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Smit International

Smit Internationale N.V.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryMaritime services
Founded1842
FounderFop Smit
HeadquartersRotterdam, Netherlands
Key people
Frank Verhoeven (Chairman)
ServicesTowage, salvage, transportation, heavy lifting vessels
Revenue€589.0 million (2009)[1]
€104.6 million (2009)[1]
€102.4 million (2009)[1]
OwnerBoskalis
Number of employees
3,620 (2009)[1]
Websitewww.smit.com
The first house flag
The second house flag, used in the 1960s.
Taklift 7 has a lifting capacity of 1,600 tons[2]
Ocean-going tug Smit Rotterdam arriving with tow at Rotterdam
Harbour tug Smit Japan
Smit Panther has a 95 t Bollard pull
Smit tugs in the Port of Liverpool

Smit Internationale N.V. (or Smit International) is a Dutch company operating in the maritime sector.

Founded in 1842 by Fop Smit, it provided towing services in the Port of Rotterdam. Within its first decades, it branched into shipbuilding and, just after the start of the twentieth century, salvage services. The firm developed an international presence, such as its Singapore-based subsidiary in 1975, and its acquisition of Costain Group's Land & Marine business in 1996.

By 2009, inclusive of its subsidiaries and the joint ventures with controlling stakes, Smit International operated a fleet of 408 ships. Smit International has undertaken the salvage of various vessels, including the Costa Concordia, Full City, FSO Safer, MOL Comfort and the Kursk.

In 2010, it was acquired by Boskalis and delisted from the Euronext Amsterdam.

History

The company dates back to the early 1840s and the undertakings of Fop Smit, who operated the paddle steamer Kinderdijk to safely guided various other vessels into the Port of Rotterdam.[3] Founded in 1842 under the name L. Smit & Co., it initially focused on towing.[4] 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 propellers.[4] The business slowly branched into new activities; one such early venture was shipbuilding.[5]

During the mid 1900s, it started providing salvage services for the first time.[3] Throughout the twentieth century, Smit International developed into internationally-operating outfit offering a wide range of maritime services.[3] Following the business' merger with Internationale Sleepdienst in 1923, the firm's name was changed to "L. Smit & Co.'s Internationale Sleepdienst".[4]

During 1975, Smit International decided to expand into the Far East via the establishment of a regional office in Singapore.[5] In the following years, it secured work in the provision of salvage and other marine services in the Port of Singapore 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.[5]

During August 1996, Costain Group's Merseyside based Land & Marine business was purchased for £11.3 million.[6] On 29 March 2007, the firm purchased Adsteam’s Liverpool-based towage operation.[7][8]

Smit International has been involved in the removal of hazardous substances, such as bunker fuel, from wrecks.[3] The company was involved in the containment and removal of fuel oil from the wrecked cruiseliner Costa Concordia,[9][10] the bulk hauler Full City,[11][12] and the oil storage vessel FSO Safer in actions that prevented a potential environmental disaster.[13][14]

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.[15][16] It also performed the salvage of the sunk cargo ship MOL Comfort.[17]

On 15 September 2008, Boskalis made a €1.11 billion takeover offer for Smit.[18] 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.[19][20][21] 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%.[22] Smit's shares were delisted from Euronext Amsterdam on 4 May 2010.[23]

In February 2018, Britain's Defence Equipment and Support agency signed a deal with Smit International Scotland for the delivery of vessels for safety and training purposes to the Ministry of Defence.[24] One year later, the company, along with Donjon Marine Co., was awarded a contract to provide salvage services for the United States Navy across the majority of the western hemisphere.[25]

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-ventures or combinations. An example of this is Combinatie Berging Tricolor (Dutch for Combination Salvaging Tricolor) which was created solely for the lifting of the MV Tricolor. A similar multi-firm arrangement was made for the 2013-2014 salvage of the Costa Concordia passenger cruise ship.

Fleet list

As of 1 March 2009, Smit, theough its subsidiary companies and the joint ventures that it controls, had a fleet of 408 ships.[26]

Type of vessel
details on power, tonnage etc. 		Harbour Towage Terminals Transport &
Heavy Lift 		Total[26]
Ocean-going tug
14,000-26,000 hp		 3 3
Ocean-going tug
6,140 hp		 1 1
Anchor handling tugs
10,000-15,000 hp		 2 2 4
Anchor handling tugs
8,000 hp		 2 4 6
Anchor handling tugs
3,000-8,000 hp		 1 20 21
Diving support vessel 2 2
Utility vessels 5 5
Floating sheerlegs
seagoing, 3,200 tonnes		 1 1
Floating sheerlegs
seagoing, <3,200 tonnes		 8 8
Pulling barges 2 2
Seagoing barges
24,000 tonnes		 3 3
Seagoing barges
1,000-14,000 tonnes		 2 1 3
Seagoing barges
1,000-8,000 tonnes		 10 19 29
Inland barges
100-2,000 tonnes		 28 26 54
Coastal/harbour tugs
3,000-6,000 hp		 109 31 2 142
Coastal/harbour tugs
1,000-3,000 hp		 37 4 2 43
Harbour/river tugs
100-1,000 hp		 9 2 1 12
Harbour/river pusher tugs
480-2,800 hp		 5 5
Various vessels
work-vessels, oil containment vessels etc.		 17 18 29 38
Total fleet 213 60 135 480

High profile operations

Its marine salvage division was involved in several high-profile salvage operations, including:[27]

They have also partnered with the French firm JLMD System to support preinstalled fast oil recovery systems, which assure quick reliable oil removal in the event of a shipping accident.

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Annual Report 2009" (PDF). Smit International. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  2. ^ "Equipment Sheet: Taklift 7" (PDF). Boskalis. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  3. ^ a b c "Smit's World-History". Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  4. ^ a b c "After 25 Years, Smit International Keeps Evolving". magazines.marinelink.com. October 2000.
  5. ^ "Costain sells Land & Marine for 11.3m". Construction News. 22 August 1996.
  6. ^ Liverpool tug deal puts Adsteam sale on course The Age 26 February 2007
  7. ^ "Smit Invest Heavily in Liverpool". maritimejournal.com. 1 August 2007.
  8. ^ "Italy: SMIT Salvage Removes Oil from Forward Tanks on Costa Concordia". offshore-energy.biz. 24 February 2024.
  9. ^ "Salvage team Smit/Boskalis removes last oil from Costa Concordia". dutchwatersector.com. 23 March 2012.
  10. ^ Moskwa, Wojciech (3 August 2009). "Norway police charge ship captain after fuel spill". Reuters. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  11. ^ "Smit International help grounded bulk carrier". maritimejournal.com. 6 August 2009.
  12. ^ Wintour, Patrick (8 May 2022). "UN leads £65m plan to stop huge oil spill off Yemen during first ceasefire in six years". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  13. ^ "IMO pleads for help to prevent oil catastrophe". maritimejournal.com. 26 April 2023.
  14. ^ "Salvaging the Kursk". graphicnews.com. 10 July 2001.
  15. ^ "Dutch companies raise Russian submarine "Kursk'". tampabay.com. 9 October 2001.
  16. ^ "$400mn+ cargo loss in prospect as MOL Comfort finally sinks". insuranceinsider.com. 11 July 2013.
  17. ^ Kreijger, Gilbert; ten Wolde, Harro (15 September 2008). "Boskalis plans 1.1 bln euro bid for Smit". Reuters. Archived from the original on July 15, 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  18. ^ "Boskalis abandons takeover bid and Smit profits are up". maritimejournal.com. 15 January 2009.
  19. ^ Gray-Block, Aaron (2 February 2009). "Boskalis ups stake in Smit, could buy more shares". Reuters. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
  20. ^ van Tartwijk, Maarten (14 May 2009). "Boskalis CEO: Ambition To Buy Several Smit Units". Dow Jones Newswires. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 30 May 2009. [dead link]
  21. ^ Roumeliotis, Greg (27 March 2010). "Boskalis clears Smit takeover milestone". Reuters. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  22. ^ "Application made for delisting Smit" (Press release). Boskalis. 7 April 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.[permanent dead link]
  23. ^ "Smit International to deliver safety and training vessels to UK MoD". naval-technology.com. 9 February 2018.
  24. ^ "US Navy contract for Smit and Donjon". maritimejournal.com. 4 January 2019.
  25. ^ a b Official Fleetlist per 1 March, 2009 Archived 11 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine as published on companies website, retrieved 12 February 2012
  26. ^ Smit's website on Salvage projects Archived 13 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine, visited 12 February 2012
  27. ^ Gatti, Carlo (April 2010). "The running aground and the shipwreck of the British cargo ship "London Valour"". Societa' Capitani e Macchinisti Navali – Camogli. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  28. ^ "Elite Salvage Team Expected to Clear Up Suez in 5 to 6 days". 25 March 2021.
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