Boskalis completes fleet rationalisation study

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Boskalis has completed a fleet rationalisation study resulting in 24 of its vessels being taken out of service and 650 jobs being lost worldwide.

The study was initiated in light of deteriorating market conditions and an expected prolonged period of low energy and commodity prices, Boskalis said.

"The volume of work in the market has fallen sharply and this is putting pressure on the utilisation rate of our vessels," Peter Berdowski, CEO of Boskalis said. "Because we expect these market conditions to persist in the coming years it is essential that we adapt the size and composition of our fleet to this new reality."

"We are fully aware that this intended decision is drastic and that it will have a major social impact. While we will try to absorb the work force reduction through attrition and redeployment wherever possible, compulsory redundancies unfortunately look to be unavoidable. A reduction of the number of vessels and jobs is however necessary to ensure that Boskalis remains healthy going forward."

The vessels will be taken out of service between 2016 and 2018. Of the 24, ten operate in the company's dredging division and 14 in its offshore energy division. These will include trailing suction hopper dredgers, cutter suction dredgers, anchor handling tugs and heavy transport vessels averaging 30 years old.

The fleet rationalisation will also have implications for the workforce, with a total of around 650 employees to be made redundant.

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