Page 57: of Marine News Magazine (November 2016)

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BOATBUILDING & DESIGN

CEO of Edison Chouest Offshore. Regulations. It is good timing to be re- Towing Company. The new tugs will plenishing the ? eet now because many be a modern-day version of the Towing of the upgrades that would be neces- Company’s traditional low pro? le ship

Market Penetration 101

According to van Hogerwou, 95 sitated by Subchapter M will be easily assist tugs that have been in service percent of standard vessels start the incorporated in the new tugs, says Joe across the Great Lakes for many years.

production cycle without an owner, Starck, President of The Great Lakes Two new harbor tugs per year will and at 50 percent of the cycle, 80 percent of the tugs are sold. “That is a business model that no one in the world of shipbuilding has copied so far,” he says. “And it’s very dif? cult to copy because that’s a portfolio that takes decades to build up.” That’s be- cause Damen, the global shipbuilder, has more than 30 yards all over the world and has over time arguably mas- tered the art of series-build spec ton- nage which can then be modi? ed and customized for multiple mission sets.

Helping customers keep construc- tion costs down is one of Damen’s market differentiators. “If you do a ? rst of a series shipbuilding, and that’s for any shipyard in the world, the ? rst of the series is usually a ship that will cost the shipyard money because it’s a big learning curve in how to build that ship,” he says. “We’ve already done that. We send our planners and then our construction supervisors to these yards and they’ll stay there for the entire production cycle of the ship to help our customers, our shipyards and our partner yards in building these ships as economically and ef? ciently as possible.” On this side of the pond, especially in the Jones Act trades, Da- men isn’t here to compete with ship- builders. They’re here to help.

In August of this year, a keel lay- ing ceremony took place at Great

Lakes Shipyard for the ? rst of ten Da- men Stan Tugs 1907 ICE to be built for The Great Lakes Towing Com- pany. The vessels (GLS Hull Num- bers 6501–6510) will be built to ABS

Class, and are the ? rst tugs being built to meet the new USCG Subchapter M 57 www.marinelink.com MN

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