Annual report 2019

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CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT

ANNUAL REPORT 2019 – BOSKALIS (Gulhifalhu). The latter relates to a land reclamation and coastal defense project for one of the islands in the Maldives to protect against the consequences of climate change. At the end of the year DREDGING & INLAND INFRA In the Dredging & Inland Infra division a lot of work was undertaken in Duqm, Oman, as this massive project is nearing completion. In early 2019 the new port area was submerged using siphons and the impressive kilometer-long quay wall and two 400-meter-long jetties largely disappeared under water. In Singapore we booked signifcant progress on the two impressive projects we are involved in: Finger Pier 3 and Pulau Tekong, the frst polder to be created in Southeast Asia. There are strong signs that Singapore intends to use polders to protect more of its coastline from the consequences of climate change in the coming years. This is a great example of the important role we play in providing the necessary climate-adaptive solutions. In addition, we were active on many projects around the world including Australia, Indonesia, Canada, Kenya and the Netherlands. We were also successful in acquiring new contracts in Australia (Port Adelaide), Bahrain (Manama land reclamation), Romania (Mamaia beach replenishment), United Kingdom (Southsea coastal defense), the Netherlands (RijnlandRoute) and Maldives 2019 was again a challenging year for Boskalis, with a first half of the year that was negatively impacted by the earnings of the Offshore Energy division. However, the second half showed a sharp improvement of our profitability and increasingly more signs of recovery in several of our markets. In 2019, our revenue increased to more than EUR 2.6 billion, the utilization of our vessels was healthy and the order book grew to a record amount of EUR 4.7 billion. Due to the sharp improvement in the second half we realized a net profit of EUR 75 million for the year. We propose a cash dividend of EUR 0.50 per share. We took major strides in the expansion and optimization of the company during 2019. On the one hand we parted ways with the Saam Smit and Kotug Smit towage joint ventures, allowing us to strengthen our balance sheet by over EUR 260 million. On the other hand, we acquired Horizon Geoscience in the Middle East strengthening our position in the offshore survey market, thus providing us with a huge opportunity to play a leading role in this market together with Gardline. CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT

we were also awarded a provisional letter of acceptance for Pasay, a sizable land reclamation project in Manila Bay in the Philippines. The climate change resilient islands will accommodate real estate needed in light of the strong population growth in this region. OFFSHORE ENERGY Many projects were also undertaken within Offshore Energy. Within the area of renewables, the Borssele Alpha export cable installation project was a compelling example of our unique combination of activities ranging from dredging work to soil compaction and cable-laying, to rock installation for which we deployed a broad range of our specialized vessels and equipment. The crane vessel Bokalift 1 was once again well-utilized in its second year of operation: until August at the East Anglia wind farm and subsequently for the removal of platforms in the Vulcan Viking feld. The most spectacular Offshore Energy project was the dry-docking of the 325-meter-long Carnival Vista cruise ship on board the BOKA Vanguard in the Bahamas. This unique operation caught the attention of many media outlets and millions of people around the world last year. This was followed by the record-breaking transport of the FPSO P70 from China to Brazil. With a weight of 91,000 tons this is the heaviest load ever transported by a semi-submersible heavy transport vessel.