Annual r eport 2002 Annual r eport 2002 - Boskalis

Company profile
Trailing suction hopper dredger
Coastway and the backhoe
Nordic Giant at work in the port
of Gothenburg, Sweden.
This large project includes the
redevelopment, broadening and
deepening of the main fairways
of this port and will last until
early 2004.
Creation of land in water. The global population is still increasing and economic centres are congested
and overpopulated. Solutions for the increasing scarcity of available land are being sought in the
creation of new land. Boskalis plays a prominent role here. It uses jumbo trailing suction hopper
dredgers to generate a favorable ratio of cost price to market price per square meter of new land.
Coastal defense and riverbank protection. Here also, Boskalis expects continuing market growth
given the intensification in the global focus on environmental protection. The market will also benefit
from the ongoing growth of tourism.
Related activities
In addition to these core activities, Boskalis is involved in a range of related activities (the ‘dredging-plus’
activities), such as offshore services, gravel and sand trading, soil improvement, dry earth moving,
environmental activities, munitions clearance, underwater rock fragmentation, pipeline construction
and hydraulic engineering. These activities extend our range of services, and the margins are generally
attractive.
Markets
The global dredging market consists of numerous submarkets with individual development patterns.
This means that the market as a whole is heterogeneous, with varied patterns of market dynamics.
The annual volume of sales on the global dredging market is approximately € 7 billion and it continues
to increase by approximately 5% a year. Half of these sales (approximately € 3.5 billion) are made to
reasonably open markets. Five large Western European dredging companies account for approximately
60% of operations in these open markets, with roughly 40% of ‘free sales’ going to large numbers of
smaller regional and local players. With a share of approximately 20%, Boskalis is the market leader in
the open market segment. In less open markets, dredging work is generally done by local players or
state companies and there are no openings for private international dredging companies like Boskalis.
The last decade saw extensive deregulation of global trade and economic development in traditionally
closed markets. As a result, the free market has expanded in favor of professional dredging companies,
which can provide economies of scale and competitive cost levels. Major factors in terms of access
to the global dredging market are scale, professional staff, technical know-how, a flexible fleet, cost
leadership and financial strength.
7 Royal Boskalis Westminster nv