Ferri wins a contract with Damen to equip the deck of its next oceanographic vessel. The agreement consolidates Ferri as a reference supplier for the Dutch shipyard and confirms its leadership in the design, development, manufacture, assembly and maintenance of deck machinery for large vessels.

The Damen Group is a world reference in shipbuilding. It is active in 36 shipyards specialising in military vessels, mega-yachts, oil support vessels, towing vessels, oceanographic vessels and other highly sophisticated vessels. With more than 12,000 employees, it operates in more than 100 countries and has an annual production capacity of 180 vessels. More than 6,500 vessels delivered over almost a century of existence endorse the trajectory of a company known for its high quality standards. This letter of introduction highlights the value of the contract signed by Damen with Industrias Ferri to equip all the deck machinery for its new oceanographic vessel.

This agreement confirms the satisfaction of the Dutch company with the work carried out by Ferri in its previous contract, for which it supplied 29 machines worth more than three million euros for a 74-metre fishing vessel. The equipment included all the scientific, fishing and manoeuvring machinery, as well as the gantries, cranes, davits, mooring and anchoring system, and all the controls, panels and automatic devices. This new contract consolidates Ferri within the portfolio of preferred suppliers of the Dutch giant, with which it is also working on several projects for military vessels and mega-yachts.

“We are the only company in the world with 100% in-house technology for all deck machinery and its controls,” explains Patricio Fernández Goberna, general manager of Industrias Ferri. “This condition allows the shipyard to improve the construction process and guarantees a perfect adaptation of the machines and their operation for both the shipowner and the operator. We reduce the processes and improve the whole process of the life cycle of the machinery; its adaptations, its maintenance, even its possible modernisations”.

Integral service
The contract signed with the Damen shipyard confirms the good acceptance of Industrias Ferri’s comprehensive service in the international market. The Galician company created its Ferri Systems division in 2018 for the development of technologies in drives and controls, a department that today has more than 30 employees, including 20 of the nearly 50 engineers working at Ferri. “We have an impressive team. Ferri Systems has a specially qualified staff for the drives of machines using variable frequency drives and their control via PLCs. We have programmers for all brands and we have qualified personnel for their design and manufacture”.

The integral service provided by Ferri, Ferri Systems and Talleres Carral allows the Galician group to respond with agility and efficiency to the most sophisticated projects and to operate among the international elite in the design, development and implementation of deck machinery. “It is a source of pride to be able to export Spanish technology to the most advanced ships in the world,” concludes Fernández Goberna.

The most important offshore wind farms in Northern Europe once again rely on Ferri for the development of sophisticated equipment for the transfer of offshore technicians. The French shipowner Louis Dreyfus Armateurs equips its last two vessels with the revolutionary davit developed by the Galician company.

The harsh conditions in which offshore wind farms operate prove the ability of manufacturers to develop efficient working devices in such a hostile environment. One of the biggest challenges is the transport and transfer of technicians to the wind turbines, an operation that is very sensitive to sea conditions and where Ferri has designed and manufactured specific equipment that minimizes risks by absorbing the movements of the ship and the vessel that floats and recovers. This dynamic compensation mechanism has become a safety benchmark for the transfer of people at sea.

The effectiveness of the device convinced the prestigious French ship-owner Louis Dreyfus Armateurs to contract Ferri to develop, manufacture and install a tailor-made davit on the Wind of Change, an 84-meter multipurpose vessel that operates in partnership with the Danish wind energy specialist Ørsted. The main purpose of the Ferri davit is the launching and recovery system of a service vessel for wind farms and weighing up to 12 tons.

After successfully completing the installation of the davit on the Wind of Change, Ferri has signed on for the development of new equipment for Louis Dreyfus Armateurs’ second ocean wind farm support vessel, the Wind of Hope.

The folding gangway developed by Industrias Ferri has become an indispensable accessory for the new luxury ocean expedition cruise ships of the shipowner Mystic Cruises.

The World Voyager, owned by Mystic Cruises, is the first ship to install the folding gangway developed by Industrias Ferri. The World Voyager is a 126-metre long hybrid propulsion ship belonging to the Portuguese shipowner’s series of luxury ocean expedition cruisers.

The Ferri folding gangway operates sequentially and fully automatically, managed by a programme that performs the functions of unlocking, opening the door and unfolding the gangway, although it can be operated manually depending on the needs of the service. Its attractions include its compactness, as all the hydraulic, electrical and mechanical mechanisms for a 9-metre gangway are concentrated in less than 10 cubic metres, weighing barely 3,500 kg, which means it can be installed in a very small space.

The Ferri folding gangway is designed for loading and unloading passengers, meets the highest safety standards (certified by Bureau Veritas) and is equipped with a freefloat system (adjusting to height variations when supported in port) and safety gear (locking under sudden movements). Its high mobility allows turning angles of up to 80 degrees, and can position itself practically parallel to the ship if circumstances require it.

The satisfaction of the shipowner with this bespoke naval engineering project has led to Industrias Ferri adding a second unit in the World Navigator, the twin of World Voyager, and to agree to manufacturing 2 more gangways for the next 2 Mystic Cruises oceanic cruises.