Damen Shipyards Group recently held a keel-laying ceremony for the Cemex Go Innovation vessel at Damen Shipyards Mangalia in Romania.

The vessel is the first Damen MAD – the next generation of marine aggregate dredgers, said a statement from the company.

The construction of the new vessel is drawing upon collaboration with multiple companies within the Damen Group, as well was with external partners, working together towards the development of a new standard in marine aggregate dredging, it said.

Damen has designed the future-proof vessel for long-lasting durability for operations in North Sea conditions over the coming decades. Particular attention has been paid to sustainability, safety and performance. The MAD will extract sand and gravel from the seabed at up to 55 m.

During the ceremony, Cemex Marine fleet engineering manager Mark Williams undertook the traditional role of welding the coins.

On this occasion the coins used were a British Pound, a Dutch Guilder and a Romanian Leu, commemorating respectively the regional base of the client, the home country of the shipbuilder and the location of the shipyard, it added.

Kurt Cowdery, director Cemex Marine Aggregates, said: “This is a fantastic investment for the future, allowing us to safely source the materials we need and enabling us to develop and grow in the UK and Europe.”

Frank de Lange, area director, Damen, said: “This is an important milestone in the construction of this, the first new MAD. We are very much looking forward to the coming construction and to delivering the vessel to Cemex next year; and also to seeing Cemex Go Innovation in action, demonstrating her strong credentials.”

The keel-laying is the first to take place since Damen began the operational management of the shipyard now known as Damen Shipyards Mangalia in July this year.

The yard, on the Black Sea coast, has three drydocks with a total length of 982 m and 1.6 km of berthing space. The 48 and 60 m wide docks provide Damen with the capacity to cater for larger maritime vessels and structures, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service