Jan De Nul Group is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

family-owned company, with the financial headquarters in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

, that provides services relating to the construction and maintenance of maritime infrastructure on an international basis. Its main focus is

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

(including other forms of marine engineering), which accounts for 85% of its turnover. Other areas include civil engineering and environmental technology.

History

Founded in 1938, in Hofstade near

Aalst, Belgium Aalst (; french: Alost, ; Brabantian: ''Oilsjt'') is a city and municipality on the Dender River, northwest from Brussels in the Flemish province of East Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Aalst itself and the villages of Baardegem, ...

, Jan De Nul started as a construction company specialised in civil works and maritime construction. It was only in 1951 that the company entered into the dredging business. Recently it has forayed into offshore wind business and have been successful in securing major European wind energy projects. At the end of 2012, Jan De Nul had 6000 employees and a yearly turnover of 2 billion euro. Other major dredging companies are Dutch companies Royal Boskalis Westminster and Van Oord, and the Belgian

DEME In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th ...

. Jan De Nul was voted the most attractive employer in Belgium in 2008 and 2009.

Fleet

Jan De Nul has a fleet of 75 vessels, including 14 cutter suction dredgers, 28 trailing suction hopper dredgers, 20 split barges, 6 backhoe dredgers, 1 oil recovery vessel, 5 rock installation vessels and one cable installation vessel under construction. This includes the ''Cristobal Colon'', launched in 2008, and the world's largest dredger with a capacity of 46,000 m³. It can dredge to a water depth of 155m. Joined by her near-sister ship ''Leiv Eiriksson'' in 2010, Jan De Nul has one of the world's largest, if not the largest, fleets of hopper dredgers.

Projects

Major projects realised in part or whole by Jan De Nul include the

Panama Canal expansion project The Panama Canal expansion project ( es, ampliación del Canal de Panamá), also called the Third Set of Locks Project, doubled the capacity of the Panama Canal by adding a new lane of traffic allowing for a larger number of ships, and increasin ...

, the Bridgetown Port enhancement project, the Port Botany expansion, the

Manifa Field Causeway and Island Project Manifa is an annual feminist demonstration organized in connection with International Women's Day on March 8 in various parts of Poland. In Warsaw, it is organized by the informal group Alliance of Women. The name comes from the slang abbreviatio ...

in Saudi Arabia, the Palm Jebel Ali artificial island in Dubai, and the adjacent Dubai Waterfront. The

Takoradi Harbour The Takoradi Harbour is in the Western region of Ghana. It is located in the industrial district of Sekondi-Takoradi and is the oldest harbour in Ghana. The Takoradi harbour and the Tema Harbour are the only harbours in Ghana. History The idea ...

expansion project in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

. In 2020-21 Jan De Nul Group installs a power inter-connector cable over a distance of 135 km and up to 1 km deep sea, connecting Crete island with mainland Greece.

Hijacked vessel

In April 2009, the Jan De Nul vessel "Pompei" was hijacked by

Somali pirates Somali may refer to: Horn of Africa * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Proto-Somali, the ancestors of modern Somalis ** Somali culture ** Somali cuisine ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Somali ...

en route from Aden to the

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

. The ship and its crew of ten were released after 71 days on 28 June 2009, after De Nul had paid 2.8 million Euros, according to media reports.

Notes

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jan De Nul Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1938 Construction and civil engineering companies of Belgium Dredging companies Companies based in East Flanders Belgian companies established in 1938