Making Waves - Rose Damen

Rose Damen grew up surrounded by shipbuilding. Since her childhood when she spent many hours out on the water and then when her father Kommer decided to fulfil a lifelong dream by taking a leave of absence from work to embark upon a sailing trip around the world with his family! But before joining the family company in 2014, Rose spent several years working in Finance, both in London and in Asia, as she earned an MBA from Insead, in Singapore, with a focus on entrepreneurial man- agement. Five years in fund management at a London-based institutional investor enabled her to bring additional and relevant skill sets to the family company. But Rose Damen’s life is not only work: she loves outdoor sports including sailing and kite surfing as well as performing arts. Anyway, «I guess yachting, in one form or another, has always been part of my life», says Rose, third Damen generation and now Managing Director of Damen Yachting, the company in the Group that builds yachts, at the beginning of this interview.

The Damen Shipyards Group is involved in different shipbuilding activities. Since 1927 it has designed and built more than 5,000 vessels and delivers over 150 vessels per year. With 32 shipyards and related companies worldwide, Damen is involved in ship construction as well as maintenance and repair activities. How does the commercial shipping influence and match your yachting production?

If we look at our Yacht Support platform, you can see how our commercial and yachting expertise have worked superbly together. We were the first to invent this supporting platform to give owners the most fun possible on the water. Its design builds on a platform that was developed for the offshore oil & gas industry as crew supplier and also used as a platform for patrol vessels. We used the platform to create a yacht support vessel and the rest is history: our yacht support vessels are proving popular, as they are highly flexible and customisable to suit any owner and their interests – whether that be diving, fishing or treasure hunting! Since

2009, we have delivered around 20 Yacht Support vessels from 45 to 75 meters in length to our clients around the world. 

Quality is important, but even sizes matter. What do you think about the increasing of di-

mensions in yachting. Are you working on it? And how?

Although we are known for being a very strong contender in the semi-custom sector, we also

build custom well over the 100 meter mark. At the moment, we have one of the largest yachts currently under construction in the Netherlands and our future flagship: the Amels 120 Full Custom. By building custom projects, we can offer more people the chance to discover the yachting experience that suits them. Everyone has his own idea of what yachting is, what works for him and what he wants to enjoy or achieve and that can only truly be met if the solutions on offer provide diversity - full custom, fast delivery, exploration, support, refit etc.

You are the third Damen generation and you’ve inherited your father’s testimony. How do you think to continue the family tradition? And how can you update the Damen values of a

century-old tradition?

Staying very much a family business is important to us. Even as we grow, we still work as a family. It’s about dedication to your craft and feeling connected to the product we deliver. You can see that in the strong relationships we build with owners and their teams, captains and crews – not just myself but everyone here at Damen Yachting. I believe we never stop growing, learning and developing. The way we have devised our diverse portfolio allows us to offer something for everyone in today’s yachting world. We understand our clients, captains and crews and their experiences are what pushes us forward. Helping us to rise, improve and refine their perfect escape. They are key to our waves of innovation.

Damen, the parent company of Damen Yachting, has 32 shipyards worldwide, 14 in the Netherlands, 18 abroad, 9,000 employees, 3,000 of them working in your home country.

An annual turnover of 2.1 billion euro. Numbers are proving that Damen is a major Dutch

business ambassador. Behind a big company there’s always a great family. Is that true? Has the family enterprise any advantage?

Yes. It is incredible to be part of a family who is so passionate about what we do. We are all

very proud of our shipbuilding heritage and family roots in shipbuilding and that really spurs

us all on to continue the legacy and to take the business into the future as a family. On the

downside, business never stops! It’s very hard for us all to be together and not talk about work. 

Damen is a Dutch company but now you have shipyards all over the world, including Turkey and Romania. How could you succeed exporting your great Dutch tradition in ship and yacht building?

It’s about continuing to apply that entrepreneurial family spirit to Damen Yachting. Working as a family, remaining dedicated to our craft and feeling connected to the product we deliver. 

Besides supply vessels, you also build SeaXplorers. And you’re worldwide recognized as one of the best players in this yacht market. Can you tell us something about the growth of this sector and the key points of your success?

We created the SeaXplorer by combining the best of our luxury Amels superyacht range with our parent company Damen’s high-tech shipbuilding know-how. We pioneered this semi-custom explorer yacht design and continue to lead the way with it. It is very rewarding to see the day-by-day progress – what was once an idea becomes a reality, it makes me feel very privileged. The SeaXplorer is a purpose-built vessel for longer voyages and expeditions and fulfils the need for owners to broaden their horizons, go off the beaten track, bring their family, children, educate along the way – go anywhere and still have the comfort. These owners want an active lifestyle, and to do fun activities together as a family. As a company I feel we have made a difference in inspiring our clients in different and new places, and in turn they share with rest of the world what they do and experience.

Sustainability is one of the most important issues, even in yachting. You’ve a huge experience coming from the shipping industry. What’s Damen Yachting actually doing to improve sustainability?

Sustainability is both a challenge and an opportunity. It is extremely important for all of us. What underpins sustainability is that, through yachting, we offer an experience that can only happen if we have healthy oceans – so the success of our business can only succeed when we have that and can protect it. Today a lot of our products are fitted with artificial teak and hybrid systems that focus on improving the efficiency of the hotel load. We also work together with other shipyards to develop assessment tools to help clients in their decision making, as well as having a dedicated employee at the yard working on our sustainability strategy. We want to work together with other partners in the industry to find more sustainable alternatives, what we do find and succeed in, we are publishing on our #loveouroceans platform. To be a sustainable company also relies on being diverse. Diversity in gender, experience, background, age and nationality can really help a team to make decisions. We hire not based on candidate but on how to build the best team. 

Amels, SeaXplorer and Yacht Support. What are the differences among the three branches of the Damen Yachting tree? And how can you preserve the company identity?

Our Amels yachts are the cornerstone of the business and are predominantly semi-custom yachts that are known for their quality and luxury. Our Yacht Support vessels are inspired by our commercial parent company but still offer that high-grade yacht element. The SeaXplorers are a perfect combination of both. I, and the entire team at Damen Yachting, are proud of every single yacht we deliver across the entire portfolio, including our refit projects. Every project and every client is different in terms of the requirements, needs, style, wants and way of life. They have their own story, own journey and own onward plans and to be part of helping create someone’s dreams and vision is incredibly rewarding.

Design, innovative projects and even production sometimes seem to be pushing beyond the boundaries of seaworthiness. What’s your approach?

Maintaining our DNA in all of our designs is very important to us, it keeps our brand grounded but we also know that as a modern-day builder, we need to continue to evolve. Our Amels Limited Editions are great examples of how we have evolved and pushed boundaries. We are endlessly proud of our Amels Limited Editions superyachts and feel we perfected the classic designs that are still a firm favourite of many. Because Damen Yachting keeps on evolving, we introduced the next-generation of these designs with the help of Espen Øino, who took a great deal of time to look back and study the history of the Limited Editions to give it new light. We keep on talking to our owners, captains and crews to understand their experiences in order to help us to improve and refine their superyachts.

Customers’ desires and owners’ requests are driving yachting towards luxury and five star comfort and do not seem to care as much about the necessities of navigation and going to sea anymore. The new superyachts look like villas on the sea. Are you afraid about this trend?

Almost nothing is uncommon in our role as yacht builders. End goal is often the same – spend quality time with their family on board where you don’t have to think and can be somewhere in the moment, be present with family, friends, loved ones and experience our planet. They are an emotion for clients and crew – we deliver an experience and this, I feel, will never change. We can offer the technical platform and the owners bring their own character, personal finishing touch, whatever they need to make their home.