Tough Year for Van Oord’s Dredging Division

Van Oord, a Dutch family-owned company with over 150 years of experience as an international marine contractor, today released results for the year-ended 31 December 2017.

In 2017, the company recorded €1.53 billion in revenue (2016: €1.71 billion) with a net profit of €78 million (2016: €90 million).

The revenue generated by the company’s dredging division dropped to an historic low (€923 million, 2016: €1.18 billion).

According to Van Oord, the order portfolio remained stable in 2017 at EUR 3.39 billion (2016: EUR 3.27 billion). The company took on projects worth a total of EUR 1.65 billion in 2017, with order portfolio filled with projects of many different kinds.

The year 2017 was dominated by the difficult market conditions in the dredging and oil & gas sectors. The volume of work in offshore wind was stable, and the market dynamic in the offshore wind sector will generate a lot of opportunities for years to come,” said Pieter van Oord, CEO. “The transition to renewable energy is taking shape and the construction of offshore wind farms is a growing market in which we have an strong reputation.

The company also added that the dredging market had a tough year in 2017. Clients took a long time to put projects out to tender and competitive pressure increased. Many countries are putting their efforts into stimulating their own economies and contracting their work to local parties.

The successful conclusion of the Prorva project in Kazakhstan was one of the highlights in the company’s dredging division last year. Van Oord deployed four cutter suction dredgers here to dredge a 70-kilometer-long access channel at one of the most remote locations imaginable in the Caspian Sea.

View the Full Year Results news release.