Shipbuilding: Resourceful Dutch Play to Strengths

Adept design and production strategies underpin global competitiveness in target sectors.

Dutch shipbuilding continues to demonstrate resilience and business verve in its target commercial sectors, mainly in the smaller vessel size range. It offers quality and craftmanship at an evidently acceptable price, using technology in the most pragmatic, effective way.

The fact that the Netherlands retains a progressive and expansion-minded shipowning and ship management community has a signal influence on the shipbuilding sector, as does the existence of a comprehensive supply chain and network of designers and knowledge centers.

Dutch to the core in concept and realization, ‘Easy to build, easy to operate, and easy to load’ are central tenets of the EasyMax 14,000dwt multi-purpose cargo vessel type, developed by Conoship International of Groningen together with shipowner Royal Wagenborg Shipping and shipbuilder Royal Niestern Sander. The EasyMax platform has to date been used or specified for 12 newbuilds. Highly efficient consumption per payload ton is delivered from a 2,999kW main engine.

As the largest class of ship built to date on the landward side of the coastal dyke in the north Netherlands, the EasyMax flotilla now includes a variant dedicated to the transport of liquefied CO2. Boldly named Carbon Destroyer 1, the newly-commissioned vessel has been assigned to a shuttle-type operation loading 5,000-ton cargoes out of the Danish west coast port of Esbjerg for discharge at the Greensand CO2 offshore storage site in the North Sea.

The fifth of six Series 1 EasyMax 14,300dwt units booked over a 10-year period, Carbon Destroyer 1 differs from her general-purpose peers in having been tailored to the thermal behaviour of liquefied CO2. This has required specialized containment, integrated safety zones, and a high-redundancy energy and propulsion layout. Dynamic positioning to DP2 standard has been necessitated by the rigorous demands of year-round, on-station offloading in the open sea. Royal Wagenborg’s investment has been underpinned by a long-term charter agreement with UK-headquartered INEOS Group.

Last year, the Dutch operator signed-off on a batch of six second-generation EasyMax cargo vessel newbuilds, ensuring production continuity for the Royal Niestern Sander shipyard in the coming years. Features of the EasyMax 2 sextet include provision for a range of alternative fuels, enhanced shore power connectivity, and improved energy management.

Tailored to for short-sea trade into Sweden's lake system, the AccessMAX tanker type will be built by Ferus Smit. (credit: Thun Tankers).

Diesel-electric Advance

Conoship has played a leading role in shaping short-sea and small cargo vessel design and procurement across the decades, and its continuing endeavors are expressed in the CIP platform spanning the size range up to 9,000dwt.

The centerpiece of the technical arrangements is a frequency-controlled diesel-electric power and propulsion train that regulates the speed of the screw according to variables such as engine load, water depth and navigation route. Based on small gensets feeding twin electric propulsion motors, the design provides for economic, future adaptation to aggregates driven by prime movers running on fuels such as methanol or hydrogen and is also readied for installation or retrofit of Econowind Ventofoils. Customization scope also embraces battery packs and carbon capture systems.

Recent transactions have featured the 3,600dwt, 3,800dwt and 6,400dwt versions for Dutch, German and Norwegian owners, producing orders for shipyards with whom Conoship collaborates in the Groningen region of the northern Netherlands, and also for builders in India and Turkey. The CIP line-up has lately been augmented with a 4,400dwt variant developed from the CIP3800.

Such rethinking of vessel design, as a shift from traditional, single-engine, four-stroke diesel-mechanical propulsion, is also amply expressed in production at Royal T Shipyards, formerly the Thecla Bodewes establishment at Kampen, on the River IJssel. The builder recently delivered the last unit in a 10-ship series of 7,300dwt diesel-electric short-sea traders ordered by Vertom Shipping and based on the LABRAX class developed in cooperation with Groot Ship Design.

Each 119-metre cargo vessel is equipped with four main gensets and twin asynchrous propulsion motors. The Volvo Penta aggregates incorporate the Swedish company’s D13-type high-speed engines, each turning out 400kW at 1,800rev/min. A further batch of LABRAX newbuilds is in hand for the UK operator Carisbrooke Shipping.

EasyMax versatility: Liquefied CO2 carrier on a multi-purpose cargo vessel design platform. (Credit: Royal Wagenborg).

Stock Building Pays Off

Melding the practice of the Damen Shipyards Group for stock building of standardized designs with the competitiveness afforded by a globally diverse shipbuilding network, the production of newbuilds in its Combi Freighter (CF) portfolio exemplifies enduring Dutch prowess in the short-sea cargo vessel market. In particular, the latest version of the 90-metre CF3850 type, a 3,850dwt single-hold trader suited to multifarious bulk commodities and industrial products, is courting major interest.

After multiple vessels of the class in its original form had been delivered by Damen over the preceding 20 years, the CF3850 was redesigned, updated and released at the start of the current decade. Market receptivity has been such that, by the end of March 2026, the revised design had attracted a total of 50 sales in little more than five years, with 38 delivered.

For this latest iteration, construction has been concentrated at the Yangtze River premises of Chinese affiliate Damen Yichang, and also more recently at Ba Son Shipyard, the Dutch group’s partner in Vietnam.  

The reworked CF3850 uses a six-cylinder DZC medium-speed main engine from Anglo Belgian Corporation (ABC). The modest 1,104kW output—some 50% less than that of the MaK machinery powering the early CF3850s—has a positive bearing on EEDI rating and CO2 emissions.

One of the strongest cards held by Damen is its ability to ensure early or rapid delivery through its build-for-stock policy. From the buyers’ perspective, short contract-to-completion timeframes reduce overall project costs and risks and facilitate responsiveness to market opportunities. Continual evolution of the CF3850 is guided by feedback from operators.

The value of longstanding relationships, whereby the contractor remains fully attuned to market conditions and the specific requirements of the client, has again been underscored by fresh business for Ferus Smit from Sweden’s Erik Thun Group.

Two newbuild tankers of 4,500dwt will encapsulate a design allowing navigation to ports and terminals on Sweden’s inland lake system, while ensuring flexibility for broader North Sea and northwest European operations. The shallow-draught AccessMAX class offers a 10% increase in cargo intake and enhanced cost efficiency per ton relative to previous generations.

To date, Thun has received more than 50 cargo vessels and tankers built by Ferus Smit, mainly from the headquarters yard at Westerbroek, near Groningen, but also out of the Dutch builder’s yard at Leer, just across the border in Germany.

Innovation, collaboration in both production and pre-competitive research, plus a ‘can-do’ mindset, together have a signal bearing on Dutch yard’s high profile in core markets.