Annual report 2019

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this vessel, which will be named Ocean Resolution, Gardline introduces a new way of mapping the seabed in a very high resolution. The Ocean Resolution will be commissioned in the course of 2020. Furthermore, as part of the new business plan, Boskalis will invest in four new survey vessels in the coming years. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Our research and development activities are helping us deliver added value to our clients and stakeholders and support our business growth. An important highlight from our internal R&D program includes the development of a new system that enables us to use our hopper dredgers without using the so-called overflow while maintaining effciency levels. The recirculation system limits the release of fne sediment into the water, which in turn reduces turbidity in the water column around the hopper dredger. Mudbot Our building with soft materials program made progress this year in pursuit of an approach that will facilitate the use of the fne sediment produced as a by-product of dredging. The program is aimed at transforming previously unusable material such as fne sand and silt into usable building material. For this purpose the Mudbot was developed, a robot that traverses the fne sediment once it has been deposited at the reclamation site, accelerating drying. The machine creates ditches and gullies so that the material dries faster as the water evaporates. The sediment, which would once have been waste, is now being put to valuable use. Seagrass Transplanter This year we also launched a specialized Seagrass Transplanter. Seagrass can be affected by pipeline installation. If it is moved, it is unlikely to recover unless its root-base is intact. Boskalis developed a grab, which can be mounted on an excavator, capable of transporting seagrass in complete blocks. As a result, they can be moved away from the site, and returned if appropriate afterwards. Seagrass is protected in many parts of the world because of its important properties - it dampens waves and is one of the most important natural marine systems for capturing and storing carbon dioxide. Our Seagrass Transplanter is a unique means of protecting this important aspect of our oceans’ biodiversity. WaveJump Innovation Challenge 2019 saw the conclusion of our latest Wavejump Innovation Challenge. More than 100 employees put forward ideas and seven were selected through two events to participate in an in-house accelerator program. One project was selected for an award, a Microbial soil improvement system, which is now being piloted on the innovative Finger Pier 3 land reclamation project in Singapore. Several of the six other proposals are now progressing through trials ahead of deployment in commercial operations. Port XL Boskalis is a partner of Port XL, the world’s frst port and maritime accelerator program. It is designed to provide the support 2019 HIGHLIGHTS Hopper dredger recirculation system

innovative ideas need to succeed commercially. Our participation is focused on bringing our know-how and network to start-ups and support them in bringing their ideas to market. The structure of the program changed in 2019 so that teams presenting strong ideas can apply and embark on the accelerator program at any time. This makes it a dynamic program that responds more immediately to industry needs. Joint industry initiatives As a member of the Green Maritime Methanol consortium we are participating in a project exploring methanol as an alternative marine fuel. This is part of our drive to reduce our carbon footprint. Together the 22 partners are modelling the relative cost and environmental implications of methanol compared to current fuel options. We also continued our involvement as part of the GROW group (Growth through Research, development & demonstration in Offshore Wind) investigating gentle monopile driving using a smart combination of actual and rotational vibrations. This approach is expected to have a direct environmental beneft by reducing the disturbance of marine mammals. It will also reduce equipment fatigue. This should bring down costs, which will in turn make construction of offshore wind farms more affordable. A scale test was successfully undertaken in 2019 and work continues to further improve and test this approach. ICT Following the restructuring of IT operations in 2018, much of 2019 was focused on stabilizing the new outsourcing arrangements. This involved optimizing collaboration between our different service suppliers, which also provided an opportunity to rationalize some of our systems. In 2019 we continued the implementation of the new Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERP) within the Dredging division and are aiming to complete this in 2020. The new ERP system has signifcantly improved the effciency of numerous processes and enhanced the transparency of our business operations and governance. Work began this year with the development of the new company- wide software tool to optimize Fleet Management processes such as plant maintenance, crewing and SHE-Q-processes. We worked with our crew to analyze the processes that happen onboard to ensure the tool that is ultimately built is ft for purpose. Often this provided an opportunity to streamline processes that had become complex over time. This work will inform the development of the tool itself, which will commence in 2020. Our work to integrate Building Information Modeling (BIM) standards and developing supporting IT solutions continued this year. Motivated by the expectations of some of our key Dutch clients including Rijkswaterstaat, the executive agency of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, this system provides guidance on operational processes, such as document review procedures, including approval processes and proper archiving. This sets high quality standards to which we can operate, and which may ultimately prove to be a successful model for our global operations.

ANNUAL REPORT 2019 – BOSKALIS