Boskalis_Annual_Report_2016

ANNUAL REPORT 2016 – BOSKALIS 5

Great strides were also made with the development of our new quality system, the Boskalis Way of Working. Aimed at harmonizing various business processes and support systems, the Boskalis Way of Working quality system will be introduced in the course of 2017. ADAPTING TO THE NEW REALITY All the hard work and many new projects acquired during the year could, however, not prevent more and more gaps from appearing in our fleet schedules. Considering the prospects going forward, we came to the inevitable conclusion that we have to align the size of the fleet with the market. After a comprehensive study we decided to take 24 vessels out of service: ten at Dredging and fourteen at Offshore Energy. This was a difficult decision, particularly for the 650 colleagues affected. In close consultation with the Works Council we carefully completed the advisory process and agreed on a fair social plan. PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE We expect the current market environment to persist in the coming years. In order to respond to this outlook and to prepare ourselves for the period that follows we have been working hard on our 2017-2019 Corporate Business Plan, the main points of which can be found in this annual report. With the right focus and optimization of our existing business portfolio we can successfully steer the company through this difficult period. Results will be lower than in the extremely profitable previous years but our financial position is very strong and healthy with nearly EUR 1 billion in cash at the end of 2016. We will continue to generate a strong cash flow in the coming years which, in turn, will provide opportunities. Where these opportunities will present themselves, we will invest to strengthen the company selectively. Not only for the coming years, but also most certainly for the period thereafter when the market is expected to pick up again. On behalf of the Board of Management I want to thank all our colleagues for their commitment and great efforts in 2016, as well as our clients, partners and shareholders for the trust and confidence they place in us.

a letter of intent was signed for the very sizable Duqm Port development in Oman. A great project for our new mega cutter Helios to sink its teeth into.

OFFSHORE ENERGY The largest market change we experienced in 2016 was at Offshore Energy. We saw the market and order intake dry up more and more, but we were still very busy with numerous projects from the order book. We set a new record transporting the FPU Likouf for the expansion of the Moho Nord oil field. At 80,500 tons, it was the heaviest cargo that the Dockwise Vanguard had ever transported. In addition, we transported two topsides and various platform modules with six Dockwise vessels from South Korea to the Clair oil field west of the Shetland Islands. And for the Hebron project in Canada various platform modules were transported by the Blue Marlin and installed using the Taklift 6 sheerleg crane. The acquisition of the VolkerWessels offshore activities was finalized at the start of July. This transaction strengthened our position in the growing offshore wind energy market considerably. As a result of the acquisition we executed two large offshore wind farm projects on a 100% basis in 2016: Veja Mate and Wikinger. Furthermore, the Offshore Energy division was able to secure impressive new offshore wind projects such as the Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm for Vattenfall and the Hornsea Offshore Wind Farm Project One for DONG. We will transport and install the jacket foundations using our new 3,000 ton crane vessel – a Dockwise transport vessel that is currently being converted. Our subsidiary VBMS also acquired numerous contracts and will install the export cables for the Borssele offshore wind farms on behalf of Dutch grid operator TenneT. TOWAGE & SALVAGE At Towage we established the European harbor towage joint venture between SMIT and KOTUG in the first half of the year. The 50/50 joint venture operates 64 tugs in eleven ports in four countries. This was an important step in the execution of our strategy aimed at developing and expanding regional partnerships. Today we offer towage services in 90 ports around the world with some 425 vessels through our four towage joint ventures. At Salvage it was a quieter year after the previous record years. However, a number of impressive projects were executed, including salvaging the car carrier Modern Express in the Bay of Biscay to help prevent a major environmental disaster and refloating the 19,000 TEU container ship Indian Ocean on the Elbe River. SAFETY AND QUALITY In our sixth NINA year we once again made important progress expanding the rollout of this global safety program. In addition, we introduced the Mooring and Safe Mind workboxes containing practical training methods and tools.

Peter Berdowski