Van Oord plans to invest more than 1 bill. € in building new[ds_preview] vessels and modernising and replacing the fleet until 2018. In 2014, this investment included an order for a new fallpipe vessel, »Braveness«, which is currently being built by the Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group Shanghai in Ningbo, China. Two trailing suction hopper dredgers are also being developed and have been ordered, the company has stated. The vessels are now under construction at LaNaval shipyard in Spain.
The offshore wind division was strengthened by the acquisition of the staff and equipment from Ballast Nedam Offshore. Investments made earlier also paid off in 2014, with events such as the successful introduction of the »Aeolus«, a vessel designed for offshore and wind projects, and the »Nexus«, the cable-laying vessel that was launched in March 2015. For 2014 Van Oord reported a turnover increase of 28% to 2.104 bill. €, while the net profit fell by 8 %. The order portfolio went up 66 % to a record 3.222 bill. €, the company’s highest contract backlog to date.
