Damen Shipyards Group

Damen Shipyards Group is a family company that has built ships since 1927 and now employs about 12,500 people. It built its name on standardisation and serial production, delivering more than 6,000 ships in over ninety years, and it aims to combine that approach with digitalisation to become the world's most sustainable shipbuilder.

Electric ships are where that ambition becomes visible. Damen built a battery-electric tug for Ports of Auckland, is building two fully electric ferries for the City of Toronto, and builds a series of electric-ready hybrid ferries for BC Ferries in Canada. Damen sees vessels that sail short distances from shore, such as ferries, tugs and workboats, as very suitable for fully electric operation, charged from shore.

That is the future Damen brought to NEON. More electric ships carry large battery systems, and ships with longer voyages will combine them with other sources such as fuel cells. All of this needs a smart electrical power system, both on board and between the main grid and the ship. Damen provided data and requirements so that PhD researchers could work on the next steps in maritime electrification, and it can apply the results directly in its ship designs.

The work on DC grids led to a patent for a control method that balances bipolar DC grids, and Sachin Yadav's PhD thesis on bipolar DC grids on ships, defended in September 2025.

From the former NEON website

About Damen Shipyards Group

Damen is a family owned business that stands for fellowship, craftsmanship, entrepreneurship and stewardship. We believe that our oceans, seas, lakes and rivers offer humanity a growing range of possibilities in terms of trade, food, energy and recreation. We provide maritime solutions to meet these opportunities, through design, shipbuilding, ship repair and related services.
In the previous century, we revolutionised shipbuilding with standardisation and serial production. More than ninety years and 6,000 ships later, those pillars are unchanged. Their importance is only growing with the need for increased sustainability and digitalisation. It is our aim to combine our proven standardisation with the innovations of digitalisation to become the world’s most sustainable shipbuilder.

Role in NEON

As a innovative ship designer and builder we have already delivered the first fully electrified ships. Base on this we can use our practical experiences in the more scientific focused NEON project. This includes providing the data and requirements so that PhD researchers can perform research that is necessary for making the next steps in maritime electrification. On the other hand we can directly implement the developed knowledge in the design of our ships.
In the NEON project we like to work closely together with the researchers and other partners, in order to create a good synergy, and have new innovative and surprising project results.

Motivation for joining NEON

We see the interest and market for (more) electrification of ships increasing rapidly. Especially ships that operating short to shore, like ferries, tugs and workboats, are very suitable for full electrical operation (shore charged). More electric ships are equipped with large Energy Storage Systems (ESS). Ships with an extended operational profile will get other types of energy sources, like fuel cells in combination with ESS. All this development required a smart electrical power system, both onboard (WP2) and between main grid and ship (WP5) that are suitable for (fast) charging of the ESS and connect and control the future energy sources. The proposed technology development in NEON will contribute to improve our electric ships, so that we become the world’s most sustainable shipbuilder.

Text from the former NEON website (original page).