Damen Shipyards Group has appointed Andrea Trevisan as its new sales director cruise new building.
This announcement coincides with Damen’s ambition to further expand its standing in the expedition and small size cruise vessel market, the company said.
Trevisan (pictured in the middle) will oversee Damen’s global commercial and marketing activities with regard to newbuild cruise vessels. “I will be a sort of Damen brand ‘Ambassador’ for the cruise industry, working in close co-ordination with our well established regional sales organisation and with my colleagues, Henk Grunstra, Product Director Cruise and Ferries, and Mrs Hadewych Reintsema, Design and Proposal Manager Cruise, ” he said.
“On a personal note, I am truly excited and honoured to take on this new position for Damen. It is like returning to my roots because I have had a passion for cruise ships ever since I was a child. This was the reason why I decided to study at the Nautical College in Venice, Italy – to fulfil my dream of sailing in one of them one day. I became a Master Mariner and served as a Navigation Officer on large cruise liners for 11 years, sailing all the oceans and visiting several destinations.
“In the course of my onshore carrier I initiated a commercial path. I joined Damen in 2012, as Regional Sales Manager and had the pleasure to contract a number of successful newbuild vessel projects.
“I am now truly looking forward to meeting the enthusiastic representatives of this fascinating market and discussing their views and their newbuild cruise ship ideas,” he said.
Damen’s cruise ship newbuilding focus is backed up by the co-operation between companies within the Group, he said.
“I am confident Damen will be a reliable partner for future ventures, as we display a unique co-operation within the Group. These are true synergies. For example, we have luxury superyacht builder AMELS on our team. They have developed the SeaXplorer range of expedition yachts, which share numerous technical similarities to expedition cruise vessels. Two of these have already been sold,” he explained.
Furthermore, Damen Shiprepair & Conversion is well established in the cruise market, having already gained an interesting track record. A new dedicated Product Manager, Rogier van der Laan has been recently appointed.
The collaboration continues with Danish naval architects Knud E Hansen. “They bring invaluable skills and experience of the cruise industry to the design table. And combined with the unparalleled operational experience from Expedition Voyage Consultants, we introduced a 100-pax capacity Expedition Cruise Vessel concept design last year.
“This is only the start. We are also currently putting the finishing touches to a 200-pax capacity concept design,” he said.
