New service contract for the three Moroccan SIGMA frigates

Just over ten years after taking delivery of its three Damen SIGMA multi-mission frigates, the Royal Moroccan navy has renewed its service contract with Damen Naval. The contract was signed on 17 October (pictured above: Account Manager Services Joeri Ephraim, Commercial Manager Patrick van der Heijden, and Koen Joustra, Regional Director Africa Damen Shipyards Group). “This is the third service contract that we have secured with the Royal Moroccan Navy since delivering these three vessels in 2010, 2011 and 2012,” says Damen Naval Account Manager Services Joeri Ephraim. “Each contract lasts for three years and consists of technical assistance in Morocco and docking operations for maintenance in a Damen yard, in addition to parts and crew training.” The three frigates are the Tarik Ben Ziyad (a SIGMA 10513), the Sultan Moulay Ismail (SIGMA 9813) and the Allal Ben Abdellah (SIGMA 9813).

Although Damen Naval provides service to all vessels (not just the ones it has built), the dedicated Services department develops especially close relationships with Damen-built vessels as they progress through their life of naval service. “We are involved during a ship’s warranty period which lasts for one, sometimes two, years,” adds Damen Naval’s Manager Services Frank den Hollander. “As we designed these ships, took them out on sea trials, and have all the engineering drawings, we know these ships inside-out. Furthermore, we still have the contact with all the suppliers. All of this enables us to provide service at a very high level.”

Damen Naval’s Service department consists of a team of fourteen people (with additional external support in peak periods). The scope of work is broad. “Service actually includes commissioning, sea trials, the warranty period and then the service during the operational lifecycle,” says Joeri. “And from the perspective of Damen Naval’s matrix organisation, a ‘service’ project therefore includes input from purchasing, expediting, warehouse, office support, sales, project control, and of course the shipyards themselves.”

Reflecting the international nature of its clients, Damen Naval’s Service department has personnel stationed overseas. “We currently have Warranty Engineers and Service Engineers in Indonesia, Mexico and Australia. And for this service contract for the Royal Moroccan Navy, we have an engineer semi-permanently based in Morocco. He supports the client with the on-site technical assistance, which are generally the smaller service tasks. We bundle up the major maintenance for a visit to one of our docks; mainly Vlissingen, but we are also looking at Dunkirk or any other Damen shipyard.”