Keppel Verolme shipyard. Photo: Keppel

Damen Shipyards Group has entered into an agreement with Keppel Offshore & Marine for the acquisition of the Keppel Verolme shipyard in the Rotterdam.

With the acquisition of the Verolme shipyard, Damen continues to strengthen its repair and conversion activities within the regional ship repair and conversion market.

The Verolme yard has been active in the Botlek area of the Port of Rotterdam since 1957, and the yard now comprises three graving docks, a quay capacity of over 1,800 meters, and approximately 250 employees. The acquisition of the yard will boost Damen’s dry dock capacity with the addition of the Verolme yard’s largest dry dock, which measures 90 by 405. The dry dock will be Damen’s largest in the Netherlands. 

Damen says it intends to continue to operated the Verolme yard with its current workforce.

“With the Verolme yard, Damen will have four large repair yards within close proximity of the Port of Rotterdam. The two yards in Rotterdam, along with Damen’s yards in Vlissingen and Amsterdam, will closely cooperate to maximise the use of each other’s expertise, further developing synergy advantages and jointly marketing their capacity, with the objective to offer more efficient and competitive services,” Damen said in a press release.