Vessels Advanced Equipment News

Royal IHC (IHC) has reached an agreement to sell 100% of its shares in its subsidiary IHC Sealing Solutions to new owners Willem Steenge, who as CEO is partly responsible for the strong growth of IHC Sealing Solutions in recent years, and Rabo Participaties (RaPar). The sale enables IHC to strengthen its focus on its core business: offering integrated innovative vessels, advanced equipment and life-cycle support to the dredging, wet mining and offshore construction industries.

IHC Merwede successfully increased its orderbook in 2013 across the main sectors of its business: offshore and dredging. The company received almost € 1.8 billion worth of new orders in the past year. At the end of 2013, the order book was valued at over € 1.7 billion, which is the equivalent of a backlog of approximately two years. IHC Merwede develops and builds innovative vessels, advanced equipment and life-cycle support services for the dredging, mining and offshore industries.

The IHC Merwede stand (number 2625) will feature a diverse range of innovative vessels, advanced equipment and life-cycle support activities at this year’s Offshore Technology Conference (OTC). The company is exhibiting at the annual event in Texas, USA, which runs from 6 to 9 May and is expected to attract 80,000 attendees from more than 110 countries. Renowned as a reliable supplier of offshore construction and support vessels, and mission equipment to the offshore market, IHC Merwede specialises in the development and delivery of integrated and efficient solutions. To highlight its capabilities, one of the main attractions on the stand will be a model of two identical 550-tonne pipelaying vessels that the company is building for SapuraKencana.

IHC Merwede’s expanding portfolio has helped it to record increased revenue and profit figures for 2011, and to maintain its strong order book for 2012 and beyond. In the past year, IHC Merwede’s revenue has increased by four per cent to reach € 1.05 billion. The company’s net profit has also increased to € 103 million with a solvency ratio of 40 percent, demonstrating that IHC Merwede is in strong financial health and able to implement its growth strategy. With sales amounting to € 1.057 billion, IHC Merwede assured itself of a substantial order book of € 1.18 billion – the equivalent of more than one year’s workload. Internationalization continues to be an important priority for IHC Merwede, as it succeeds in reducing costs and meeting the needs of its markets.

IHC Merwede will exhibit a broad range of its innovative vessels, advanced equipment and lifecycle support activities at stand number 2625 at the forthcoming Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) 2012, which runs from April 30 to May 3 in Houston. As a supplier of custom-built vessels and equipment for the offshore market, IHC Merwede is renowned for focusing on the development of integrated solutions, as highlighted by its position as “the technology innovator.”  To underline this position a model will be shown of the two identical new 550-tonne pipelaying vessels IHC Merwede is building for SapuraCrest. IHC Engineering Business and IHC Drives & Automation are supplying and engineering the critical mission equipment for these vessels.

IHC Merwede is pleased to announce that it has recently secured orders for advanced vessels and equipment in its core markets of dredging and offshore to the value of €200million. The latest agreements confirmed by IHC Merwede include: a new pipelaying vessel for Subsea 7; a trailing suction hopper dredger for Weeks Marine Inc. (USA); an environmentally friendly deepwater dredger for Zheijang Dredging (China); and a 5,000-tonne capacity carousel-lay system for Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. These orders further reinforce the group’s belief that there will be continued demand for its innovative vessels, advanced equipment and life-cycle support in the future.

As a global market leader in dredging and mining vessels and equipment, and a reliable supplier of custom-built ships and supplies for offshore construction, IHC Merwede will be among the leading exhibitors at the Europort 2011 exhibition and CEDA Dredging Days technical forum in The Netherlands. The Europort event is one of the world’s largest maritime exhibitions and will take place in the heart of the Port of Rotterdam on 8-11 November. The show focuses on all areas of the shipbuilding industry, from naval and dredging, to fishing and offshore, and attracts more than 800 exhibitors and 30,000 visitors biennially to Ahoy Rotterdam.