Boskalis

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V.
Quick Facts
Type	Public
sector	Dredging
Headquarters (Benelux Organization)	Papendrecht, Netherlands
Year of Origin	1910
Emissions (All Scopes)	973 Megatons of CO2 (2020)
Net Income	EUR€2,525 million (2020)
Key People	Peter Berdowski (CEO), Carlo van Noort (CFO)
Subsidiaries	Boskalis Dragamex Cofra Boskalis Australia Boskalis Nederland Boskalis Environmental SMIT Salvage Boskalis Hirdes Boskalis Russia Boskalis Rockfall Boskalis Terramare Boskalis Westminster Nigerian Westminster Dredging Irish Dredging Llanelli Sand Boskalis Brazil

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V., stylized as Boskalis, Boskalis is the biggest dredging company in the Netherlands and is located in Papendrecht. The company's main activities include dredging & inland infra, offshore and towage & salvage. Most of their revenue is created outside of the Netherlands. This industry is a highly capital-intensive industry that also involves a lot of financial risks. Dredging companies can shift a substantial part of these financial risks towards the government and ultimately the taxpayers.

Company Structure

Board of Directors

Board of Management

• Peter Berdowski (Chairman)
• Theo Baartmans
• Bart Heijermans
• Carlo van Noort (CFO)

Supervisory Board

• Jeroen van der Veer (Chairman)
• Jack de Kreij (Deputy Chairman)
• Daan Sperling
• Jacqueline Tammenoms Bakker
• Jaap van Wiechen
• Renée Jones-Bos

Accountant

Ernst & Young Accountants LLP

Operations

Founded in 1910, Boskalis is now a publicly-traded firm with well over 150 dredgers, vessels, etc. in their fleet. Their board of management consists of four members and is chaired by Peter Berdowski, they are responsible for the day-to-day management of the company. They then have a supervisory board that is responsible for supervising management performance and advising the Board of Management. They have over 15 subsidiaries, three joint ventures, and are a part of over 15 organizations mostly linked to dredging. HAL Investments BV is by far Boskalis’ biggest shareholder owning just over 45% of the share. The company is divided into the three divisions mentioned in the introduction. Dredging and inland infra is the biggest sector and is about 49% of the revenue, close second is their offshore sector with 45% and last comes towage & salvage with 6%.

Paris Agreement to Today

In their 2020 Sustainability Report they claim that “Our activities play a key role in supporting the socio-economic development of a region or country, contributing to the wellbeing of its occupant”. This however appears to be untrue, during the International Conference on Energy and Environmental Science (ICEES) in 2021 an article was released regarding the Impact of Sustainable Development of Coastal Areas and Small Islands in Makassar. In this document it is stated that “marine and sand mining has an impact and risk of environmental damage”. This article concerns Makassar New Port (MNP) which is a venture that was created by Boskalis and which is located on Sulawesi, Indonesia. These activities were briefly put on hold due to protests coming from the local community. After a while they were able to continue and finish the project. The important thing to notice is that on the contrary to what Boskalis is implying, this development does not pay attention to sustainable aspects. Boskalis’ mining activities were located directly in the fishing area of Kodingareng Island fishermen. As a result this greatly impacts the sustainability of economic, socio-cultural and environmental preservation or ecological aspects. The activities resulted in decreased environmental carrying capacity, reduced natural resources, biodiversity loss, and weakened ecosystem integrity. This not only has sefer effects on the environmental health of the area but it also has a social and economic impact. The fishermen in the area suffered extreme losses which resulted in damaging their livelihood. Contrary to what Boskalis said in their Sustainability Report they are not focused on supporting socio-economic development, they are in fact ignoring the local economy. around 90% of the 4,500 residents of Kodingereng depend on marine activities and products and especially those are affected by the activities from Boskalis. Other than this extremely harsh impact on the local community the environmental damage in question was also severe. Destruction of coral reefs, increasing depth of seawater, cloudiness of seawater and waves getting higher and bigger.

Boskalis is known to turn a blind eye on environmental impacts and human rights violations. This is further confirmed in a December 2014 social and environmental review of the Suez operations of Boskalis and Van Oord. It was estimated that around 1,000 up to 50,000 persons were at risk of losing residence and/or income. This might not be ordered by Boskalis, but nevertheless this was a result stemming from their activities. It is well known that dredging has adverse environmental impact through e.g. the releasing of toxic compounds into the water, the destruction of aquatic and terrestrial habitats. The Witteveen+Bos review explained that numerous marine plant and animal species will be impacted, that an increase in air emissions is likely etc.. In conclusion Boskalis did not follow international standards for responsible business conduct for identifying and avoiding risks of adverse and social environmental impacts.

Current Policies and Emissions

In 2019 they claimed to contribute to greenhouse gas emissions with a 1.11 million MT output (scope 1 and 2). Evidently this output is mostly created by their fleet operations. The SDGs that hold their main focus are Affordable and Clean Energy, Decent Work and Economic Growth, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Climate Action and Life Below Water.

Climate Plans

To reach the goals that are laid down in the Paris Agreement it is inevitable for companies to make the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Boskalis’ ambition is to be climate neutral by 2050 across all their global operations.

Conclusion

If Boskalis is indeed trying to reach the goals they appear to have set for themselves they need to put in more effort. Starting by things such as including a human rights clause into the contracts they conclude with their cliënts. Furthermore, they shall have to make more careful Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) in order to control the environmental damage inflicted because of their activities. Even if these damages do not always conclude the direct extra output of greenhouse gas emissions, in the end they will still add to the damage to the environment.

Bedrijfsspecifieke Passage in 'de brief'

U heeft uw duurzaamheidsbeleid vastgelegd in Sustainability Report 2020.

Wij constateren dat uw ambitie is om in 2050 klimaatneutraal te zijn met betrekking tot al uw vestigingen en ondernemingen. Het is duidelijk dat u daarmee niet binnen uw budget binnen een anderhalve graden scenario blijft, omdat niet uw hele waardeketen hierin betrokken wordt. Het is bovendien niet duidelijk hoe uw ambitie gehaald wordt.

In uw plannen blijkt niet hoe u uw ambities gaat realiseren. Dat is een grote tekortkoming en dat maakt de ambitie niet geloofwaardig.

Daarmee draagt uw bedrijf bij aan gevaarlijke klimaatverandering en loopt u het materiële risico om mensenrechtenschendingen te veroorzaken.