For Blohm+Voss, the focus is always on the customer. Whether it’s refitting, the servicing and maintenance of all types of ships, the new-building of luxury yachts or the supply of spare parts, the company has realigned itself to be able to implement complex projects in a timely fashion, applying high service standards and fair prices. Blohm+Voss will display this attitude at SMM 2016 (stand 209, hall B4), where the team of the Hamburg shipyard will present its comprehensive portfolio of services.
A lot has happened over the past year at Blohm+Voss to heighten customer orientation and innovation. CEO Fred van Beers says, “We want to be the first port of call for our customers, and one of the most innovative and successful shipyards in the world. To achieve this, we have set clear goals for ourselves and focus completely on the needs of our customers.”
Restructure for success
Since joining Blohm+Voss in 2015, van Beers has realigned the company and its organisation, and bundled the entire engineering competence in Hamburg. He has also greatly reduced the distances between the sales, project management and engineering departments, simplifying communication, shortening reaction times and making processes more efficient. In April, van Beers combined the former two legal units for new-build and repairs to one Blohm+Voss company, enabling the company to use synergies more effectively in the future and offer customers tailored solutions from a single source.
“We are proud to have such a hardworking and highly trained team,” van Beers says. “Our employees approach each project with a lot of passion. They are extremely solution-oriented; there is no such thing as impossible. The more complex the project, the more ambitious the timeline, the more ambition we apply to deliver high-quality solutions in a timely fashion and within the budget. […] The safety of our employees, partner companies and our customers always has priority, for every project.”
The recent refitting of Queen Mary 2 – the vessel’s sixth shipyard stay at Blohm+Voss – is an example of that ambition: the extensive refurbishment was completed, as planned, in just 21 days. In the past couple of years, the company has managed to establish a great international reputation with orders from the cruise industry, and in the past year alone, it has made ten cruise liners fit for the future.
Global strength
The premises of Blohm+Voss, spanning 421,000m², feature seven docks at sizes of up to 351×59m. Cruise liners, container ships, naval vessels and luxury yachts can easily dock for refits, maintenance and repairs.
In June, the company received approval to establish a yacht-refit location in the south of France. Two weeks later, Blohm+Voss identified the management team for La Ciotat that will establish the new location swiftly to be ready for orders in November. Van Beers sees this step as an important milestone in the company’s growth objectives.
“With our new office in Monaco and this central refit location in the Mediterranean area, we will bring our core business closer to the customer; we will be able to offer more flexibility and tailored life-cycle services,” he says. He adds that whatever the customer desires, in either location, they will receive the “high-quality standard for which Blohm+Voss is known”.
Blohm+Voss is also well positioned for the building of new luxury yachts. After comprehensive market surveys, the company has developed the BV80 project, an 80m yacht that is based on a technical platform concept and can be delivered within 30 months. As well as its extremely short delivery time, the BV80 offers customers top-of-the-line quality and premium Eidsgaard design.
In addition to the new-building and repairs business areas, Blohm+Voss has strengthened its spare-parts unit. The company stores and supplies spare parts on short notice to customers within Hamburg and throughout the rest of the world. Here, too, Blohm+Voss focuses on excellent customer service and uses the experience of its service technicians and the infrastructure of the shipyard to successfully implement complex and time-critical projects.
Blohm+Voss will be in attendance at SMM 2016, a trade fair at the company’s home port of Hamburg. The shipyard is centrally located across Landungsbrücken in the heart of the city, giving it a great infrastructure and a large network of suppliers and partners. It offers customers and crews direct access to the Hanseatic City of Hamburg at all times.
