Environmental Services

In recent years, Boskalis has begun to diversify its portfolio to include an increasing volume of work that promotes environmental sustainability. Boskalis is active in supporting the global transition to renewable and more sustainable energy sources. Boskalis has supported the installation of over 150 new offshore wind farms globally to date, with many more in the pipeline. Boskalis is also actively seeking options to green its own fleet of vessels through the use of alternative fuels, where feasible.

Boskalis offers tailor-made services for marine environmental restoration, as exemplified by the Marker-Wadden artificial islands and wetland project in the Netherlands, and the Douglas Shoal remediation project in the southern Great Barrier Reef. Boskalis also offers marine environmental enhancement and ecosystem-based coastal adaptation services through an innovative, large-scale artificial reefs program.

Boskalis has a long-term partnership with global environmental NGO Wetlands International, as active members of the EcoShape consortium. The consortium seeks to develop and promote ‘building with nature’ (BWN) principles, to support nature-based coastal and marine resource management. The BWN approach prioritizes the use of natural processes such as sediment flow and mangrove restoration to meet society’s need for coastal protection and infrastructure.

A core service of Boskalis is ship salvage and pollution prevention and control, through its wholly-own subsidiary, Smit Salvage. Through Smit, Boskalis has undertaken hundreds of marine emergency response call-outs around the world, preventing ecological catastrophes from major oil spills. In 2023 Boskalis was contracted by the United Nations to remove 1.1 million barrels of crude oil from the decaying Super Tanker FSO Safer, abandoned at a mooring off Yemen. The high-risk and complex operation prevented potentially massive ecological destruction across a wide area of the Red Sea, which contains sensitive coral reefs, seagrass meadows, mangrove forests and vital fishing areas. Boskalis stands ready 24/7 to respond to such environmental emergencies, globally.