Along with her siblings, Rose Damen is now the third generation to stand at the vanguard of her family's global shipbuilding empire, with a particular focus on the superyacht sector as managing director of Damen Yachting. During a recent visit to the Netherlands, Rose tells BOATPro why she initially resisted joining the family business, her priorities now that she's worked her way up and what it really took to build the yard's upcoming 120-metre flagship...
It’s the middle of October in Vlissingen, and Project Tanzanite, the new Amels 120 Full Custom, is sitting quayside at the Damen Yachting shipyard, having returned from her most recent sea trials in the North Sea. Workers buzz around the yacht’s layered decks, making adjustments, but managing director Rose Damen says everything is progressing smoothly ahead of next year’s delivery.
At 120 metres in length and 6,038GT, the mammoth project is not only set to displace Here Comes The Sun as the new Amels flagship, but Project Tanzanite will also become the largest motor yacht built in the Netherlands to date. “She’s more than twice the size [by volume] of Here Comes the Sun, so she’s really a big step up in our game,” Rose tells BOATPro. “We didn’t have experience in this size range, and every shipyard that has built something this big for the first time will tell you that it’s not easy. But we were very focused on selecting partners and suppliers who did have experience [with this size of vessel], which helped us to reduce the risks of such a large build.”
Still, Rose says there were some unexpected obstacles along the way. Taking on the project meant the yard needed to build a new quay extension – where the yacht is currently moored – and during the excavation process, the team stumbled upon four World War 2 explosives buried in the soil. “Vlissingen was basically flattened during the war because it was viewed as a strategic location [due to its production of military vessels],” Rose explains. “Today, each new development requires an investigation to look for explosives, and we happened to find quite a lot of them.” The Royal Netherlands Navy was called in to clear the bombs away, which were then detonated at sea, but the episode just speaks to the immense heritage behind every new build stamped with the Damen Yachting insignia.
The yard’s origins can be traced back to 1875 with the founding of the Royal Schelde Shipyard (which later joined the Damen Shipyards Group), but the Damen company was created in 1927 by brothers Jan and Marinus Damen. Jan’s son, Kommer Damen, then assumed control of the shipyard in 1969 and expanded its yachting business with the acquisition of Amels in 1991.
Today, Kommer’s son Arnout Damen serves as CEO of Damen Group, alongside Rose as managing director of Damen Yachting and their sister, Annelies Damen, who oversees the yard’s interior design concepts. But growing up, Rose says it was never a given that she would enter into the family business. In fact, she chose to move away from the Netherlands at the first opportunity. “I wanted to see more of the world and do something on my own that was based on my own merits, without the support of my family,” she explains.
After completing her studies in Rotterdam, Rose spent a couple of years in Asia before relocating to London, where she worked for an institutional investment firm for five years. “I learned a lot and strengthened my background in finance, but in the end, it was mostly my own curiosity that drove me to join the family business,” she says, though not before obtaining her MBA from INSEAD. “I decided to join the company for one year, just to see what it would be like, beginning in a sales role. Safe to say, I really enjoyed it; 10 years later and I’m still here.”
According to BOATPro, Damen Yachting has 14 superyachts in build across its brand portfolio (Amels, Xplorer and Yacht Support) – the most of any Dutch yard at the time of publishing. Part of this success, Rose says, is down to Damen Yachting’s specialised business model, where new builds are constantly being started on speculation to lower lead time for clients. “Building standardised, proven technical platforms will always be at the heart of what we do. We believe it reduces the risk for both the shipyard and the client because it allows us to deliver better quality more efficiently,” she adds.
Take, for instance, the ninth hull in Damen Yachting’s hugely successful Amels 60 Limited Editions series – currently being built on speculation in Vlissingen. If an owner stepped in today, they would take delivery of a brand-new 60-metre superyacht with hybrid capabilities as early as May 2026. The 10th hull – in build in a neighbouring shed – isn’t far behind, with delivery scheduled later that year. “It is incredibly fast, but our focus as a company is always on operational excellence, which for us means leaner production and optimising the learning curve that comes with building in a series,” Rose says. And while each of their yachts is based on the same reliable platform, the yard still makes an effort to switch up the layouts, interiors and some of the features on board, so clients can come away with something “truly one off”.
And now that the yard has the technical capabilities and infrastructure to back projects upwards of 100 metres, Rose says Damen Yachting is perfectly willing to build a sibling (of sorts) to Project Tanzanite. “100 per cent, Tanzanite is a continuation of a number of full custom deliveries that we have delivered over the past few years,” she says, though the yard doesn’t plan to begin anything of this scale without an owner already attached.
For now, Rose’s focus is on leading Damen Yachting into the future, an aim she shares with her siblings. “Each generation will bring something unique,” she says. “We won’t do things the same way as our parents’ or grandparents’ generation, but as long as we understand our roots as a family business, we’ll be able to stay on course while adapting to new times.”
The first indications of this new direction surfaced in 2020, shortly after Arnout was installed as CEO of Damen Group. “We are going 'back to the future': towards standardisation and series construction,” he said at the time. “These are not only success factors that led to great growth in the past, but also essential conditions to meet the megatrends of our time: digitalisation and sustainability.” Five years later, and the company seems to be making good on its promises, not least with the recent delivery of the first Amels 80 Limited Editions yacht. Named Pangea, her completion signals a new generation of hybrid Amels yachts, allowing for reduced fuel consumption and quieter operations both at anchor and underway.
Meanwhile, the Group’s digitalisation efforts are to help streamline design processes and improve predictive maintenance. “Most of our yachts now have Damen Triton on board, a program that gives us and our clients the opportunity to monitor [usage] data,” says Rose. “From a builder’s perspective, it tells us a lot about how our yachts are being operated, which is such valuable insight to have when we’re designing new yachts to be more efficient and more sustainable.”
But is the yard working on anything at the moment? “We’re always working on new designs,” Rose replies. “Basically, the day the first Amels 60 came out or the first Amels 80 came out, we were already thinking: if we had to do something again, how would we improve? How would we build on the existing platforms?” It’s a question that went towards the rebranding of the SeaXplorer into the Xplorer, now offered as a 60, 80 and 105-metre model. “The new designs were based on the experience we gained from platforms such as Anawa and La Datcha, with a lot of innovation also going on behind the scenes – particularly in the hybrid systems and sustainable features,” Rose adds, again pointing to the idea of “operational excellence” she and her siblings aspire to uphold.
Anyone looking to shoulder nearly a century of family history might crumble under the weight of it all. Fortunately, Rose sees it differently. “I’m not doing this on my own; it’s definitely the team that keeps me here [at the company],” she says.
As for her guiding light? “Today and going forward, we want to be the enablers for our clients to really spend quality time together with the people closest to them – whether that’s in the Med or more off the beaten track,” Rose explains. “Our aim is to deliver the platform for them to have those moments together, and to combine that with learning about the oceans and the beautiful things our planet has to offer.”
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