Flanders Ship Repair now has the expertise it needs to handle dry-dock work for the Belgian and Royal Netherlands navies.
The Belgian repair yard has acquired Smit Harbour Towage Belgium's (SHTB) fleet support centre in Antwerp to fulfill a maintenance contract for both military outfits' minesweepers.
"The company has a strong need for the additional expertise of technically trained colleagues, as well as a local repair yard facility in Antwerp," Flanders said in a statement.
After consulting with each other earlier this year, the two companies concluded that the repair yard of SHTB ... could effectively cater to Flanders Ship Repair’s needs."
Flanders will take over the entire yard, including staff members, and rename it Antwerp Marine Technics.
Neither Flanders not Smit returned emails asking for number employees, size of the Smit yard and the deal's financial details.
All yard employees will retain their existing positions and social entitlements, including seniority privileges offer by SHTB, which is part of Boluda Towage Europe.
“Since we’re part of the consortium with Naval Group, and have landed the contract for building 12 mine countermeasure vessels, we need to recruit a fair number of new technical colleagues," Flanders general manager Johnny Hofman said.
"We will be further expanding this complement of technical staff with certified welders and machine operators.”
The two companies already signed a letter of intent for the acquisition on 12 July and aim to close the transaction as soon as possible.
