The partnership trend implies a reduced reliance in construction within The Netherlands in future years, with all which that might imply for industrial 'critical mass'. However, the Dutch maritime cluster continues to innovate and address the market's needs in a way which has ensured continued high levels of indigenous activity.

Groningen-based sales, marketing and design engineering firm Conoship International has responded to fundamental changes in the structure of the shipbuilding industry by broadening its commercial remit and by intensifying its collaborative research activities.

While the newbuilding order intake has remained at a buoyant level, with contracts for more than 50 vessels logged for the north Netherlands in 2003, industrial consolidation has brought a reduction in the number of Conoship member shipyards. 

As a consequence, the company's brief was changed with effect from the start of 2004, such that it is now able to augment its mainstream work on behalf of member yards by acting directly for ship-owners, and other maritime interests and logistic specialists, as well as for a limited number of other Dutch and foreign shipyards.

By extending its shipbuilding relationships in this way, Conoship plans to expand its scope and market reach beyond multipurpose vessels, tankers, dredgers and fishing vessels, hitherto its main fields, to embrace categories such as tug/supply ships, inland waterway vessels, and yachts.

In recent years, research contacts have been fostered with the Technical University of Delft, the TNO Institute in Delft, and the Netherlands Maritime Research Institute (Marin) at Wageningen.

In addition, links have been forged with a number of specialized companies abroad, with the aim of jointly developing innovative designs and concepts for the future.

IHC's Pallieter in action, the ship has been designed for port maintenance work in shallow water

Current studies include an innovative trimaran cruise vessel, conceived for inter-city itineraries with SOO passengers, a novel yacht charter project, and a new generation of fast vessels embracing ro-pax, ro-ro trailership, containership, and offshore service vessel applications. 

Conoship claims that the high speed solutions which it is preparing in conjunction with research partners will differ from any existing or proposed fast vessels, and will be economically as well as technically feasible.

One of the nascent design types promises a speed of 50 knots and a load capacity of 300 dwt, and the other is intended to offer a transport capacity of about 4000 dwt at a speed in excess of 50 knots.

With specialized tankers, small ferries, mega- yachts, a research ship, and an innovative design of coastal LNG carrier figuring in this year's production at member yards, it is evident that product diversification is being vigorously pursued. At the same time, the various companies continue to play to traditional strengths when the market so allows, as emphatically demonstrated by last year's resurgence in business for multipurpose cargo ships.

Doubled capacity

Bodewes Shipyards encapsulates the changes which have been implemented and carried through in the north Netherlands. Up to just four years ago, Bodewes delivered a maximum of three, small multipurpose vessels per year, completely built at the company's own yard. 

The relatively shallow draught and broad beam of the 89.98m class confers advantages in terms of stability and deadweight. The 4400 series, available in 4300dwt craned configuration and 4400dwt gearless format, offers a high degree of stowage flexibility for general cargoes such as steel, timber and paper, as well as bulk commodities and dangerous goods, and has capacity for 221 TEU boxes. The hold is equipped with two separation bulkheads, with five possible positions.

Multi-purpose small ships

Barkmeijer Shipyards also has an important stake in the multipurpose cargo vessel construction programme in the north Netherlands, and its current commitments include a series of 4S00dwt vessels for Irish shortsea specialist Arklow Shipping.

IHC recently delivered 'Pallieter' to undertake dredging work in Zeebrugge. Delfzijl shipyard Royal Niestern Sander has reaffirmed its strengths in a traditional field of northern Dutch shipbuilding endeavour by securing orders this year for a total of nine multipurpose vessels to the account of companies prominent in the European shortsea trades. While the yard has demonstrated its versatility in recent years through a string of contracts for small tankers and special purpose vessels, the latest deal with Wagenborg Shipping ensures continuity in the construction of the dry cargo 'workhorses' which continue to form a core element of Dutch maritime activity. The Wagenborg contract comprises three newbuildings of 6100dwt, and calls for respective hand overs in August, October, and December 200S. The design has been derived from that employed in the series of six 106m vessels booked at the turn of this year from Intersee Schiffahrts, a member of the vibrant small-ship community in the German town of Haren on Ems.

The structure of the Intersee vessels will be reinforced to meet Swedish/Finnish ice class lA requirements, and the corresponding stipulations of Bureau Veritas. The two-hold design offers an enclosed cargo capacity of 273,000ft, with tanktop strengthening to 15 tonnes/m' and moulding for an all-up container load of 236TEU. Cargo carrying versatility has been enhanced by the specification of two movable bulkheads in the holds, and by arrangements that will enable dangerous goods to be transported. Propulsion will be by a 2700kW medium-speed engine, driving a CP propeller through reduction gearing, and with maneuvering assisted by a 3S0kW bow thruster.

Construction of the hulls of the German newbuildings has been subcontracted to a yard in Poland, and deliveries of the complete vessels are scheduled from Royal Niestern Sander between October 2004 and September 2005. The hulls of the Wagenborg ships will also be supplied from overseas.

Growing size and output

The Volharding group is an outstanding example of a shipbuilder which has rapidly expanded in terms of facilities, output, market reach and product range, to the extent that most of its prolific production today entails vessels of sizes outside the remit of Ship & Boat. Since the mid 1990s, the organisation has developed from a single-location shipyard, concentrating on shortsea tonnage and other small vessels, into a group operating out of five premises in the northern Netherlands, augmented by strong ties with the shipbuilding industry in Romania and the Ukraine, and delivering between 12 and 20 newbuilds per annum.

Key elements in the expansion strategy have been a strong focus on efficiency and productivity improvements, the takeover in 1997 of Pattje Shipyards, the forging of a strategic alliance with Daewoo Mangalia of Romania in 1998, the 2001 takeover of Frisian Shipyard Welgelegen, and arrangements for building hulls in the Ukraine. The group's Dutch shipbuilding facilities are at Foxhol, Waterhuizen, Groningen, Eemshaven and Harlingen, and shiprepair is also undertaken at the Harlingen yard.

Factors influencing the group's competitiveness include the combined possibilities and flexibility of the different locations in meeting demanding delivery schedules and tonnage requirements, the combined resource in terms of design, engineering, project management and production experience, the Dutch network of supporting industries, and the cost effectiveness of steel fabrication in Eastern Europe. It is understood that the group is currently investigating the possibilities of establishing a presence in China.

Indicative of the group's progression in ship size are current projects involving IMO type II tankers of 10,000dwt and 14,000dwt, a series of 18knot feederships of 917TEU, and a new design of heavy cargo carrier. Earlier this year, Volharding Shipyards announced a deal with the German company W-O for the construction of up to six chemical and petroleum product tankers of 19,000m3 and 14,000dwt.

Volharding and the contractual owner, part of the Wessels group, with a long tradition in shortsea and river trading, have jointly formulated a design characterised by a high cubic capacity, shallow draught, restricted length, and IA ice class, and accordingly dubbed the IceCube type.

The 917TEU boxship newbuildings are based on a design which draws on the group's 750TEU type, the subject of 10 orders to date. The hulls of the 750TEU series are fabricated at Daewoo Mangalia and outfitted at Volharding Shipyards' Eemshaven premises.

The melding of East European hull construction and Dutch outfitting was also expressed at the beginning of 2004 in the delivery of the double-hulled bunker tanker Navira, one of the largest vessels of her type, with main dimensions of 135m x 16.8m and 20 cargo tanks of380m3 apiece.

Navira is able to carry up to 7200tonnes of heavy fuel, in response to a market requirement for bunkering sea-going ships in Rotterdam with single-load supplies of 6000 tonnes7000 tonnes of fuel. The hull was built at the Oltenita yard in Romania, and completion was effected by Smits Machinefabriek.

Dredging brings business

Dredge technology specialist IHC Holland has replenished its orderbook during the period under review with a range of contracts reflecting its comprehensive coverage of the sector, and including standard cutter suction dredgers, a Delta push tug, a 1000m3 trailing suction hopper dredger for Iran, and a selfpropelled, mega cutter suction dredger for the French arm of the Belgian-based DEME Group.

With a total power availability of 28,200kW, the cutter dredger will be one of the largest and most powerful in the world. IHC Systems is also to supply a dredging simulator to DEME.

February this year saw the naming in Zeebrugge of the 97.50m Pallieter, a twinscrew 'trailer' with a hopper capacity of 5400m3. The new addition to the DEME fleet has been designed and optimised for shallowwater operations, with the flexibility to carry out port channel maintenance, land reclamation projects, and beach replenishment.

Pallieter's maximum carrying capacity is 7800tonnes, drawing just 7.10m, and has been engineered to operate in an environmentallycompatible manner, whereby hardly any water is added to the dredged spoil during the dredging process. The in-situ density of the dredged material can therefore be retained, obviating overflow when filling the hopper. Spoil can be bottom-discharged through two rows of doors, or can be pumped ashore by way of floating pipeline, or delivered through a spraying nozzle in the bow, using the socalled 'rain bowing' method.

Danish ferry order

IHC group subsidiary Merwede Shipyard clinched a €76 million contract in June for two ro-pax ferries to the account of Danish operator Bornholmstrafikken.

The order is characterised by a short delivery time frame, since handover of both vessels is required in April 2005. The ships will be dimensioned for 400 passengers and 1235lane metres of trailers, and will be phased into service between Copenhagen, Ronne, and Y stad.
Merwede's work profile has been influenced by the closure of fellow IHC Caland group member van der Giessen-de Noord, and the Hardinxveld-"Giessendam yard has maintained a high profile in dredger construction, having recently completed two 16,000m3 trailing suction hopper dredgers for Boskalis.

It has given added dimension to the IHC product range through this year's hand over of the 110m inland cruise vessel Rousse Prestige, built for the Bulgarian company Dunav Tours.

Cruise ships for rivers

Another luxury river cruiser built to just within the traditional, inland-going 110m length parameter was completed earlier this year in The Netherlands for service with Swiss-based operator Scylla Tours. 

Steel fabrication for the 155-passenger Swiss Corona was contracted to Scheepswerf De Hoop, and the bare steel hull was delivered to the Hardinxveld-Giessendam premises of Scheepstimmerbedrijf Da-Capo for fitting out. Da-Capo undertook all carpentry, furnishing, decorating and other interior work, while individual suppliers provided and installed machinery and equipment.

The vessel's low profile and II Am width ensure access throughout major European rivers and canals, and the nature of the accommodation and public spaces, plus the use of
materials and features such as marble, granite, cut glass, crystal chandeliers and thick carpets, rate Swiss Corona in the high quality league. She has entered operation under charter to Transocean Tours, which particularly caters to the German-speaking client market.

Joint superyacht venture

The Netherlands' shipbuilding and allied industries collectively rank among the major forces in mega-yacht design and construction, with exports running at about €7OO million per annum.

One expression of the commitment to consolidating that position is a Dutch government backed, joint industry research project entitled Mega Yachts@Sea. The three-year undertaking, which recently reached its halfway point, is aimed at better ensuring design quality through the development of new tools to verify vessel performance in service.

The rationale for Mega Yachts@Sea is that heightened expectations of the client market require a more comprehensive approach to the operational dimension over-and-above the traditional speed trial and maneuvering measurements. Research institute Marin, together with stabilizer systems supplier KoopNautic, yacht designer Seahorse, and Amels Holland, one of the world's leading builders of ocean-going, motor yachts, started the programme by examining the performance of the latest generation of megayachts under operational conditions, with particular regard to resistance and propulsion.

The objective is to develop acceptance criteria and tools to verify resistance and propulsion qualities, using full-scale measurements, model tests and CFD calculations. The study programme includes extensive tests on four yachts during sea trials, and onboard monitoring of two vessels over the course of a full year's operation. The monitoring campaign will provide sailing profiles, vessel motions under various sea conditions, and attendant vibration and speed/power curves.

With a combination of improved tools and better correlation, the research partners believe that improvements in appendage alignment can be achieved, together with more accurate calm water performance prediction over a broader speed range. Armed with such information, seakeeping and manoeuvring characteristics can be better optimised at an earlier stage in the design process.

According to Marin, a change in contract specifications is expected in the future, shifting the focus from trial conditions and design speed to service conditions and operational profiles.

Compact propulsor unit

Dutch shipbuilding's orientation to smaller, specialised vessels benefits from a vibrant marine equipment and subsupplier sector, which has developed an important position in its own right in niche areas of the international market. 

Dutch thruster designer and maker Veth Motoren has developed a new system designed primarily for main propulsion, and particularly suited to shallow draught. conditions, but also appropriate as a bow thrust unit. Known as the Veth Compact-Jet, the device offers a solution to the needs of vessels requiring high maneuverability, and can be used to confer self-propulsion capabilities on flat-bottomed craft such as barges, since there are no protruding parts.

The Compact-Jet is based on a round, rotating assembly, encapsulating a streamlined channel, containing both the suction and outlet sides, and also notable for the placing of the propeller at an angle of 17degs.

The water is sucked up diagonally from beneath the vessel, and pushed in any direction, with guidance of the water flow in the channel outlet exerted by hydrodynamic spoilers. 

Since both the suction and outflow side rotate with the whole construction, thrust is constant through the full 360degs.The low sound level claimed for the double construction unit renders the design suitable as a bow thruster for passenger vessels and other applications. The Compact-Jet has already been employed in a number of Dutch projects to adapt barges as self-propelled craft, including the push barge Lourina and several barges of the Danser Container Lines fleet.

In addition, Veth reported that the largest Dutch inland tanker, a vessel of 135m x 20m main dimensions, would be fitted with a Compact-Jet.

The combination of two 1250kW counter-rotating rudder propellers and a Compact-Jet as a bow thrust unit should ensure the requisite high maneuverability. The newbuilding passenger vessel for Viking River Cruises will provide a further reference for the device as a bow thruster. The Compact-Jet ordered for the river cruiser has been specified with a space-saving, vertically mounted.