Record results in trying times for Van Oord
Dutch dredging and marine construction major Van Oord has reported excellent results for 2015, including a record revenue of €2.579 billion, an increase of 23% on the previous year, and a record profit of €169 million.
The figures are attributed to the successful execution of several major projects, including construction of the Second Suez Canal, completion of Luchterduinen offshore wind farm, and fast-tracked execution of Gemini wind farm.
For the Second Suez Canal project, Van Oord was part of a four party consortium that successfully constructed a new 35km long bypass within an extremely tight deadline of ten months. More than 25 vessels dredged well over 200 million cubic metres of sand in record time, on some days producing more than one million cubic metres.
Major works still in execution are the Prorva project in Kazakhstan and the land reclamation project for the KNPC refinery in Kuwait. Fleet capacity utilisation was good in 2015. At 37 weeks, capacity utilisation of the company’s trailing suction hopper dredgers exceeded 2014 by an average of four weeks. Compared with 35 weeks in 2014, cutter suction dredgers were active 39 weeks, also setting a new company record.
However, Van Oord’s Oil & Gas and Wind business units had fewer new projects than anticipated and the market for dredging projects was also negatively affected by the low oil price. As a result, the order portfolio fell by approximately one billion euros compared with 2014 to €2.349 billion. On the other hand, the problems arising from climate change are creating opportunities for the Offshore Wind Projects business unit.
Capital expenditure amounted to €207 million in 2015, down from €236 million in 2014. Key investments were the new fallpipe vessel Bravenes for the offshore division, which will enter service in 2017, and two new 18,000 m3 capacity trailing suction hopper dredgers, Vox Amalia and Vox Alexia, to be delivered in 2017. Van Oord also invested in two small cutter suction dredgers in 2015, Ural River and Mangystau.
Speaking of the company’s evolved strategy based on the three foundations of dredging, offshore oil & gas, and offshore wind energy, company CEO Pieter van Oord: “We’re happy with this strategy because it makes the business less vulnerable in highly volatile markets. The transformation from a dredging company into a multifaceted marine contractor has significantly changed our activities and the composition of our fleet in recent years.”
By Larz Bourne
