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The story
Overview
Damen was established in 1927 in the town of Hardinxveld-Giessendam in the Netherlands by Jan and Marinus Damen. The two brothers ran a successful, mainly Dutch-oriented, shipyard for decades. Over the years they managed to build up a small, but loyal customer-base. Damen Shipyards Hardinxveld, located about 10 km from the Damen Group headquarters in Gorinchem, still exists today. It is specialised in designing and building workboats, especially 'multi cats' and shoalbusters. In 1969 Jan Damen's son, Kommer Damen, took over.
In July 2023, Damen Marine Components was awarded a contract by Wärtsilä to provide steering equipment for two landing platform docks (LPD) that will be built at ASMAR for the Chilean Navy.7
In 2024, Damen Group lost the competition for the multibillion-euro contract to replace the Royal Netherlands Navy Walrus-class submarines. In June 2026, the German Navy cancelled the Niedersachsen-class frigate project, arguing that the main contractor (which was Damen Group) was unable to meet the time and budget constraints. In July 2026, another Damen Group contract for warships is in jeopardy, as Belgium publicly complains about Damen Group's inability to respect the agreed timeline and costs for the Anti-Submarine Warfare Frigate project.
World Bank debarment
On March 16, 2016, the World Bank Group announced its debarment of Damen Shipyards Gorinchem for 18 months. World Bank stated that the "company engaged in a fraudulent practice under the West Africa Regional Fisheries Program" The sanction followed an agreement between the World Bank and Damen Shipyards Gorinchem, hence a reduced debarment of 18 months, as stated: "Damen has cooperated with the World Bank’s investigation and has taken remedial action, including strengthening its corporate compliance program."
From Wikipedia’s article on Damen Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4