company founded 1991 headquarters zwijndrecht belgium area served worldwide key people luc bertrand chairman alain bernard ceo services dredging land reclamation port construction marine contracting oil & gas environmental remediation farshore windfarms financial engineering revenue 1.801 billion 2010 1 operating income 178 million 2010 1 number of employees 4 000 2010 1 website www.deme.be dredging environmental and marine engineering nv in short deme is an international group of specialised companies in the field of capital and maintenance dredging land reclamation port infrastructure development offshore related services for the oil & gas industry farshore windfarm installation environmental remediation a.o. the group is based in zwijndrecht belgium and has current operations on the five continents . 2 the roots of the group date back to the mid 19th century . 3 deme is committed to the practice of sustainable development . 2 in 2009 the flemish government agency flanders investment and trade 4 awarded the export lion 2009 to deme for what was called its sustainable strategy of internationalization and the many prestigious assignments carried out worldwide . 5 6 in a survey by temporary employment company randstad holding of 12 000 belgians in early 2010 deme was proclaimed one of the most attractive employers in belgium . 7 contents 1 history 2 general 3 fleet 4 operating companies 4.1 dredging international 4.2 baggerwerken decloedt & zoon 4.3 tideway offshore solutions 4.4 deme environmental contractors dec 4.5 geosea 4.6 participations 4.7 further diversification 4.7.1 deme blue energy dbe 5 board of directors and management committee 6 projects 6.1 historic realizations 6.2 assignments in the 2000s 6.3 assignments in 2010 7 investment programme 8 innovation 9 shareholders 10 references 11 external links history edit dredging in baarland the history of deme and the belgian ocean engineering industry at large should be seen against the background of three peculiar conditions the need for belgian people to keep open their sea lanes through the flemish banks in the north sea ; the efforts to maintain free access to the deep inland port of antwerp ; and their perennial struggle against flooding in the low countries . in the process valuable expertise was built up in throwing up banks reclaiming polders and embanking rivers . this millenary experience is well documented in history . 3 8 at around 1180 a very early canal lock was already in operation at the belgian city of damme on the canal from bruges to the sea . in 1292 dredging works are chronicled in the canals that linked the mediaeval city of bruges to the north sea . in his divina commedia between 1308 and 1321 the italian writer dante alighieri compared the hard embankment on which he was sitting to the dikes that flemish craftsmen had built between bruges and the dutch border . 9 as craftsmanship gave way to a more professional approach and the industrial revolution found its way to the european continent local contractors incorporated companies 10 that would later merge and consolidate as projects became bigger and the business needed ever more capital . but the millenary tradition skills and expertise of dealing with water has remained . the roots of deme are in the coastal region and the antwerp area of belgium . 3 11 three companies are at the cradle of deme baggerwerken decloedt & zoon ackermans & van haaren and soci t g n rale de dragage dutch algemene baggermaatschappij . around 1850 the de cloedt family had a small contracting business in the belgian city of bruges which diversified into dredging canals and building coastal defences as from 1875 . the company would be incorporated in 1928 and is nowadays part of deme as baggerwerken decloedt & zoon . in 1880 the contractors nicolaas van haaren 1835 1904 and hendrik willem ackermans 1855 1945 established a gravel winning and dredging business in the belgian city of antwerp . it was incorporated on 30 december 1924 and remained the core asset of what is nowadays the belgian investment company ackermans & van haaren one of the two shareholders of deme . maintenance dredging on the scheldt river was also carried out by soci t g n rale de dragage algemene baggermaatschappij sgd . this company was established on 5 april 1930 with the de cloedt family and the belgian construction and publicly listed company cfe as its shareholders . however sgd had older roots dating back to the construction of the port of zeebrugge inaugurated in 1907 . in the 1970s a major consolidation movement happened in the dredging industry in europe . in 25 years the number of european dredging companies dropped from fourteen in 1970 to six by the turn of the century . 3 on 27 november 1974 the dredging division of ackermans & van haaren merged with soci t g n rale de dragage creating synergies that proved to be much welcome in the booming markets of the middle east after the 1973 oil shock . together they formed dredging international . after the global crisis in the dredging business during the 1980s had been resolved dredging international and baggerwerken decloedt & zoon teamed up to become deme on 10 april 1991 . in 2000 the de cloedt family was bought out by the other shareholders . by 2010 dredging international and baggerwerken decloedt & zoon are two deme operating companies . the founding companies of deme have always been active both on their first home market belgium and abroad . total volume dredged by ackermans & van haaren between 1888 and 1967 both in belgium and abroad has been calculated at 593 254 000 m3 without counting the 8 548 000 m3 of rock that was removed and some 1 941 000 m3 of civil constructions and bank protection . 3 before the first world war ackermans & van haaren was involved in port construction and dredging in france russia argentina uruguay and brazil . since the early 1950s baggerwerken decloedt & zoon and soci t g n rale de dragage became involved in dredging and reclamation projects all over the world . general edit deme presents itself under a unified image and the single tagline creating land for the future . the company colours are blue and green emphasizing the work on the edge between water blue and land green . the corporate logo features the cutter head of a cutter suction dredger csd underlined with a blue and green bar . the group is made up of 71 different companies subsidiaries branches and representative offices worldwide . 2 at the end of 2009 deme employed some 3 750 people . 2 in 2009 the group realized a turnover of 1.4 billion 12 and an all time high operational cashflow of 21.8 per cent in the second semester . 13 after nine months in 2010 turnover stood at 1.315 billion vs. 1.008 billion on the corresponding moment in 2009 . 14 on 30 september 2010 the orders on hand were valued at 2.122 billion as compared with 2.073 billion on 30 june 15 in developing its activities deme applies a business partnering philosophy that aims at creating a win win situation with strong local partners . 16 in 2009 deme companies were operating in 42 countries . 2 fleet edit the trailing suction hopper dredger congo river capacity 30 000 m3 is one of the largest ships in the deme fleet . deme has a fleet of almost 300 vessels among which over 80 main dredging and hydraulic engineering vessels . 2 at the end of 2009 deme owned and operated 25 trailing suction hopper dredgers tshds such as the jade river with a capacity from 1 635 to 30 000 m3 . they include the 24 130 m3 pearl river 17 18 which was the first megatrailer in the world when she was commissioned in 1994 . at the same date the group owned and operated 20 cutter suction dredgers csd s whose installed power is between 441 kw and 28 200 kw . the csd fleet includes the world s heaviest self propelled and ocean going rock breaker the 28 200 kw d artagnan . 17 19 d artagnan was built for deme s french subsidiary soci t de dragage international sdi and launched in 2005 . in july 2010 a model of csd d artagnan was handed over to the panama canal authority . 20 21 further plant includes a variety of backhoe dredgers a.o. the 2 600 kw pinocchio ; 17 22 lifting vessels a.o. the 3 300 tons rambiz ; 23 self elevating drilling platforms a.o. the 1 600 tons goliath 24 25 fallpipe vessels a.o. the 19 000 tons flintstone ; 26 27 and auxiliary equipment . in 2010 deme appointed wilhelmsen ships service as supplier for maintenance products and technical gases globally . 28 both in the russian revolution 1917 and in the second world war almost the complete fleets of respectively ackermans & van haaren and baggerwerken decloedt & zoon were destroyed or lost . 11 operating companies edit operating companies of deme step forward under the common deme flag colours and tagline . however they keep their own identity operational autonomy and legal structure . some of the operating companies of deme include dredging international edit dredging international is one of the major operating companies of deme and focuses on the core activities of the group capital and maintenance dredging ; deepening and maintaining navigation channels ; major port development ; reclamation of new industrial or residential areas artificial islands beaches and coastal protection . its roots are in the antwerp area of belgium where its constituent companies began capital and maintenance dredging on the schelde at the end of the 19th century . dredging international has subsidiaries branches and representative offices in spain portugal the united kingdom russia and east europe mexico uruguay india nigeria bahrain panama venezuela singapore australia china taiwan vietnam brazil ghana luxembourg finland dubai abu dhabi angola saudi arabia latvia . dredging international is an associated company in middle east dredging company qsc medco . 29 baggerwerken decloedt & zoon edit like its sister company dredging international baggerwerken decloedt & zoon is focused on the core activities of the deme group capital and maintenance dredging ; deepening and maintaining navigation channels ; major port development ; reclamation of new industrial or residential areas artificial islands beaches and coastal protection . the difference is mainly historical and geographical . baggerwerken decloedt & zoon started its business with capital and maintenance dredging in the coastal approaches of belgium . however nowadays baggerwerken decloedt & zoon are operating globally with assignments on all continents . since 2000 the de cloedt family is no longer a shareholder in baggerwerken decloedt & zoon . tideway offshore solutions edit tideway is the offshore division of deme and was established in 1991 . based in breda netherlands the company is a full service provider for the oil & gas industry . 30 31 tideway is operating worldwide with activities that include the construction of landfalls and outfalls 32 for pipeline transport 33 and high voltage power cables ; 34 preparation of the seabed ; offshore trench dredging and backfilling ; precision rock placement in depths to 987 m. 35 tideway operates dynamic positioning d.p. fall pipe vessels such as the 12 000 tons rollingstone 36 and the 19 000 tons seahorse . 37 the 19 000 tons flagship flintstone 38 was launched in singapore on 28 april 2010 and is equipped with dynamic positioning dp2 and an active heave compensator remotely operated underwater vehicle rov . the latter enables precision stone dumping in depths to 2 000 m. 39 deme environmental contractors dec edit deme environmental contractors dec was incorporated in 1999 as a merger of various deme companies that were established in the 1980s nv soils was a specialised company for soil washing and in situ soil remediation techniques ; nv silt had developed expertise in silt recycling