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Impact on Local Communities
CSR 2016 – Boskalis
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Boskalis was one of the main sponsors of The Ocean Cleanup’s North Sea Prototype
test. Boyan Slat, a young Dutch entrepeneur, aims to develop an installation of up to
100 kilometers to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch between Hawaii and
California. He estimates that deployment of the barrier could remove half of the
so-called plastic soup in a decade. The purpose of the North Sea Prototype test, which
involved the deployment of a 100 meter-long barrier 23 kilometers off the coast of the
Netherlands, is to examine the structural integrity of the barrier in a harsh environment
like the North Sea. In November 2016 Boskalis won the SponsorRing 2016 award in
the ‘Society’ category for its sponsorship. The SponsorRing is the annual award for the
best sponsorship cases in the Netherlands.
Boskalis Beach Cleanup Tour
The objective of the annual Boskalis Beach Cleanup Tour, an initiative of NGO The
North Sea Foundation, is to clear waste along the full length of the Dutch North Sea
coast and thus raise awareness of the issues around plastic soup. Boskalis has been
the main sponsor of the initiative since 2013. During the 2016 tour a total of 19,000
kilograms of waste was collected by 2,300 volunteers, including Boskalis colleagues
with their family during a Boskalis family day.
Tens of thousands of interested visitors saw the exhibition ‘Vermeer comes home’ in the
Prinsenhof Museum in Delft, the Netherlands in the summer of 2016. Johannes Vermeer’s
famous painting ‘The Little Street’ was the highlight of the exhibition. The precise
location of the real-life little street was identified in 2015 using 17th-century records of
dredging work in Delft’s canals – one of the reasons why Boskalis decided to support
the exhibition as a main sponsor. In addition, Boskalis has had close ties to Delft for
many years, partly because many Boskalis colleagues with a technical background
studied at Delft University of Technology. Another factor was the museum’s cultural and
historical significance: the Prinsenhof was the last residence of William of Orange,
‘Father of the Nation’, whose name was also given to one of the trailing suction
hopper dredgers in the Boskalis fleet. Boskalis used the event as an opportunity to
host our employees and their relatives.
SUPPORTING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Boskalis has a tradition of supporting scientific research that is of direct or potential
relevance to our sector. Together with knowledge centers and universities we support
(fundamental) research as well as sharing knowledge through lectures and
presentations. At Delft University of Technology we co-fund a Chair of Dredging
Technology and supply a scientific officer. In addition, we facilitate a dual lectureship
between Delft University of Technology and Wageningen University. Every year
Boskalis supervises interns, graduates and doctorate students. The number for 2016
was 232 (2015: 201).
Community investment
programs