JOINT VENTURE ACQUIRES DAMEN MULTI CAT

Saint Nazaire-based Alka Marine Solutions has joined up with Acta Marine from Rotterdam to form a joint venture named Alka Marine International to acquire a new vessel, incorporating the company under French law and registering it in Saint Nazaire.

The vessel is Acta Marine’s Damen Multi Cat 2712 Coastal Aurora. Built at Damen’s Gdansk facility in 2014, it is described as “perfectly adapted to offshore wind support operations” with a 150m2 deck, two 9.8-tonne cranes, a 150 tonne winch and Caterpillar main engines driving fixedpitch propellers delivering a bollard pull of 34 tonnes.

Coastal Aurora is manned by French officers with an international crew working in rotation, the arrangement creating 10 new jobs. At the time of the announcement, the vessel was reported as operating under the Dutch flag, the new owner hoping for a “positive decision from the Commission Régionale de Sécurité des Affaires Maritimes” to see it join the French fleet.

Family-owned Acta Marine was founded in 1970 and is well established within the maritime service sector. It owns more than 40 vessels, including Damen and Neptune Marine-built DP workboats, six Shoalbuster tugs, four walk-to-work vessels and various survey and crew transfer vessels and barges.

Alka Marine is formed from specialist shipowner Alma Shipping and maritime engineering company Kappa Offshore Solutions. The close relationship between Acta Marine and Alka Marine is illustrated by the latter’s fleet list, which includes vessels from Acta Marine’s stable.

Selecting a conventional tug of interest, Alma Kappa was built in Malaysia in 2008 as Forth Hunter for Briggs Marine Contractors. In 2012 it was renamed Mainport Kells and later Halul Bey for Irish principles before coming under Alka Marine ownership in 2020.

Speaking jointly, Thibaut Choquer and Nicolas de Boer from Alka Marine and Govert Jan van Oord from Acta Marine said: “From our long-term partnership on workboats, we have decided to jointly invest in a reliable and known vessel that enables us to carry out complex maritime operations safely. It is a large, modern and comfortable vessel and with this new vessel we keep track of our strategy to develop our services marine energies market and meet our customers’ expectations.”

Herman Senior buys ST Marine Support

Netherlands workboat provider Herman Senior has bought the offshore services provider ST Marine Support, the firm has announced.

The deal includes all shares of the company, three existing vessels and an upcoming newbuild, a Damen Multi Cat 3313SD.

It builds on the existing fleet of Damen vessels, including six Shoalbusters and the three Multicats Odin, Nero, and Auxilia, which are all fitted with strong cranes and winches, the firm says.

Once the Damen boat is built it means Herman Senior will operate 12 vessels and the firm says its customer base will be expanded to three continents – South

America, Europe and Asia – thanks to the four extra workboats.

“The market is currently very favourable for these types of vessels,” says Herman Sr. “There’s currently a shortage of workboats due to the large amount of projects that pull much of the available assets off the global market. At the same time, the cost of building new ships has skyrocketed, making that an unattractive option.”

The acquisition has come into effect retroactively, from January 1.

“The vessels from ST Marine Support are a perfect fit with the Herman Senior fleet,” said Herman Sr co-owner Erwin van Dodewaard. “We are confident that this move will help us serve our customers even better with equipment that we already know inside out, making for a seamless transition. Last, and this is a good moment to say this loud and clear, the success of our company is due to our experienced staff, both on board and on shore.”

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