Smit Internationale N.V. (or Smit International) is a Dutch

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

operating in the maritime sector. Founded in 1842 by

Fop Smit Fop Smit (11 October 1777 – 25 August 1866) was a Dutch naval architect, shipbuilder, and shipowner. He founded the tugboat, towage and Marine salvage, salvage company L. Smit & Co that is now part of Smit International. His shipyard had a num ...

, it provided towing services in the

Port of Rotterdam The Port of Rotterdam is the largest seaport in Europe, and the world's largest seaport outside of Asia, located in and near the city of Rotterdam, in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. From 1962 until 2004, it was the List of bus ...

. Within its first decades, it branched into

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

and, just after the start of the twentieth century, salvage services. The firm developed an international presence, such as its

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

-based subsidiary in 1975, and its acquisition of

Costain Group Costain Group plc is a British construction and engineering company headquartered in London, England. It was established by Richard Costain and Richard Kneen in 1865, initially operating as builders in and around Lancashire. During the early 2 ...

's Land & Marine business in 1996. By 2009, inclusive of its subsidiaries and the

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

s with controlling stakes, Smit International operated a fleet of 408 ships. Smit International has undertaken the salvage of various vessels, including , , , and ''

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

''. In 2010, it was acquired by

Boskalis Boskalis Westminster N.V. is a Dutch dredging and heavylift company that provides services relating to the construction and maintenance of maritime infrastructure internationally. The company has one of the world's largest dredging fleets, a la ...

and delisted from the

Euronext Amsterdam Euronext Amsterdam is a stock exchange based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Formerly known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (), it merged on 22 September 2000 with the Brussels Stock Exchange and the Paris Stock Exchange to form Euronext. The re ...

History

The company dates back to the early 1840s and the undertakings of Fop Smit, who operated the

paddle steamer A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wh ...

''Kinderdijk'' to safely guided various other vessels into the

. Founded in 1842 under the name L. Smit & Co., it initially focused on towing. Fop's sons, Jan and Leendert, took on management of the company and soon opted to expand its fleet. During 1870, L. Smit & Co. started using tugs with

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

s. The business slowly branched into new activities; one such early venture was

. During the mid 1900s, it started providing salvage services for the first time. Throughout the twentieth century, Smit International developed into internationally-operating outfit offering a wide range of maritime services. Following the business' merger with ''Internationale Sleepdienst'' in 1923, the firm's name was changed to "L. Smit & Co.'s Internationale Sleepdienst". During 1975, Smit International decided to expand into the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

via the establishment of a regional office in

. In the following years, it secured work in the provision of salvage and other marine services in the

Port of Singapore The Port of Singapore is the collection of facilities and container terminal, terminals that conduct maritime trade and handle Singapore's harbours and shipping. It has been ranked as the top maritime capital of the world, since 2015. Currently ...

and the surrounding region. By 2000, the firm's Singapore operation employed in excess of 700 and was roughly valued at $200 million, providing salvage, ocean, port and coastal towage, pipeline installation, horizontal directional drilling and offshore support. During August 1996,

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

based Land & Marine business was purchased for £11.3 million. On 29 March 2007, the firm purchased Adsteam’s

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

-based towage operation. Smit International has been involved in the removal of hazardous substances, such as bunker fuel, from wrecks. The company was involved in the containment and removal of fuel oil from the wrecked cruiseliner , the bulk hauler , and the oil storage vessel in actions that prevented a potential environmental disaster. The firm has undertaken several notable recovery operations. In the aftermath of the ''Kursk'' submarine disaster, Smit International teamed up with the Dutch business Mammoet to recover the lost

nuclear submarine A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion ...

. It also performed the salvage of the sunk

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

. On 15 September 2008,

made a €1.11 billion

takeover offer In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are publicly listed, in contrast to the acquisi ...

for Smit. Despite the offer being rejected by Smit's board, Boskalis subsequently built a stake of over 25% in Smit and expressed a continuing desire to buy a number of its business units. A revised offer from Boskalis of €1.35 billion, coupled with a pledge to retain the Smit name and its distinct operations, was accepted by the board in January 2010, with Boskalis declaring its offer unconditional that March having increased its shareholding to 90%. Smit's shares were

delisted In corporate finance, a listing refers to the company's shares being on the list (or board) of stock that are publicly listed. Some stock exchanges allow shares of a foreign company to be listed and may allow dual listing, subject to conditions. ...

from Euronext Amsterdam on 4 May 2010. In February 2018, Britain's

Defence Equipment and Support Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) is a trading entity and joint-defence organisation within the UK Ministry of Defence. It began operating on 2 April 2007, following the merger of the MoD's Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Logisti ...

agency signed a deal with Smit International Scotland for the delivery of vessels for safety and training purposes to the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

. One year later, the company, along with Donjon Marine Co., was awarded a contract to provide salvage services for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

across the majority of the western hemisphere.

Corporate structure

The company consist of four divisions, in order of revenue: * Transport & Heavy Lift (33.5% of total revenues) * Salvage (23.9%) * Harbour Towage (22.8%) * Terminals (19.8%) For larger (salvaging) projects the company often uses

joint-venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

s or combinations. An example of this is Combinatie Berging Tricolor (Dutch for ''Combination Salvaging Tricolor'') which was created solely for the lifting of the . A similar multi-firm arrangement was made for the 2013-2014 salvage of the ''

Costa Concordia ''Costa Concordia'' () was a cruise ship operated by Costa Crociere. She was the first of her class, followed by her sister ships '' Costa Serena'', '' Costa Pacifica'', '' Costa Favolosa'' and '' Costa Fascinosa'', and ''Carnival Splendor'' b ...

'' passenger cruise ship.

Fleet list

As of 1 March 2009, Smit, through its subsidiary companies and the joint ventures that it controls, had a fleet of 408 ships.Officia
Fleetlist per 1 March, 2009
as published on companies website, retrieved 12 February 2012

High profile operations

Its

marine salvage Marine salvage is the process of recovering a ship and its cargo after a shipwreck or other maritime casualty. Salvage may encompass towing, lifting a vessel, or effecting repairs to a ship. Salvors are normally paid for their efforts. Howev ...

division was involved in several high-profile salvage operations, including:Smit's website o
Salvage projects
, visited 12 February 2012 * (1971–72) * MT ''Betelgeuse'' (1979–80) * (1987) * Russian submarine ''Kursk'' (lifting vessel) (2000) * '' Ehime Maru'' (2001) * MV ''Prestige'' (2002) * (lifting vessel) (2002–2003) * (2004) * MV ''Mighty Servant 3'' (2006) * (2008) * (oil containment) (2012) * (grounded in Philippines) (2013) * sunk in June 2013. * (2020) * blockage of the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

(2021) * ship salvation (2021) * (2022) * (2023) They have also partnered with the French firm JLMD System to support preinstalled

fast oil recovery Fast oil recovery (FOR) is a technology in the maritime industry designed to facilitate efficient and safe removal of oil spills in emergency situations. It can be integrated into new or existing vessels to enhance spill response capabilities. ...

systems, which assure quick reliable oil removal in the event of a shipping accident.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.smit.com Companies based in Rotterdam Companies formerly listed on Euronext Amsterdam Logistics companies of the Netherlands Marine salvage Transport companies established in 1842 1842 establishments in the Netherlands 2010 mergers and acquisitions