Deme Group News

DEME Group has released its half year results saying its orderbook is 7.7 billion euro ($8.3 billion), up 36% compared to H1 2022, reflecting continued healthy demand and strong market positioning across all segments.Group turnover grew 14% year-over-year to 1.5 billion euro ($1.6), with growth in the offshore energy and environmental segments. Net profit was 30 million euro ($32 million), down from 39 million euro ($42 million) a year ago, primarily due to negative exchange rate results.Luc Vandenbulcke…

Belgium-based offshore installation firm DEME Offshore has installed the offshore substation of the Fécamp offshore wind farm, offshore France, using its new flagship vessel 'Orion.'The  DP3 installation vessel Orion is equipped with a 5,000-tonne crane, built to handle the next generation of offshore wind farm components.‘Orion’ has now installed the 1,300-tonne jacket and the 2,200-tonne topside, completing the project on schedule on August 11.Four months ago, DEME also carried out the pre-installation of the offshore substation’s foundations using the DP2 jack-up vessel ‘Sea Installer.’ DEM

Offshore installation contractor DEME Offshore has said it has secured a +$1.1 billion Balance of Plant (BoP) contract for the construction of the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project in a consortium with Prysmian. The contract, with a total value amounting to +$1.9 Billion, has been awarded by Dominion Energy Virginia, a subsidiary of Dominion Energy Inc., to a consortium, made up of DEME Group and Prysmian.According to DEME Offshore, the agreement is the largest offshore wind installation contract ever awarded in the U.S.

Belgian offshore installation firm DEME Offshore said Thursday it had installed the first offshore wind substation in France, at the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm site. The installation of the 2,100-ton substation was carried out by Allseas' giant Pioneering Spirit vessel.This was also Allseas’ first job for the offshore wind industry, and it is the first “complete” installation job executed by Pioneering Spirit, as it installed the 50-meter tall supporting structure last weekend."The…

Marine minerals are coming under sharp focus offshore Norway. Analysts suggest it could be a $20 billion annual revenue industry by 2050, which is why many are taking an interest and developing the technology to make it happen. Marine mineral mining has been something of a slow burner in the wider marine world. It has some clear challenges, not least location and depth of these potential resources, but also concerns around its environmental impact.Yet it now appears to be coming into a distinctly sharp focus…

Belgian offshore installation company DEME Group last Friday held a naming ceremony for its DP2, twin-hulled Service Operation Vessel Groenewind. The Belgian Federal Minister of Energy, Tinne Van der Straeten was the godmother of the vessel, for which DEME says is the world's first vessel of the type.The Groenewind is set to enter service as the vessel has a long-term charter contract with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE). It will be used to transport technicians to the Rentel and SeaMade offshore wind farms in Belgium, operated by Otary.

Belgium-based offshore and dredging services firm DEME last Friday held a naming ceremony for the "mega" cutter suction dredger Spartacus,"  for which it says is the most powerful cutter suction dredger in the world."...a vessel like ‘Spartacus’ has never been seen before in the industry. With a total installed power of 44,180 kW, its production rates and ability to cut hard soil are unrivaled," DEME said.Annik Penders, the wife of the Prime Minister of Belgium Alexander De Croo…

Shares in Dutch marine services provider Boskalis jumped on Wednesday, a day after the Suez Canal unveiled a project to expand the southern stretch of the waterway.The Suez Canal Authority plans to expand and deepen its southern section, where a container ship became jammed and blocked traffic for six days in March, throwing international supply chains into disarray.Back in 2014, Egypt signed contracts with six international firms to carry out dredging of the Suez Canal, including…

An official keel-laying ceremony for the offshore wind installation vessel ‘Green Jade’ was held Friday at CSBC’s shipyard in Kaohsiung, marking an important moment in Taiwan’s maritime and offshore wind history.‘Green Jade’ is owned by CDWE, a joint venture between CSBC, the largest shipbuilder in Taiwan and DEME Offshore.The vessel is the first floating, DP3 heavy lift and installation vessel to be built in Taiwan. ‘Green Jade’ will feature a 4,000-tonne crane capacity and will be equipped to transport multiple the next generation…

Belgium-based marine contractor DEME, on Wednesday, announced "a first" in Flanders, a region in the northern part of Belgium.Namely, its dual fuel trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) ‘Scheldt River’ is currently carrying out maintenance dredging work on the Scheldt river and during this work, the vessel is operating on LNG.In another milestone, DEME said that the ‘Scheldt River’ last week became the first dredger to be bunkered with LNG in the Port of Antwerp, near the Kallo lock.

DEME hosted a digital naming ceremony for its two newest dual fuel trailing suction hopper dredgers built by Royal IHC.The 8,300 m³ Meuse River was officially named by the Flemish Minister for Mobility and Public Works, Lydia Peeters and the 15,000 m³ Bonny River by Els Verbraecken, Chief Financial Officer at DEME.When both vessels joined the fleet, they had a full order book and directly set course to their projects. But DEME planned to bring the vessels home for a few days of celebration before they set off again.

The global heavy lift vessel market is a difficult place to be. Utilization for the fleet has remained depressingly low since the first oil and gas downturn in 2014, currently hovering around 33% for the global fleet with a lift capacity of over 800 tonnes, according to IHS Markit’s ConstructionVesselBase. Fixed platform installation work, the traditional market driver for the heavy-lift fleet in oil and gas, has seen demand fall significantly. According to global figures from IHS Markit’s FieldsBase, 190 fixed platforms were installed in both 2013 and 2014, rising to 219 in 2015.

Finland-based marine engine and technology provider Wärtsilä has been tasked to equip the first Taiwan-built offshore wind installation vessel - the Green Jade - with "a broad scope" of its solutions.The 216 meters long vessel will be built at the CSBC shipyard in Taiwan for the joint-venture company CDWE owned by CSBC and Belgium-based DEME Group. The vessel is expected to play a major role in developing the offshore wind farm business in both new and established markets, including Taiwan.

DEME Group's newbuild trailing suction hopper dredger Meuse River has completed sea trials in the North Sea and will join the Belgium-based contractor's fleet in June 2020.Built by Royal IHC in the Netherlands, the 7,950-cubic-meter Meuse River has the same design as DEME's existing hopper Scheldt River, which entered service in 2017. The dredgers feature several energy smart technologies developed by DEME and Royal IHC, such as a hybrid dredge pump drive system to reduce the effect of load variations.For automation of the dredging process…

Belgian dredging group DEME has been awarded a contract as part of a joint venture for the widening of the Kiel Canal in Germany.Two DEME subsidiaries are to carry out marine dredging works for the €99m (£84m) widening of a 4km stretch of the Kiel Canal. Works started in January 2020 and will run until the end of 2023.The Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration, represented by the WSA Kiel-Holtenau, commissioned the joint venture with the construction work to expand 4 km of the eastern section of the Kiel Canal.The contract carries a total value of approximately EUR 99 million in which the DEME Group’s subsidiaries Nordsee Nassbagger…

The trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) Meuse River, built for DEME Group at the Royal IHC shipyard in Krimpen aan den IJssel, is launched.The launch ceremony of the the 7,950m³ vessel took place at IHC’s shipyard in Krimpen aan den IJssel, the Netherlands."Meuse River has the same innovative design as the award winning IHC-built TSHD Scheldt  River, which joined the DEME fleet in 2017 and since then operated non-stop on waterways and access channels in Europe," said a press release.Meuse River features several energy smart technologies, developed by DEME and IHC, such as a hybrid dredge pump drive system to reduce the effect of load variations.For automation of the dredging process, IHC developed the intelligent IHC ECO automation package, which results in high dredge performance.

Another milestone for the establishment of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) as marine fuel in Germany has been achieved. Nauticor successfully conducted the first ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operation in a German port. The trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) Scheldt River received the low emission fuel from the bunker supply vessel (BSV) Kairos.Today, the world’s largest LNG BSV Kairos conducted the first ship-to-ship bunkering operation in German waters. The vessel, which was christened in Hamburg on February 2019…

The trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) Bonny River built at Royal IHC’s Chinese partner yard COSCO Guangdong Shipyard was recently delivered to the Belgian dredging company DEME. The TSHD features a number of advance technologies, and is driven by controllable pitch propellers and transverse thrusters from Schottel. With a 15,000 cbm capacity, the vessel is capable of dredging hard soil and able to work in water depths of more than 100 m.“The design of the Bonny River is inspired by a drive to continuously innovate from an ecological and efficiency perspective…

A major modernization contract for the deepening and widening of a 62 km section of the Świnoujście – Szczecin fairway in Poland has been awarded to Van Oord and DEME Group subsidiary Dredging International.The investment by the Maritime Office in Szczecin will improve access to the Szczecin seaport and increase the port capacity to handle a growing volume of cargo.The project is a design and build contract to deepen and widen the fairway along a section of approximately 62 km from -10.5 to -12.5 m. The dredged materials will be used to build two artificial islands in the Szczecin lagoon.

Global Energy Group (GEG) has won an offshore wind contract worth up to GBP12 million.GEG's Port of Nigg facility, on the Cromarty Firth in the Highlands, will handle the jacket foundation structures for the Moray East offshore wind farm."Global’s Port of Nigg has been earmarked to provide the services of the Port for receipt of completed jacket structures, that will be installed in the Moray Firth as foundations for the wind turbines. This will be the third success for the Cromarty Firth, after Port of Cromarty Firth at Invergordon announced a few months ago, their award for marshalling works for the turbines and piles for the same project…

Belgian dredging, environmental and marine engineering group Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering NV (DEME)'s Board of Directors announced that with effect from January 1, 2019 Luc Vandenbulcke will succeed Alain Bernard as the company’s CEO.Bernard started working for the group in 1980 and has been CEO of DEME since 2006. Over the past 12 years he transformed the group from a purely dredging organization into a diversified marine engineering group with operations worldwide.Under his leadership sales figures increased from €1.1 billion to €2.4 billion (2017), while DEME’s fleet became one of the most innovative and diverse in the industry.Luc Vandenbulcke (KU Leuven, civil engineer) has worked at DEME Group for the past 21 years.

The world of dredging is an ever changing and endlessly fascinating niche of the global marine industry, an indispensable activity essential to keeping world commerce flowing. For insight on recent trends we visited last month with René Kolman, Secretary General, International Association of Dredging Companies (IADC), for his take on a world of dredging challenges and opportunities. In true Dutch fashion René Kolman is refreshingly forthright. Kolman assumed the mantle of leadership at IADC more than seven years ago, coming to the post from the landscape and garden trade association business.

Nauticor has conducted the largest-ever LNG bunkering operation in Germany in the Elbehafen in Brunsbüttel. As the maritime market moves rapidly toward alternative fuel in the face of strict sulphur guidelines set to take effect in 2020, LNG is emerging as a prefered alternative, and the means to fuel commercial boats and ships of every size is taking shape in many forms. In Germany, for example, Nauticor has conducted the largest-ever LNG bunkering operation in Germany in the Elbehafen in Brunsbüttel…