Swedish Crown Princess Victoria recently visited the SAAB-Damen stand at the Undersea Defence Technology trade fair (UDT) in Ahoy, Rotterdam. The Crown Princess was in the Netherlands as part of the 60th anniversary of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for the Netherlands and visited several start-ups and innovative companies on 7 and 8 June.

The visit underlines the importance attached to the various successful innovative partnerships between the Netherlands and Sweden, including that between SAAB and Damen Shipyards Group to jointly design and build the replacement for the Dutch Walrus-class submarines.

From left: Lars Tossman, (CEO SAAB Kockums), Stina Billinger (Swedish State Secretary for Business, Industry and Innovation), Crown Princess Victoria and Hein van Ameijden (managing director Damen Naval). Photo: Jerry Lampen. From left: Lars Tossman, (CEO SAAB Kockums), Stina Billinger (Swedish State Secretary for Business, Industry and Innovation), Crown Princess Victoria and Hein van Ameijden (managing director Damen Naval). Photo: Jerry Lampen.

At the SAAB-Damen stand, Princess Victoria was given an explanation of our shared ambition of working with the Royal Netherlands Navy and a large number of Dutch SMEs to be at the forefront of non-nuclear submarine technology. The further development of submarine-related knowledge with the successor to the Walrus-class will give the maritime industry in both countries an enormous boost.

On the same day as the visit, it was announced that Damen had won a tender from the Swedish Ministry of Defence to supply four ice-class tugs. The 17-metre Stan Tugs 1706 ICE will be delivered next year for deployment in the ports of Stockholm and Karlskrona.

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