Damen Trading Delivers Several Vessels

Trading in preowned vessels continues to be a popular choice for many customers. Damen Trading facilitates the sale and purchase of both Damen and third-party vessels. Recent deals highlight how trading in vessels results in a win-win situation for buyer and seller. 

Under these arrangements vessels have been sold in Australia and bought by clients in Uruguay, U.K. vessels have gone to Zanzibar, Colombian vessels to Jamaica, with customers worldwide seeing the benefits of trading in.

This summer a client based in the Middle East purchased two Damen 26 m Shoalbusters and decided to take advantage of trading in opportunities by selling two of its Multicats 1908 and a Fast Crew Supplier.

Australia
Damen carried out the inspections and refurbishment of the three vessels at its partner yard, Albwardy Marine in Dubai. The two Multicats were destined for an Australian client so it was vital that the hulls were sandblasted and repainted to comply with the country’s strict environmental regulations. Damen also handled the transport to Australia.

Kazakhstan
The FCS was sold on to a client in Kazakhstan. Here, Damen carried out changes to the seating arrangement, reducing the number of seats from 75 to 60, as well as making the required adjustments to the heating and air conditioning system.

Michel Radjiman, Damen Trading’s Sales Manager, said, “Damen has yards all over the world, so we can carry out any refurbishment or repairs needed and all near to Damen Trading’s clients.”

Nigeria
In other trade-in deals, Damen Trading has sold vessels on behalf of the U.K. Customs Authority, with vessels being sold on to clients in Nigeria and Zanzibar.

Offshore Wind
Furthermore it has handled vessel exchanges for several customers active in the offshore wind industry. Often these customers want to upgrade from non-Damen vessels to the pioneering Damen Twin Axe FCS 2610, a vessel fast becoming the offshore wind industry standard.

U.K.
Damen Trading also facilitates customers that have a change in their fleet requirements, although they may still want to keep the same vessel type. In another recent example, a customer wanted to trade a Damen Stan Tug 1606 for one of the same type. The first Stan Tug had an exhaust at the stern and no A-frame but the new 1606 vessel has funnels and an A-frame. The original vessel was then sold to a customer operating on the River Thames in London.
Damen Trading Delivers Several Vessels

Damen Trading, official dealer: sale and purchase of preowned (Damen) vessels, a trade in its own right
A global position in shipbuilding also includes the Sale and Purchase of pre-owned ships. At Damen Shipyards Group this is the domain of Damen Trading. “Knowing the vessel, as often we’ve built it ourselves, gives us the unique position to best assess its operational condition, value and quality assurance towards its future owner.”

Sale and purchase of preowned vessels is the core business of Damen Trading. Located in Damen’s Dutch head office, this business unit operates worldwide. Although Damen-built vessels dominate its portfolio –guaranteeing product expertise– Damen Trading also trades other makes.

“Our fixtures include both vessels that are traded-in as part of a newbuilding contract with a Damen-yard, and non-orderrelated transactions. Here, we’ll act as brokers only”, Michel Radjiman, Damen Trading’s Sales Manager notes.

Buy-back
In terms of ship types, Damen Trading focuses on Sale & Purchase of vessels from Damen Shipyards’ various standard design ranges encompassing tugs, dredging and offshore vessels, like Multicats, Shoalbusters, (high speed) crew boats and other auxiliary craft. Equally, non-Damenbuilt vessels mostly involve ships from these sectors.

“We continue to establish how Damen-built vessels will on average land a higher market price, both in contracted project assignments and on the second hand market. Having worldwide acquaintance with our standard types apparently does yield an additional asset, indeed. And thanks to our ‘official dealer’ position we’re able to realize a higher revenue for a Damen-built vessel than any other broker,” Radjiman added.

He refers to the company’s distinctive, multiple USPs that includes having built and even designed the vessel, the group’s scale economies and its global presence and operations.

Damen Trading does not only buy/sell vessels that are traded-in, or act as brokers for other second hand ones on sale. Radjiman said, “We also issue vessel or entire fleet valuations for our customers.”

In sight
Damen Trading was established in 1985 as a spin-off of Damen Marine Services, the group’s ship-rental subsidiary. From seeking buyers for the occasional tug or workboat having come off-hire, the new business unit gradually evolved towards its current trading/brokerage volume of an average twenty vessels per year.

There’s no stereotype customer profile or pattern. Next to the trading-in/newbuilding order scenario, a company may seek a pre-owned vessel and end-up ordering a new one instead. The other way around, a company that initially sought a newbuilt, may buy a used vessel, especially when delivery time is critical. In such events, adding to its USP, Damen Trading will usually have a suitable, first owner vessel in portfolio or in sight from the vast fleet of Damen vessels around.

damentrading.com