The Heerema Group

Heerema Group is the majority shareholder of heavy lift transporter Dockwise, which specialises in the transport of very heavy constructions on submersible vessels. Its record so far is the transport of the 41,106t production platform Petrobras 40 which was carried by Mighty Servant 1 from Singapore to Rio de Janeiro in January 2001. Early this year, the company was designing a heavy lift transporter with an even larger capacity, but this project has been sidelined because Pieter Heerema has found another way to enlarge the fleet. A deal was completed this summer with Offshore Heavy Transport (OHT), with Wilh. Wilhemsen and Dyvi Shipping as main shareholders, whereby OHT was taken over by Dockwise in a share swap. Heerema and Vopak (a minority shareholder) would keep about 66% of Dockwise, OHT shareholders the balance. The deal enabled Dockwise to add two new vessels, Black Marlin and Blue Marlin, to its ageing fleet. These vessels have a capacity of 56,000t and a 178m long free deck, measuring 7,216m2. The Heerema Fabrication Group has yards for the production of jackets and platforms in the Netherlands (Vlissingen and Zwijndrecht), UK (Hartlepool) and Norway (Tonsberg); all three are currently described as “quite busy”. The Dutch yards are also involved in the construction of civil projects, such as steel bridges. Other Heerema operations include cableship contractors subsidiary NV Cura?ao. The group has recently expanded its design and engineering capacity into civil and infrastructure projects through ITM, a joint venture with IHC Caland.