Dutch contractor Van Oord has posted lower earnings, despite record revenue, due to settlements reached on outstanding claims that arose in the Dubai era.
In the year 2014, the company recorded net profit of €119 million, an 8 percent drop compared to €130 million net profit in 2013.
Revenue, however, climbed 28 percent to €2.1 billion, versus €1.6 billion at the end of 2013, surpassing the €2 billion in turnover for the first time in company’s history.
Furthermore, Van Oord secured order backlog of €3.2 billion at year-end 2014, marking a significant increase of 66 percent from €1.9 billion in the corresponding period in 2013.
At the end of 2014 Van Oord had 4843 employees and stated further plans to recruit new people.
The company said it will continue to focus on its dredging, offshore oil & gas, and offshore wind activities with further boosting its position on the market. “ In addition to the investments in new vessels, the acquisitions of J.T. Mackley & Co. (United Kingdom), the staff and equipment from Ballast Nedam Offshore, and all of the shares in Dravo S.A. (Spain) in 2014 fit right into this strategy.” said the company in a statement.
In line with previously announced investments, Van Oord ordered a new fallpipe vessel, Bravenes, which is currently being built by the Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group Shanghai. Two trailing suction hopper dredgers are also being developed and have been ordered from LaNaval shipyard in Spain.
In addition, the company introduced Aeolus, a vessel designed for offshore and wind projects, and the construction of the Nexus, the cable-laying vessel that was launched on March 7, 2015. The Aeolus was delivered in July 2014 and was first deployed to the Eneco Luchterduinen offshore wind park project. The Nexus and Aeolus are also scheduled for Gemini offshore wind farm project.