Boskalis CSR report 2017

CSR 2017 – BOSKALIS 23

Boskalis Beach Cleanup family day for employees, collecting waste on a stretch of North Sea beach in the Netherlands.

HURRICANE IRMA After the Windward Islands of Saint Martin, Sint Eustatius and Saba had been hit by Hurricane Irma, Boskalis mobilized a transport vessel to provide aid at the request of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. Forty pallets of drinking water were loaded onto our ship, the Fairmount Alpine, in Curaçao and Aruba, and delivered to the hurricane-stricken island of Saint Martin. In addition to its own cargo, Boskalis also loaded a substantial amount of cargo from third parties, including a large disaster relief container from the Red Cross, containing dry food and forty pallets of food and water from the Royal Netherlands Navy. HISTORICAL FISHING BOAT FOR ZIERIKZEE PORT MUSEUM Zierikzee Port Museum in the Dutch coastal province of Zeeland collects and preserves historical sailing- and motor boats. This year, Boskalis sold a superbly preserved ‘hoogaars’ historical wooden fishing vessel to the museum. Built in Vlissingen in 1932 and used by Boskalis since 1976 for official occasions, the Geertrui is a valuable addition to the museum’s collection. The boat will be accessible for public viewing along the quay of the Port Museum.

SUPPORTING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH & EDUCATION We have a tradition of supporting scientific research that is of relevance to our sector. We support fundamental research and knowledge sharing through lectures and presentations. We facilitate a dual lectureship between Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University. Boskalis supervises interns, graduates and PhD students: a total of 193 in 2017. Boskalis participates in Port XL, an initiative aimed at accelerating start-ups in the maritime sector. Other partners are the Port of Rotterdam, various internationally operating companies and the Erasmus University Centre for Entrepreneurship. Our participation is focused on being in contact with young, dynamic start-ups and to support them in bringing their ideas to market. One of such start-ups is MedAssist.online. They were successful in developing a digital solution that helps us improve medical care on board our ships. The online app was designed to also work with a limited bandwidth, an operational constraint frequently encountered on board when working in remote locations.