2015 was a year of highlights for dredging company Van Oord

These figures are attributable to the successful execution of several major projects, including construction of the Second Suez Canal, completion of Luchterduinen offshore wind park, and fast-tracked execution of Gemini wind park. The order portfolio totalled EUR 2.349 billion at year-end 2015 (2014: EUR 3.222 billion), down 27% on 2014. High level of activity but more difficult market conditions 2015 was a year of major projects that made a significant contribution to our revenue and profit growth. Although Van Oord closed 2015 on a high note, it was also a year of sharp contrasts. Some worrisome economic trends have emerged, but also opportunities. With the low oil price causing capital expenditure to decrease in the oil and gas sector, our oil and gas activities have faced challenging circumstances. Our Oil & Gas and Wind business units had fewer new projects than we had originally expected. The market for dredging projects was also negatively affected by the low oil price. As a result, our order portfolio fell by approximately one billion euros compared with 2014 to EUR 2.349 billion. On the other hand, the problems arising from climate change are creating opportunities for our Offshore Wind Projects business unit. Dredging In 2015, Van Oord executed a variety of major dredging projects. One of the most important was the Second Suez Canal. Pieter van Oord, CEO: ‘Van Oord was part of a four-party consortium that successfully constructed this new 35-kilometre bypass within an extremely tight deadline of ten months. More than 25 vessels dredged well over 200 million cubic metres of sand in record time. On some days, we produced more than one million cubic metres.’ Major works still in execution are the Prorva project in Kazakhstan and the land reclamation project for the KNPC refinery in Kuwait. Fleet capacity utilisation was good in 2015. At 37 weeks, capacity utilisation of our trailing suction hopper dredgers exceeded 2014 by an average of four weeks. Compared with 35 weeks in 2014, our cutter suction dredgers were active 39 weeks – a new record.