Boskalis

Dutch dredging and heavylift company

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V.

Company type| Naamloze vennootschap

Traded as

| Euronext: BOKA
Industry| Construction, services
Founded| 1910; 114 years ago (1910)
Founder| Johannes Kraaijeveld
Eliza van Noordenne
Headquarters| Papendrecht, Netherlands

Key people

| Peter Berdowski (CEO), Herman Hazewinkel (Chairman of the supervisory board)
Products| Dredging, land reclamation, maritime infrastructure, offshore construction
Revenue| €2.674 billion (2010)[1]

Operating income

| €401.9 million (2010)[1]

Net income

| €310.5 million (2010)[1]
Total assets| €4.315 billion (end 2010)[1]
Total equity| €1.599 billion (end 2010)[1]

Number of employees

| 13,830 (end 2010)[1]
Website| www.boskalis.com

Boskalis Westminster N.V. is a Dutch dredging and heavylift company that provides services relating to the construction and maintenance of maritime infrastructure internationally.[2] The company has one of the world's largest dredging fleets, a large stake in Smit International and owns Dockwise, a large heavylift shipping company.[3]

As of 2020, Boskalis employs around 9,900 employees and 650 ships.[4] They operate in over 75 countries in six continents.[5]

## History

[edit]

Boskalis (Bos & Kalis) was founded as Johannes Kraaijeveld en van Noordenne in 1910 by Johannes Kraaijeveld and Eliza van Noordenne. During the 1930s, it was renamed NV Baggermaatschappij Bos & Kalis when Gerrit Jan Bos, Wilhelm Bos, Egbertus Dingeman Kalis and Kobus Kalis took over. Throughout much of the interwar period, Boskalis played a major role in the Zuiderzee project. In 1931, the company signed a contract for the dredging of Bromborough Dock. During 1933, Boskalis partnered with the Westminster Dredging Company (based in Fareham, England), which opened business opportunities with West Africa.

In 1970, Boskalis became a public company.[6] during 1978, Boskalis received the designation "Royal".[7] In the 1980s, economic and political circumstances compelled Boskalis to concentrate on its core dredging business.[8]

Across the 1990s, the company embarked on a series of acquisitions, such as its purchase of a 40% interest in rival firm Archirodon Group.[9] During this period, Boskalis was also involved in several major land reclamation projects. In Hong Kong, the company worked on the major land reclamation project for the new Chek Lap Kok airport,[8] while in Singapore it cooperated on a multi-year development program.[10] Addition work during this decade included its involvement in the construction of a gas and container port at Ras Laffan, Qatar.[11]

During 2000, Boskalis and the Dutch maritime construction firm Hollandsche Beton Groep (HBG) explored multiple avenues aimed at bringing together or merging the two businesses, ranging from a hostile takeover to even agreeing terms from a friendly transaction.[12][13] However, even though the European Commission cleared such a deal to proceed, it did not come to fruition, allegedly due to disagreements over the proposed combined enterprise's direction.[14][15] It was speculated that such an arrangement would have created the market leader in the Benelux region (in terms of turnover) as well as one of the five largest European construction companies.[16]

### Since 2000

[edit]

By 2007, the company was engaged in two major contracts in Australia — a €300 million contract to deepen the shipping channels of Port Phillip in Melbourne, utilising its dredge the Queen of the Netherlands, and a €50 million contract to expand the harbour at Newcastle.[17][18] The company was also undertaking a €1.1 billion contract to develop a new port in Abu Dhabi.[17]

On 15 September 2008, Boskalis offered €1.11 billion for fellow Dutch maritime company Smit International.[19] Despite the offer being promptly rejected by Smit's board, Boskalis subsequently built a stake of over 25% in the firm[20] and expressed a continuing desire to buy a number of its business units.[21] A revised offer of €1.35 billion was accepted by Smit in January 2010, with Boskalis declaring its offer unconditional that March.[22]

During early 2011, Boskalis acquired the Dutch-based civil engineering firm MNO Vervat.[23][24] In April 2013, Boskalis acquired the Dutch marine transport company Dockwise.[25] That same year, Boskalis completed the sale of its 40 percent stake in Archirodon Group in exchange for $190 million.[26][27]

In October 2014, Egypt signed a $1.5 billion contract with Boskalis, alongside five other multinational firms, to carry out dredging in connection with the expansion of the Suez Canal.[28][29] During late March 2021, a pair of Boskalis tugboats assisted the eleven Egyptian tugs in the dredging and towing operation to free the 400-metre long ship Ever Given, which ran aground in the Suez Canal and got stuck diagonally, therefore blocked the canal between 23 and 29 March 2021, during which time the canal was impassable.[30][31]

Boskalis has played a key role in the delivery of numerous offshore wind power generation schemes, in particular the use of cable-laying ships to connect such farms to land-based energy grids.[32][33] By 2024, half of the company's offshore energy revenues were being generated from work related to offshore wind farms.[34][35]

During 2019, Boskalis announced its intention to divest its worldwide harbor towage interests. Accordingly, the firm sold its stakes in Saam Smit Towage (which operated primarily in Central and South America), Kotug Smith Towage (which operated in Northern Europe), and Keppel Smit Towage, a joint venture with Keppel Offshore in Singapore.[36][37]

In early 2022, HAL Investments approached Boskalis with an offer to purchase the latter; this deal valued the firm at €4.3 billion.[38] As a result of the completion of this transaction, under which HAL Investments obtained in excess of 95 percent of all shares in the Boskalis, the latter was delisted from Euronext Amsterdam.[39]

During the early 2020s, Boskalis has been one of several companies working on Malmporten, Sweden’s largest dredging projects in recent decades.[40][41]

The New Manila International Airport has been the largest land reclamation project in Boskalis’ dredging history on the coastal areas 35 km north of the capital Manila. On 15 September 2023, Boskalis’ Group Director, Pim van der Knaap, accepted the International Association of Dredging Companies Safety Award 2023 from IADC’s President Frank Verhoeven for the new and improved waterbox, used for sandfill areas.[42]

## Controversies

[edit]

During the early 2010s, Boskalis was publicly accused of bribing Mauritian officials in order to obtain certain contracts in the nation.[43][44] In October 2013, the company was fined by a Mauritian court.[45][46]

## See also

[edit]

* Shoalway
* Dockwise Vanguard

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f "Annual Report 2010" (PDF). Boskalis. Retrieved 3 April 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
2. ^ "Company Profile: BOSKALIS WESTMIN". NYSE Euronext. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
3. ^ "Dredging" (PDF). Ciria.com. September 2013.
4. ^ Boskalis Annual Report 2020. Netherlands: Annual report by Boskalis. 4 March 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
5. ^ "About us". boskalis.com. Boskalis official website. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
6. ^ "Boskalis' history". Boskalis.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2020.
7. ^ Bouwens en Sluyterman, Verdiept verleden 2010, p. 243.
8. ^ a b Bouwens en Sluyterman, Verdiept verleden 2010, p. 323.
9. ^ Bouwens en Sluyterman, Verdiept verleden 2010, p. 397.
10. ^ Bouwens en Sluyterman, Verdiept verleden 2010, p. 361.
11. ^ "19Mar92 QATAR: BOSKALIS WESTMINSTER AND DRAGOMAR WIN £125M CONTRACT FOR DREDGING WORKS". constructionnews.co.uk. 19 March 1992.
12. ^ Dorsey, James M. (16 May 2000). "Boskalis, Hollandsche Beton Groep Reach Deal for Friendly Merger". Wall Street Journal.
13. ^ "HBG verzet zich fel tegen bod Boskalis". digibron.nl (in Dutch). 29 February 2000.
14. ^ Verheugen, Günter (4 July 2000). "Case No COMP/M.1877 - BOSKALIS / HBG" (PDF). European Commission.
15. ^ Dorsey, James M. (11 July 2000). "Boskalis, HBG Call Off Merger Plan On a Disagreement Over Strategy". Wall Street Journal.
16. ^ "Heijmans and Boskalis are in agreement on the basics of future purchase dredging activities HBG". globenewswire.com. 31 August 2001.
17. ^ a b Lucas, Clay; Schneiders, Ben (29 January 2008). "Exposed: $500m bill for dredging". Melbourne, Australia: The Age. Retrieved 19 February 2008.
18. ^ "Boskalis wins 100 mln eur jv contract to expand coal export harbour in Australia". CNNMoney.com. 22 January 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2008. [dead link‍]
19. ^ "Marine services company Boskalis to bid for Smit". CNBC. Associated Press. 15 September 2008. Retrieved 15 September 2008.[dead link‍]
20. ^ Gray-Block, Aaron (2 February 2009). "Boskalis ups stake in Smit, could buy more shares". Reuters. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
21. ^ van Tartwijk, Maarten (14 May 2009). "Boskalis CEO: Ambition To Buy Several Smit Units". Dow Jones Newswires. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 30 May 2009. [dead link‍]
22. ^ Roumeliotis, Greg (27 March 2010). "Boskalis clears Smit takeover milestone". Reuters. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
23. ^ "Boskalis completes acquisition of MNO Vervat". Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
24. ^ Guthrie, Sandy (13 June 2011). "Boskalis to buy MNO Vervat". constructionbriefing.com.
25. ^ "Boskalis acquires Dockwise in 'squeeze out' of remaining shareholders". superyachtnews.com. 26 April 2013.
26. ^ Labrut, Michele (12 July 2013). "Boskalis sells stake in Archirodon for $190m". seatrade-maritime.com.
27. ^ "Boskalis Sells Stake in Archirodon For $190 Million". maritime-executive.com. 11 July 2013.
28. ^ "Suez Canal expansion plans lift dredging firm Boskalis". Reuters. 12 May 2021.
29. ^ "Boskalis consortium acquires Suez Canal expansion contract". gardline.com. 18 October 2014.
30. ^ "Suez Canal: How are they trying to free the Ever Given?". BBC News. 26 March 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
31. ^ Ganic, Eldin (8 December 2021). "The Salvage of the Ever Given by Boskalis". dredgingtoday.com.
32. ^ Memija, Adnan (21 June 2024). "Boskalis Installing Final Hollandse Kust West Beta Export Cable". offshorewind.biz.
33. ^ "Boskalis Installs First U.S.-Made Offshore Substation for South Fork Wind Project". oedigital.com. 1 August 2023.
34. ^ Buljan, Adrijana (12 March 2024). "Boskalis Reports Record 2023 with 150 Pct Net Profit Increase; Half of Offshore Energy Revenue Came from Offshore Wind". offshorewind.biz.
35. ^ Dunn, Jason (19 August 2024). "Boskalis reports record half-year performance". heavyliftpfi.com.
36. ^ "Boskalis to Buy Out Smit Lamnalco JV After Earlier Deal with Boluda". maritime-executive.com. 8 July 2024.
37. ^ Barker, Peter (4 January 2022). "Boskalis sells KST and Maju Maritime". maritimejournal.com.
38. ^ "HAL investments September". vanlanschotkempen.com. September 2022.
39. ^ "Boskalis to delistBy Sophie Barnes3 October 2022".
40. ^ Allen, Joshua (25 July 2024). "Boskalis and Van Oord commence Malmporten dredging works". heavyliftpfi.com.
41. ^ "MALMPORTEN BOLSTERS THE SUSTAINABLE SEA ROUTE TO THE WORLD". malmporten.se. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
42. ^ Ganic, Eldin (15 September 2023). "Boskalis' waterbox wins IADC award – currently used on Manila International Airport project". dredgingtoday.com. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
43. ^ "BOSKALIS: A Relative Of Siddick Chady Accused". Mopays. 23 June 2012. Archived from the original on 22 July 2013.
44. ^ "The Boskalis Affair: A Glimpse into Mauritius' Alleged Mafia State". cocomaurice.com. 11 April 2024.
45. ^ "Boskalis fined for corrupt payments". dutchnews.nl. 1 October 2013.
46. ^ Prayag, Touria (16 June 2016). "Trial and error, error, error". lexpress.mu.

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