CEO Peter Berdowski (68) leaves Boskalis with record figures, Theo Baartmans succeeds him

Boskalis CEO Peter Berdowski will step down next month. He will be succeeded by Theo Baartmans, who has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2007. Berdowski is retiring on a high note at the Papendrecht-based dredging and maritime service provider, which broke all financial records in 2024 and posted a net profit of 781 million euros.

Berdowski (68) had been CEO of Boskalis since 2006, which came into the hands of investor HAL in 2022. Before that, he had been on the board of directors for several years. He was in the news with Boskalis when container ship Ever Given ran aground in the Suez Canal in 2021. Thanks to Boskalis’ efforts, it was eventually possible to refloat the ship.

In recent years, he has increasingly criticized the business climate in the Netherlands. Peter Berdowski even hinted at a departure of the company’s headquarters from the Netherlands. That has not happened so far.

His successor Theo Baartmans is already experienced and ends up in a well-spread bed. Boskalis expects good figures for this year as well. The order book is well filled and the company is running at full speed on all fronts. Last year, more than 700 million euros was also invested in equipment, another record amount for Boskalis. “2024 was an exceptionally good year for Boskalis, in which all parts of the company performed excellently. In all corners of the world we have sailed the water white. We can look back with pride on a year that will go down in the books as the best ever in our 115-year history,” Berdowski said in a press release.

Boskalis is closely involved in the construction of many large offshore wind farms, while there is still a lot of work to be done in the traditional oil and gas market. The dredging company is involved in numerous large projects worldwide, such as the construction of a platform for the New Manila International Airport, which has now been completed. In Europe, the extensive Fehmarnbelt tunnel project between Denmark and Germany is gradually nearing completion.

A large number of projects are also being carried out in the Netherlands and Belgium, including the reinforcement of the Markermeer dikes north of Amsterdam, the extensive renovation of the Zuidasdok Public Transport Terminal in Amsterdam and two projects relating to the development of the Antwerp ring road (replacement of the Royers lock and the Oosterweel junction).