Even since a group of families went about setting up a new dredging business in 1910, Royal Boskalis Westminster NV has built itself a commanding reputation for being a leading global maritime services company operating in the fields of dredging, inland infrastructure, towage, salvage and offshore energy.
Operational in more than 75 countries across six continents with an employee base of around 15,600 people and a fleet of more than 1,100 vessels and equipment, Boskalis’ main clients today include port operators, governments, shipping companies, mining companies, international project developers and oil companies.
Boskalis Offshore is a part of Royal Boskalis Westminster NV, and in its own right is a leading expert in offshore contracting and services. The company supports the activities of the international energy sector, including oil and gas companies and providers of renewable energy such as wind, by offering its customers innovative and competitive solutions, including new installation and improved workability concepts.
Today one will find Boskalis Offshore involved in the development, construction, maintenance and decommissioning of oil and LNG import and export facilities, offshore platforms, pipelines and cables, as well as offshore wind farms. In conducting its work the company leverages its vast expertise, which covers offshore pipeline, cable and rock installation, heavy transport, lifting and installation work, as well as diving and ROV services.
The work that Boskalis Offshore is doing falls in line with its impressive track record of project delivery that includes a variety of highly demanding energy projects. This legacy of stepping up the challenges of its customers remains intact to this day and was the driving force behind the decision to expand further through the incorporation of the former heavy lift and subsea activities of its subsidiary SMIT in 2012. This move represented another step towards Boskalis Offshore becoming very much a one-stop solutions provider that can provide services across each phase of a project.
Boskalis Offshore’s services are performed by its four subdivisions, these being Subsea Contracting, Subsea Services, Marine Services and Marine Contracting. The company’s Subsea Contracting team works specifically with landfall solutions, trenching and backfilling, and rock and cable installation, while Subsea Services focuses on tasks such as air/saturation diving and ROVs, subsea construction and removal and inspection, repair and maintenance works.
The company’s Marine Services subdivision serves the market with chartering of anchor handling tugs (AHTs), barges and sheer legs, and complementary maritime project management and engineering. Finally the Marine Contracting section of the business offers clients an integrated package on the basis of transport and installation (T&I) or engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of marine infrastructure and decommissioning projects. Such projects include fixed offshore structures like platforms, offshore wind farms and tidal installation, and floating offshore structures including SPM buoys and FPSOs.
Boskalis Offshore’s marine contracting activities bring together various fields of expertise to create comprehensive, cost-effective solutions that are specifically tailored to the customers' requirements. All of its endeavours are based on maintaining close contact with its customers and a consistently high level of service to create a mutually beneficial and productive working environment.
Boskalis Offshore Marine Contracting certainly has a strong track record when it comes to the decommissioning of both floating and fixed offshore structures. “A recent project,” explains Michiel Schoenmaeckers, Manager for Oil and Gas, “involved the removal and disposal of two platforms and one subsea dome in the North Sea as a major contractor on a lump sum basis. Decommissioning is a key focus for the Marine Contracting business. We believe that with our knowledge, experience, and assets we can play a key role in the coming decommissioning requirements from the market.”
While the company is more than capable of providing integral decommissioning packages including preparatory removal works with its diving support vessels (DSVs), lifting and transport of the platforms with its sheer legs and marine vessels, and disposal with its partners, challenges do remain. “The main challenges stem from obtaining complete and accurate data of the current facility status,” Schoenmaeckers continues. “Many assets have had several owners throughout the value chain, and consequently facility data regarding installations and alterations can be difficult to retrieve.”
Nevertheless, the company is striving to overcome these difficulties and in doing so has placed itself in a strong position for both short and long-term growth. “For the near term we have a well-filled order book with many projects across all of our disciplines,” Schoenmaeckers states. “This includes the West of Duddon Sands offshore wind farm project in the Irish Sea for DONG Energy and Scottish Power Renewables, various rock installation works for companies including Statoil, subsea inspection and maintenance contracts for companies like Maersk Oil, and a substantial offshore contract with Impex for the Ichthys LNG project in Australia.”
Meanwhile moves have been made by Boskalis to further strengthen and expand its range of services for the offshore energy sector through the acquisition of Dockwise, a provider of maritime services including transport services to the offshore and onshore industries and installation of extremely heavy offshore platforms, and is now planning to incorporate this into its business.
The combination of activities will place Boskalis in a better position to service clients with the optimal deployment of people and equipment, and enable it to fast track its ambition to enhance its capabilities with regard to transport and installation projects. It goes without saying that at the same time Boskalis Offshore will work to stay true to the qualities and strengths that have defined Royal Boskalis Westminster NV for over a century.
Written by Will Daynes, research by Adam Kalynuk
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