Boskalis reports record 2023 with 150% net profit increase; Half of offshore energy revenue came from offshore wind

Boskalis’s offshore energy division saw 50% of its revenue coming from offshore wind in 2023, according to annual results the Dutch dredging and offshore construction specialist released on March 7. Company-wide, Boskalis reported a 20% increase in revenue and a 150% higher net profit than in 2022.

For its offshore energy division, Boskalis posted a revenue increase of 41% in 2023, with all business units contributing to this but with offshore wind accounting for the largest increase as half of the divisional revenue came from this business unit.

Boskalis was active on 29 offshore wind projects last year, performing marine surveys, unexploded ordnance (UXO) removal, seabed preparation, and the transportation and installation of wind turbine foundations, substations, and subsea cables.

The company notes it had “sizable installation projects” in Taiwan, Europe, as well as the U.S., where Boskalis completed its first offshore wind project last year with 13 monopile foundations and the offshore substation installed at South Fork Wind, New York’s first offshore wind farm.

In Taiwan, the company was installing foundations at the Changfang & Xidao offshore wind farm last year and has also been supporting the construction of the Yunlin project.

In Europe, Boskalis started working at the Moray West offshore wind farm last year under a contract the company secured in February 2023, which involves a multidisciplinary role in the Scottish project, including the transport and installation of monopiles and the installation of the wind farm’s two substations.

Most of the abovementioned offshore wind work Boskalis carried out using its new vessel Bokalift 2, whose conversion from a drilling vessel to an offshore wind crane vessel was completed in early 2023.

In January 2023, Boskalis announced it won a contract in the U.S. for what will be the Dutch company’s 100th offshore wind project.

Looking at Boskalis’s order book at the end of 2023, the company had €6 billion (approximately $6.6 billion) in contracts, excluding its share in the order books of joint ventures and associates. Of this, €4.2 billion (approximately $4.6 billion) worth of new contracts were added in 2023.

Boskalis says it “concluded a historic 2023”, with revenue of €4.28 billion (around $4.68 billion), 20% higher than in the previous year, and a net profit that increased by nearly 150%, from €241 million (around $264 million) in 2022 to €601 million (approximately $657 million).

“After such a strong year, the challenge becomes to sustain this extraordinary level of success over the upcoming period. The outlook in many of our market segments is good and, with a well-filled order book, I look ahead with optimism,” Peter Berdowski, Boskalis CEO, said.

“For 2024, we expect to invest EUR 600 million across the three divisions with a combination of new-build and used vessels, and if the right opportunities present themselves, through acquisitions, all in line with our sustainable growth strategy.”