Boskalis

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V.
Quick Facts
Type	Public
sector	Dredging & other maritime services
Headquarters (Benelux Organization)	Papendrecht, Netherlands
Year of Origin	1910
Emissions (Scope 1&2)	1.078 Megatons of CO2 (2021)
Total Revenue	EUR 2.957 million (2021)
Stock Exchange	Amsterdam (Euronext)
Key People	Peter Berdowski (CEO), Carlo van Noort (CFO)
Number of employees	10,250 (2021)
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, is one of the biggest dredging companies of the world. Traditionally, Boskalis' core activity is dredging, but today they also offer services such as the construction and maintenance of inland and offshore infrastructure, maritime services and contracting to the offshore energy sector, towage services, emergency response, and salvage services. Boskalis was established in 1910 by a group of families in Sliedrecht, the Netherlands. Its headquarters are located in Papendrecht, the Netherlands.

Company Structure

In 1971 the company went to the stock market and became a public company. Present day, HAL Investments BV is by far Boskalis’ biggest shareholder owning just over 45% of the share. In March 2022, the investment company announced that they want to take over Boskalis. According to HAL, Boskalis is better off as a private company. Boskalis is examining the bid.

Boskalis has a history of expanding to the foreign market and of diversification by providing different services. These strategies did not turn out to be a success. At the beginning of the 80s, the company was almost bankrupt. By focusing again on dredging and selling all the services that did not have anything to do with that, the company could survive.

Since 2000, Boskalis is again looking for ways to grow, although it focuses on maritime services. Present day, Boskalis has over 130 group companies in around 40 countries over the world. Furthermore, Boskalis has over 25 joint operations.

Boskalis uses a two-tier Board model, which means that management and supervision are segregated. The company has a Group Management, consisting of the members of the Board of Management and the Group Directors. The Group Management meets on a regular basis so that the Board of Management can obtain a full overview of the activities in the divisions of the company, to align the day-to-day management across the company and to ensure optimal exchange of information between the divisions.

Board of Management

The Board of Management consists of four members and is chaired by Peter Berdowski. It is responsible for the day-to-day management of the business. Furthermore, it is responsible for the continuity of the company and for setting out and realizing the company’s strategy. The remuneration is reported differently in the Annual report and the Remuneration report. The following numbers are from the Annual report 2021.

Board of Management

Name	Function	Remuneration x1000 EUR
Peter Berdowski	Chairman	2,935 EUR
Theo Baartmans	Member	1,865 EUR
Bart Heijermans	Member	1,409 EUR
Carlo van Noort	Chief Financial Officer	1,362 EUR

Supervisory Board

The Supervisory Board is responsible for supervising the Board of Management on the strategy and on management performance, and for advising the Board of Management. There are three committees that the Supervisory Board works in: the Audit Committee, the Remuneration Committee and the Selection and Appointment Committee.

Supervisory Board

Name	Function	Remuneration x1000 EUR
Jeroen van der Veer	Chairman	73 EUR
Jack de Kreij	Deputy Chairman	57 EUR
Daan Sperling	Member	58 EUR
Jacqueline Tammenoms Bakker	Member	54 EUR
Jaap van Wiechen	Member	58 EUR
Renée Jones-Bos	Member	52 EUR

Accountant

From the 2022 financial year on, KPMG is Boskalis’ auditor. Before, the external auditor was Ernst & Young Accountants LLP (EY), but the maximum term of appointment has expired. KPMG and Ernst & Young are together with PwC and Deloitte the ‘Big Four’. These multinationals are responsible for 60 percent of the mandatory audits in the Netherlands. Of the market listed companies, they even have nine out of ten as clients. KPMG has a history of flaws.

Main Activity

The company is divided into three segments: Dredging & Inland Infra, Offshore Energy, and Towage & Salvage. Dredging and inland infra account for the biggest part of the revenue, with more than 50%. Close second is the offshore energy segment with around 43%. Last comes towage and salvage with around 5%.

Dredging is traditionally the core activity of Boskalis. Dredging is the activity of removing material from a water environment. This material can be reused elsewhere. According to Boskalis, projects that fall under this segment can consist for example of the construction, maintenance and deepening of ports and waterways; of land reclamation; of coastal defense and riverbank protection; of the extraction of minerals; and of soil improvement. In the Netherlands, Boskalis is also involved in dry infrastructure projects such as the construction of roads and bridges.

The Offshore Energy segment consists of projects involved in oil, gas, and renewable energy companies. Boskalis is for example involved in the engineering, construction, maintenance and decommissioning of oil and gas (LNG) facilities, offshore platforms, pipelines, cables and offshore wind farms.

Towage is the service of pulling a boat along by another boat. The joint ventures Keppel Smit Towage and Smit Lamnalco are the key players in this. They have over 200 vessels to provide assistance to oil and chemical tankers, LNG carriers, container ships and more. Salvage is the service of providing assistance to vessels in distress and of removing shipwrecks and hazardous substances.

Government

Rijkswaterstaat was and still is an important commissioning party for Boskalis. Rijkswaterstaat is part of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and in charge of the design, construction, management and maintenance of the main infrastructure facilities in the Netherlands. Boskalis has a long history of becoming less dependent on Rijkswaterstaat. In doing so, it entered the foreign market with varying success.

In 1978, Boskalis received the designation ‘Royal’. This designation is awarded by the king or queen and symbolizes the respect, appreciation and trust towards the recipient. The most important obligation following the designation is that the recipient will refrain from anything that will damage their reputation.

Paris Agreement untill Today

What has company done or refused to do since the Climate Accord of Paris? Per company, where applicable refer to research on the benefits of fossil companies in the form of subisidies etc.

Financial Results since 2015

This table is meant to indicate that the companies have plenty of money to make their company more sustainable. Clearly distinguish between Dutch data and international data.

Financial situation

Year	Revenue	Profit	Dividend
2015	XXX Billion EUR	XXX EUR	XXX EUR
2016	XXX Billion EUR	XXX EUR	XXX EUR
2017	XXX Billion EUR	XXX EUR	XXX EUR
2018	XXX Billion EUR	XXX EUR	XXX EUR
2019	XXX Billion EUR	XXX EUR	XXX EUR
2020	XXX Billion EUR	XXX EUR	XXX EUR
2021	XXX Billion EUR	XXX EUR	XXX EUR

Scandals and controversies

2006 - 2007 Mauritius

In 2006 and 2007, Boskalis made six payments to the former port director of Mauritius, Siddick Chady. This was done in order to acquire dredging contracts in Port Louis. A total of nearly 89 thousand euros in bribes were transferred to his bank accounts in Singapore and the UK. In May 2013, Boskalis made a full confession of guilt before a court in Mauritius.2011 - 2017 Poland

2011 - 2017 Poland

In the shipyard of company Stocznia in the Polish city of Police, North Koreans have been employed through human trafficking since the beginning of 2011 until the end of 2017. Different Dutch shipbuilders, including Boskalis, had at least 33 ships made at the yard. The North Koreans who worked at the shipyard were paid little or nothing for their work. The North Koreans were recruited by the regime with the promise of high wages and higher status. They made days of twelve hours or longer and received little leave. Boskalis confirmed that 'four identical hulls' had been taken from the Partner shipyard, which were further finished in the Netherlands into full-sized vessels. According to a spokesperson, Boskalis was not aware that North Korean forced laborers were working there.

2020 - Indonesia

Boskalis was working near the city of Makassar, on the Island of Sulawesi, to expand the port. Dredgers take sand from the sea, and deposit it miles away. Off the coast of the Indonesian island, dozens of fishermen protested against Boskalis' dredging activities for weeks. Because of the dredging activity, the fish population drops and the water is clouded. Locals said they were losing income and feared longer-term damage. Boskalis stated that the fishermen have been informed of the dredging project and are being financially compensated. However, the fishermen did not seem to know anything of this.

Current Emissions

In their annual sustainability report, Boskalis does not mention anything about the greenhouse gas emissions of scope 3. Furthermore, they do not show separate numbers for scope 1 and 2. According to Boskalis, their total scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions amounted to 1.08 million tonnes in 2021. The largest part of the CO2 footprint is linked to the vessels. Emissions from the fleet amounted to 1.06 million tonnes. The reported emissions are from the Offshore Energy division, the Dredging and Inland Infra division and from Offices. They do not include the emissions from the Towage and Salvage division, because the Towage business is incorporated in joint ventures and the Salvage operations rely on vessels from the other divisions or third parties.

Total emissions since 2018

Year	Scope 1 & 2
2021	1.078 Megatonnes CO2
2020	.984 Megatonnes CO2
2019	1.111 Megatonnes CO2
2018	1.180 Megatonnes CO2

Climate Policy and Plans

Boskalis

In the Annual report of 2019, Boskalis presents their new CO2-reduction target: They aim to be climate neutral by 2050 across their global operations. This target only takes into account Scope 1 and 2, and not 3.

In order to do this, they have an Emissions Reduction Taskforce, overseen by a member of the Board of Management. The activities of the Taskforce focus on five distinct areas: Fuel efficiency, new energy sources, carbon offset and credits, trends, regulations and collaboration, and commercial offering.

Regarding Scope 3, they claim they start initiatives for emissions reduction where feasible on the basis of impact and influences.

Boskalis Nederland

Boskalis has specific climate objectives for Boskalis Nederland. The main objective concerns Scope 1: By 2025 CO2 emissions caused by fuel consumption by own equipment and passenger transport must be reduced by at least 10 percent compared to the base year 2020.

Then there is an additional objective concerning Scope 2: The CO2 emissions due to electricity consumption by the company buildings, project sites and production sites (asphalt plants and cleaning sites) will be maintained at 0 percent until 2025.

In this report also additional objectives for Scope 3 are mentioned. There are three plans: In relation to suppliers: Annual dialogue with (a selected group of) suppliers on CO2 reduction in the chain; In relation to subcontractors: By the end of 2025, they want to work with at least one subcontractor in order to reduce the emissions caused by the subcontractor's equipment on our project by 10 percent; and with regard to chain analyses, they have one objective per chain.

Due Diligence

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Conclusion

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