June 8 - Damen Shipyards has launched the first of its newly designed Stan Pontoon (SPo) 12032 units.
The SPo 12032 (pictured below) is the longest pontoon ever built by Damen and part of a series of 34 pontoons currently being built.
In addition, Damen Pontoons & Barges has started building a second new design: the Damen Crane Barge (CBa) 6324 (pictured below), a transshipment barge for handling dry bulk and container operations.
The 120 m long and 32.2 m wide Stan Pontoon was launched at Jiangsu Ganghua Shipyard, one of Damen's Chinese partner yards.
With a deck strength of 20 tonnes/sq m, its heavy duty deck is suitable for heavy ro-ro operations, says Damen. The pontoon's ballast system includes Econosto valves and Azcue pumps.
Furthermore, the SPo 12032 is equipped with two DMT-winches, a Van der Leun electrical system (including aCaterpillar genset), an International Paint system and it is classified under Lloyd's Register.
Together with 16 smaller pontoons (varying between 41 x 13 m and 91 x 27 m), the new pontoon will arrive in the Netherlands in September 2012 on a semi-submersible vessel.
Damen's newly designed crane barge is called the CBa 6324. It is a shallow draught transshipment barge (with a self-propelling option) able to load and unload from ship-to-ship and ship-to-quay.
The CBa 6324 has a Liebherr CBG 350 crane with a grab load capacity of 35 tonnes at 12 to 36 m and a hook load capacity of 45 tonnes at 12 to 36 m.
Several of these new transshipment barges are currently being built, with the first ready for delivery in November 2012 and the second in December. Crane barges 3 and 4 will be available in the first quarter of 2013.
Frank Koppelaar, product director Pontoons & Barges, says: "Damen is continuously developing and building new pontoons and new barge types, based on proven design and adapted to changing market circumstances. We're building our full range, from 30 x 11 m barges to 120 x 32 m barges, and selling them from stock, so delivery times can be shortened to weeks and in some cases even days."
The Damen Stan Pontoon 4113 which was ordered by Australian chartering company Rhumb Maritime has been launched and is now ready for delivery (pictured below).
