Jan De Nul Group is a family-owned company, originally from

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, with a financial headquarters in

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. Its four main activities are Offshore Energy, Dredging Solutions, Construction Projects and Planet Redevelopment.

History

Founded in 1938 in Hofstade, near

Aalst, Belgium Aalst (; , ; Brabantian dialect, Brabantian: ''Oilsjt'') is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the province of East Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located on the Dender River, about no ...

, 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, including European wind energy projects. At the end of 2023, Jan De Nul had 7,491 employees and a yearly turnover of 2.9 billion euro. Other major dredging companies are Dutch companies Royal Boskalis and Royal Van Oord, and the Belgian

DEME In Ancient Greece, a deme or (, plural: ''demoi'', δήμοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Classical Athens, Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, bu ...

. Early 2025, Jan De Nul rebranded into World Builders, shaping water, land and energy. The focus of their new story is on the diversity of its activities and their social relevance as a solutions provider for challenges like the transition to renewable energy, soil and water pollution and coastline protection. Jan De Nul was voted the most attractive employer in Belgium in 2008 and 2009.

Fleet

Jan De Nul has a fleet of 95 vessels, including 29

trailing suction hopper dredger A trailing suction hopper dredger (TSHD) is a type of ship capable of maintaining Navigability, navigable waterways, deepening the maritime canals that are threatened to become silted, constructing new land elsewhere or replacing sand Erosion, ...

s, 12 cutter suction dredgers, 17 split hopper barges, 6 backhoe dredgers, 5 water injection dredgers, 5 offshore rock installation vessels, 3 multi-purpose offshore vessels, 2 offshore jack-up installation vessels, 3 cable installation vessels (with 2 more under construction), 3 heavy lift vessels, and 1 oil recovery vessel. It also has a fleet of heavy equipment, including 77 dump trucks, 191 tracked excavators, 32 tower cranes, 64 bulldozers, 71 wheel loaders, etc. Records Largest hopper dredgers: TSHD '''Cristobal Colon''' and Leiv Eiriksson''', capacity of 46,000 m³, maximum dredging depth of 155 m Largest rock installation vessels: FPV Simon Stevin''' and 'J''oseph Plateau''' with a capacity of 31,500 tonnes, rock installation possible in depths of up to 2,000 m Largest cable laying vessel: CLV '''Isaac Newton''', - combined turn table capacity of 12,400 tonnes (2 larger vessels are on order, the '''William Thompson''' and Fleeming Jenkin''', with a capacity of 29,500 tonnes, to be delivered in 2026) Largest cutter dredger: CSD Willem Van Rubroeck''' with a cutter capacity of 8,500 kW, and a total installed power of 40,975 kW, and an operational working depth of up to 45 metres

Projects

Major projects realised (in part or whole) by Jan De Nul include: * Reclamation works at

Chek Lap Kok Chek Lap Kok is an island in the western waters of Hong Kong's New Territories. Unlike the smaller Lam Chau, it was only partially leveled when it was assimilated via land reclamation into the island for the current Hong Kong International ...

(1992-1995) * NorFra Pipeline Installation Project: pretrenching, seabed levelling, landfall dredging and civil works (1995-1997) *

Palm Jebel Ali Palm Jebel Ali () is an artificial archipelago in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It began construction in October 2002 and was originally planned to be completed by mid-2008 but has been on hold since. It was relaunched in 2024. The project, which ...

artificial island in Dubai, and the adjacent

Dubai Waterfront The Dubai Waterfront (now known as ''Waterfront''; ) was expected to become the largest waterfront and largest man-made development in the world. The project was a conglomeration of canals and artificial archipelago; it would occupy the last ...

. *

Panama Canal expansion project The Panama Canal expansion project (), also called the Third Set of Locks Project, doubled the capacity of the Panama Canal by adding a new traffic lane, enabling more ships to transit the waterway, and increasing the width and depth of the lane ...

, * Bridgetown Port enhancement project, * Port Botany expansion, *

Manifa Field Causeway and Island Project Manifa is an annual Feminism, 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 a ...

in Saudi Arabia, *

Takoradi Harbour The Takoradi Harbour is a harbour located 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, along with the Tema Harbour, are the only harbours in ...

expansion project in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. * Power inter-connector cable over a distance of 135 km and up to 1 km deep sea, with 12,000 tons of cable, connecting the island Crete with the Greek mainland. (2020-2021) * 25-year concession to maintain the Guayaquil Port Access Channel (2019-2044) * Princess Elizabeth island, the world's first artificial energy island (2024-2026)

Hijacked vessel

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

Somali pirates Horn of Africa * Somali Peninsula, a region of East Africa, also known as "The Horn of Africa" * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Greater Somalia ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Somali culture ...

en route from

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

. 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

* {{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