The dredging and heavy-lift specialist, Royal Boskalis Westminster, has seen its order book reach a new high, boosted by the dredging and inland infrastructure business. 

The company noted that its order book increased by over 4 percent during the first half of the year to a new record high of €5.53 billion. This compares to €5.3 billion euros booked at the end of last year. The largest increase in the portfolio took place in Dredging & Inland Infra, within Europe. Among other things, the project Meanderende Maas, which is part of the national Flood Protection Program in the Netherlands was acquired and substantial infrastructure projects were won in the United Kingdom and Belgium, the company said in its report on Tuesday.

Commenting on the achievement, Boskalis CEO, Peter Berdowski said, “At over EUR 5.5 billion, it provides a healthy foundation of work and fleet utilization for the coming years, permitting us to also be more selective when acquiring new projects. Thus, we look forward with more confidence to the second half of the year and the years to come.”

Offshore Energy continues upward trend

Offshore Energy had a very strong half year continuing the upward trend of last year. Offshore wind, accounting for 43 percent of revenue, contributed well to the result. In addition, Boskalis noted that the contribution from services has further increased.

“Both heavy transport and subsea services were busy and the activities acquired from Rever Offshore at the end of 2020 made an excellent contribution. The integration of Rever within Boskalis is progressing very well and is exceeding our own expectations financially,” Berdowski said.

He added that earlier this year, the company refloated the Ever Given brought an end to the blockade of the Suez Canal and the hundreds of waiting ships could continue their journey.

Dredging works still affected by Covid-19

Berdowski reflected on the first half of the year still affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing travel restrictions and stringent quarantine measures.

“Especially in Southeast Asia, Covid-19 still poses many challenges on a daily basis. Closer to home, we have been able to do a lot of work in the Netherlands and we are in full swing with the dredging work for the construction of the Fehmarnbelt tunnel that will connect Germany and Denmark. In terms of the outlook, the vessel schedule looks promisingly busy with the imminent start of major work in the Philippines. In view of the expected high fleet utilization, we have carried out extra maintenance in the first half of the year so that the hoppers are fully available to work.”

Outlook

After an operationally strong first half of the year and in view of the order book, Boskalis is in good shape, the report says.

The second half of the year will certainly still be affected by stringent Covid-19 restrictions impacting the execution and start-up of projects, particularly in the Far East. At Dredging & Inland Infra, work volume and fleet utilization are expected to increase, partly due to upcoming work in the Philippines, in addition to major ongoing projects in Singapore, Denmark and the Netherlands.

At Offshore Energy, the portfolio provides a good basis for a stable second half of the year. In contracting, the successful completion of the first installation campaign on the Changfang & Xidao offshore wind project in Taiwan is important.

In services, despite Covid-19, the outlook at Marine Transport & Services is favorable and the offshore wind market is providing a lot of work across the division. For Towage a stable outlook is expected whilst for Salvage a significantly lower result is expected in the second half of the year after an exceptional settlement result in the first half.