Smit Internationale N.V. (or Smit International) is a Dutch company operating in the maritime sector. The company was founded in 1842 by Fop Smit as a towage company with only the 140 horsepower paddle steamer tug Kinderdijk. Fop's sons, Jan and Leendert, continued the company under the name L. Smit & Co and expanded the fleet. In 1870, they began using tugs with propellers. After a merger in 1923 with Internationale Sleepdienst, the name was changed to "L. Smit & Co.'s Internationale Sleepdienst". Formerly listed on the Euronext Amsterdam, the company was acquired by Royal Boskalis Westminster in 2010.[3]
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Maritime services |
| Founded | 1842 |
| Founder | Fop Smit |
| Headquarters | Rotterdam, Netherlands |
Key people | Frank Verhoeven (Chairman) |
| Services | Towage, salvage, transportation, heavy lifting vessels |
| Revenue | €589.0 million (2009)[1] |
| €104.6 million (2009)[1] | |
| €102.4 million (2009)[1] | |
| Owner | Royal Boskalis Westminster |
Number of employees | 3,620 (2009)[1] |
| Website | www.smit.com |
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History
The company dates back to the early 1840s and the undertakings of Fop Smit, who operated a single paddle steamer that safely guided various other vessels into the Port of Rotterdam.[4] Founded in 1842 under the name L. Smit & Co., the business slowly branched into new activities. During the mid 1900s, it started providing salvage services for the first time.[4] Throughout the twentieth century, Smit International developed into internationally-operating outfit offering a wide range of maritime services.[4]
During August 1996, the British construction firm Costain Group sold its Merseyside-based Land & Marine business to Smit International in exchange for £11.3 million.[5] On 29 March 2007, the firm purchased Adsteam’s Liverpool-based towage operation.[6]
Smit International has been involved in the removal of hazardous substances, such as bunker fuel, from wrecks.[4] The company was involved in the containment and removal of fuel oil from the wrecked cruiseliner Costa Concordia,[7][8] the bulk hauler Full City,[9][10] and the oil storage vessel FSO Safer in actions that prevented a potential environmental disaster.[11][12]
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.[13][14] It also performed the salvage of the sunk cargo ship MOL Comfort.[15]
On 15 September 2008, Dutch marine engineer Boskalis made an indicative €1.11 billion takeover offer to acquire Smit.[16] Despite the offer being promptly rejected by Smit's board, Boskalis subsequently built a stake of over 25% in the firm[17][18] and expressed a continuing desire to buy a number of its business units.[19] 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 firm's board in January 2010, with Boskalis declaring its offer unconditional that March having reached share ownership of 90%.[20] Smit's shares were delisted from Euronext Amsterdam on 4 May 2010.[21]
During 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.[22] 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.[23]
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 (with its daughter companies and the joint ventures that it controls) has a fleet of 408 ships.[24]
| Type of vessel details on power, tonnage etc. |
Harbour Towage | Terminals | Transport & Heavy Lift |
Total[24] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean-going tug 14000-26000 hp |
3 | 3 | ||
| Ocean-going tug 6140 hp |
1 | 1 | ||
| Anchor handling tugs 10000-15000 hp |
2 | 2 | 4 | |
| Anchor handling tugs 8000 hp |
2 | 4 | 6 | |
| Anchor handling tugs 3000-8000 hp |
1 | 20 | 21 | |
| Diving support vessel | 2 | 2 | ||
| Utility vessels | 5 | 5 | ||
| Floating sheerlegs seagoing, 3200 tonnes |
1 | 1 | ||
| Floating sheerlegs seagoing, <3200 tonnes |
8 | 8 | ||
| Pulling barges | 2 | 2 | ||
| Seagoing barges 24000 tonnes |
3 | 3 | ||
| Seagoing barges 1000-14000 tonnes |
2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Seagoing barges 1000-8000 tonnes |
10 | 19 | 29 | |
| Inland barges 100-2000 tonnes |
28 | 26 | 54 | |
| Coastal/harbour tugs 3000-6000 hp |
109 | 31 | 2 | 142 |
| Coastal/harbour tugs 1000-3000 hp |
37 | 4 | 2 | 43 |
| Harbour/river tugs 100-1000 hp |
9 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| Harbour/river pusher tugs 480-2800 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:[25]
- SS London Valour[26] (1971–72)
- MT Betelgeuse (1979–80)
- MS Herald of Free Enterprise (1987)
- Russian submarine Kursk (lifting vessel) (2000)
- Ehime Maru (2001)
- MV Prestige (2002)
- MV Tricolor (lifting vessel) (2002–2003)
- MV Rocknes (2004)
- MV Mighty Servant 3 (2006)
- MS UND Adriyatik (2008)
- Costa Concordia (oil containment) (2012)
- USS Guardian (grounded in Philippines) (2013)
- MOL Comfort sunk in June 2013.
- MV Stellar Banner (2020)
- Ever Given blockage of the Suez Canal[27] (2021)
- MV Eemslift Hendrika ship salvation (2021)
- Felicity Ace (2022)
- FSO Safer (2023)
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
- ^ a b c d "Annual Report 2009" (PDF). Smit International. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Smit's World-History". Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d Ventimiglia, Nicole (3 September 2014). "MN 100: Smit International N.V." marinelink.com.
- ^ "Costain sells Land & Marine for 11.3m". constructionnews.co.uk. 22 August 1996.
- ^ "Smit Invest Heavily in Liverpool". maritimejournal.com. 1 August 2007.
- ^ "Italy: SMIT Salvage Removes Oil from Forward Tanks on Costa Concordia". offshore-energy.biz. 24 February 2024.
- ^ "Salvage team Smit/Boskalis removes last oil from Costa Concordia". dutchwatersector.com. 23 March 2012.
- ^ Moskwa, Wojciech (3 August 2009). "Norway police charge ship captain after fuel spill". Reuters. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
- ^ "Smit International help grounded bulk carrier". maritimejournal.com. 6 August 2009.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "IMO pleads for help to prevent oil catastrophe". maritimejournal.com. 26 April 2023.
- ^ "Salvaging the Kursk". graphicnews.com. 10 July 2001.
- ^ "Dutch companies raise Russian submarine "Kursk'". tampabay.com. 9 October 2001.
- ^ "$400mn+ cargo loss in prospect as MOL Comfort finally sinks". insuranceinsider.com. 11 July 2013.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Boskalis abandons takeover bid and Smit profits are up". maritimejournal.com. 15 January 2009.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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]
- ^ Roumeliotis, Greg (27 March 2010). "Boskalis clears Smit takeover milestone". Reuters. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
- ^ "Application made for delisting Smit" (Press release). Boskalis. 7 April 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Smit International to deliver safety and training vessels to UK MoD". naval-technology.com. 9 February 2018.
- ^ "US Navy contract for Smit and Donjon". maritimejournal.com. 4 January 2019.
- ^ 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
- ^ Smit's website on Salvage projects Archived 13 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine, visited 12 February 2012
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Elite Salvage Team Expected to Clear Up Suez in 5 to 6 days". 25 March 2021.