Sif is expanding its production facility in the port of Rotterdam with another 20 hectares to provide marshalling space and onshore support services for the offshore wind industry. DEME will be the launching customer of Sif’s new marshalling business, starting October 2019. 

The investment decision is driven by increasing client demand for marshalling services. Now that the offshore wind industry is in full swing, offshore contractors increasingly require extra space for storage and handling services like cranage and transportation. “This demand is underpinned by the agreement between Sif and DEME Offshore for a major contract on marshalling services starting October 2019,” states Sif.

Providing marshalling services is a new business for Sif, but the company expects double-digit million-euro annual revenues from this activity within 2 to 3 years. At its location at Maasvlakte 2, Sif will facilitate DEME Offshore and future clients with SPMT’s, gantry cranes, crawler cranes and telescopic cranes for onsite transportation and other marshalling activities. The equipment for marshalling services is leased by Sif on a project-specific basis.

Launching customer DEME Offshore will use the site for the Borssele 1+2 offshore wind project, 47 monopiles, 94 transition pieces and 94 anode cages will be shipped to Maasvlakte 2 from Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom to Maasvalkte 2, where they will be assembled and prepared for offshore construction.

For the new 20 hectares of space, Sif has arranged a similar agreement with the Port of Rotterdam Authority as it has for its existing terminal which has been leased for a period of 25 years starting in 2015. The contract for the additional space has an expiration date parallel to the already leased 42 hectares, Sif states. According to the Dutch manufacturer of offshore structures, the location is situated ideally for new offshore wind projects.

It is one hour steaming to open sea and short sailing distances to new wind farms in the French, Belgian, British and Dutch waters. The quay facilities will be expanded by 200 meters by mid-2023 and will have a depth of 16.5 metres. The facility will allow for close-to-quay jacking and offers a surface load of 10 Kn/m2.

The lease agreement and hand- over between Port of Rotterdam and Sif Holding of the additional 20 hectares land was formalized on 31 July 2019.

“This 20 hectare extension perfectly fits our strategy to expand our services to the offshore wind industry with complex marshalling and terminal activities for offshore wind. We foresee a structural demand for these services and are proud to be selected by Deme Offshore who is our launching customer for these marshalling services when preparing and realizing their offshore wind project Borssele I-II,” says Sif CEO Fred van Beers.

Port of Rotterdam CEO Allard Castelein: ‘We are proud of the success of SIF Group in our port. Since the arrival of SIF Group in 2015, Rotterdam has been successful in strengthening its position in offshore wind. This expansion will enable this leading player in the market to develop even further. It confirms our policy of stimulating offshore wind and other offshore industry as an important growth market and to use our expertise, space and development strength to further this growth.’

Interim results

Sif has had a good first half-year in 2019. The company handled 94,000 tons of steel, reflecting an increase of 16% compared to the first half of last year. The offshore wind industry accounted for 96% of all steel handled, while orders of the oil & gas industry amounted to only 4%. Last year, the oil & gas industry still accounted for 22% of the steel volumes.

Sif’s revenue increased from EUR 145.9 million to EUR 170 .4million, but the operational profit (ebitda) was slightly down from EUR 14 million to EUR 12.7 million. Sif’s order book currently comprises confirmed projects totalling 220 kilotons of steel. The company is also in advanced negotiations for projects that require another 80 kilotons of steel.

The scale increases in the offshore wind industry will be one of the key topics of the Project Cargo Summit, a two-day international conference about the transport of large and heavy cargoes, which is organised by Promedia Group on the 11th & 12th of September, 2019 in Rotterdam. Among the speakers will be Siemens Gamesa, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Kalmar and Van der Vlist Transport. For more information about this dedicated project cargo and heavy-lift event, please visit www.projectcargosummit.com.