Niron contributes to VOSTA LMG’s component success

One of the longest partnerships Niron Staal has enjoyed is that with VOSTA LMG, international engineer and contractor in dredging technology. Niron Staal is their primary supplier of cutter heads.

Though VOSTA LMG is a comparatively new name this engineering and contracting company in dredging technology draws upon decades of experience. In fact their history goes all the way back to 1873, when the Lübecker Maschinenbau Gesellschaft (LMG) was established in Lübeck, North Germany. It was as recently as 2002 that the LMG Marine Technology Department, designers and suppliers of dredging equipment, merged with VOSTA of Amsterdam. Klaas Wijma, Product Manager for Cutting Systems at VOSTA, recalls the company’s origins: “I used to work at Stapel, a shipyard that specialised in designing and building dredgers. The engineering and sales sections of that business merged with Vos Machine Works to form VOSTA . The other departments, steel construction and machining, merged with respectively Nista and Niron, which are now one company - Niron Staal. You could say that Niron and VOSTA were born from the same mother and share the same DNA.”

Niron and Vosta LMG have been working together since they left the nest of ‘mother Stapel’. Klaas: “That was in 1993 - twenty years ago now. Which is a good sign because I believe very strongly that partnerships should be long lasting. Because you have worked closely for so long the communication is very direct and it’s easy to make changes and you know what to expect from each other and so on.”

The partnership between Niron and VOSTA is mainly focussed on the production of cutter heads. Klaas: ”We supply modern cutter heads with the latest state-of-the-art cutting systems for all applications, such as rock, mixed soils, sand and clay. And in all sizes; from 200 pk up to 8.000 pk. Due to their unique design they are the most cost-effective cutter heads available and can be custom-designed to fit on every dredger currently in use. The contract with Niron is for the exclusive production of cutter heads from 500 pk and everything larger; the only exceptions are cutter heads for the Chinese market, because they have to be made in China itself. So, on an annual basis, Niron makes 10-20 cutter heads for us, which is substantial and constant business.”

In retrospect, Klaas Wijma is satisfied by the results of this partnership with Niron although there is still room for improvement. “We started out with nothing and now we have a complete cluster, including development, sales, logistics and after sales, all built around VOSTA’s most successful component, the cutter head. It has been a group effort; the team from VOSTA working alongside our subcontractors Niron and Combi Wear Parts, who supply the cutting teeth. I’m happy that we’ve made this work and have all contributed to this success.”