Boskalis Issues Trade Update

In May, Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) released a trading update, indicating its market picture and developments for the first three months of the year are in line with the expectations outlined at the publication of the 2018 annual results. The picture includes higher revenue compared to the first quarter of 2018 with a comparable result; reasonable fleet utilization both at Dredging and Offshore Energy, and a stable order book.

Revenue at the Dredging & Inland Infra division rose compared to the first quarter of last year. Notable projects in progress include Duqm (Oman), JNPT (India), Nordvikkudden (Sweden), Pulau Tekong Polder and Tuas Terminal 2 (both in Singapore) and various medium-sized projects in the Netherlands.

Given the market conditions, the use of the hopper fleet was good, Boskalis said. Partly as a result of planned repairs of a mega hopper, the utilization rate was lower than the annual utilization rate for 2018. Utilization of the cutter fleet was strong in the first quarter, due in part to the deployment of the mega cutter Helios on the Duqm project.

The order book of Dredging & Inland Infra was virtually stable compared to the end of 2018. Notable new contracted projects include the expansion of the Port of Adelaide (Australia) and various smaller projects in Europe. After the close of the quarter two projects were contracted in Indonesia as well as a large infrastructural project in the Netherlands (Rijnlandroute sub-project).