Annual r eport 2002 Annual r eport 2002 - Boskalis

Company profile
Company profile
We move the earth to a better place. Boskalis, a leading international company with a unique
market position.
Royal Boskalis Westminster nv is an international service company active in the area of maritime
infrastructure. Its core activities include the construction and maintenance of harbors and waterways,
the creation of land in water, and coastal defense and riverbank protection. The company also
operates in numerous home markets in a wide range of related activities such as sand and gravel
production, soil improvement, dry earth movement, environmental activities, marine offshore services,
munitions clearance and tunnel building.
Boskalis has a wide spread of operations worldwide. It has a unique market position with ten home
markets that together generate some 60% of turnover. In addition, Boskalis has operations in over
50 countries on five continents.
The company has grown at an average annual rate of more than 10% in the past decade. This growth
was achieved both autonomously, and by takeovers and participating interests in other companies.
The company has a solid financial basis and a healthy cash flow.
Core activities
The global market for maritime infrastructure is driven by long-term economic factors such as increases
in the global population, the growth of the global economy and international trade volumes. The prospects
in the long-term with respect to these factors are positive, despite the current global stagnation in economic
growth and the uncertainties in various countries. Its global spread and operational flexibility mean
that Boskalis can respond to changing opportunities in different markets. The world picture is currently
dominated by political and economic uncertainties. In the short-term, this will have an effect on some
Boskalis markets.
Construction and maintenance of harbors and waterways. The growth in the volume of global trade
has increased the demand for container ports on international shipping routes. Not only are the ports
becoming larger and deeper as a result of the scaling up of container ships, the number of ports is
also increasing as more and more countries get involved in the global production and exchange of
goods. The established ports are competing with each other for regional leadership, as we can see in
Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong, Pusan), Western Europe (Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Felixstowe)
and North America (New York, Halifax). Ports are also being built or scaled up in numerous developing
countries such as India, Malaysia and Mexico. The increasing demand for larger and deeper ports is
accompanied by the need for keeping them deep. This leads to increases in maintenance volumes,
particularly in areas with strong currents or tidal variations.
Strong growth container turnover (in million TEU)
6
Annual Report 2002