Smit International

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. Founded in 1842 under the name L. Smit & Co., it initially focused on towing.

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 via the establishment of a regional office in Singapore. 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.

During August 1996, Costain Group's Merseyside based Land & Marine business was purchased for £11.3 million. On 29 March 2007, the firm purchased Adsteam’s Liverpool-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. It also performed the salvage of the sunk cargo ship .

On 15 September 2008, Boskalis made a €1.11 billion takeover offer 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 from Euronext Amsterdam on 4 May 2010.

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. 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.

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 . 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, through its subsidiary companies and the joint ventures that it controls, had a fleet of 408 ships.

High profile operations

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

• (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)
• and the 2021 Suez Canal obstruction (2021)
• ship salvation (2021)
• (2022)
• (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

References

1. "Annual Report 2009". Smit International.
2. "Equipment Sheet: Taklift 7". Boskalis.
3. (October 2000). "After 25 Years, Smit International Keeps Evolving".
4. Ventimiglia, Nicole. (3 September 2014). "MN 100: Smit International N.V.".
5. "Smit's World-History".
6. (22 August 1996). "Costain sells Land & Marine for 11.3m".
7. [https://www.theage.com.au/business/liverpool-tugs-deal-puts-adsteam-sale-on-course-20070226-ge4axw.html Liverpool tug deal puts Adsteam sale on course] ''[[The Age]]'' 26 February 2007
8. (1 August 2007). "Smit Invest Heavily in Liverpool".
9. (24 February 2024). "Italy: SMIT Salvage Removes Oil from Forward Tanks on Costa Concordia".
10. (23 March 2012). "Salvage team Smit/Boskalis removes last oil from Costa Concordia".
11. Moskwa, Wojciech. (3 August 2009). "Norway police charge ship captain after fuel spill". Reuters.
12. (6 August 2009). "Smit International help grounded bulk carrier".
13. Wintour, Patrick. (8 May 2022). "UN leads £65m plan to stop huge oil spill off Yemen during first ceasefire in six years".
14. (26 April 2023). "IMO pleads for help to prevent oil catastrophe".
15. (10 July 2001). "Salvaging the Kursk".
16. (9 October 2001). "Dutch companies raise Russian submarine "Kursk'".
17. (11 July 2013). "$400mn+ cargo loss in prospect as MOL Comfort finally sinks".
18. (15 September 2008). "Boskalis plans 1.1 bln euro bid for Smit". [[Reuters]].
19. (15 January 2009). "Boskalis abandons takeover bid and Smit profits are up".
20. Gray-Block, Aaron. (2 February 2009). "Boskalis ups stake in Smit, could buy more shares". [[Reuters]].
21. van Tartwijk, Maarten. (14 May 2009). "Boskalis CEO: Ambition To Buy Several Smit Units". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
22. Roumeliotis, Greg. (27 March 2010). "Boskalis clears Smit takeover milestone". [[Reuters]].
23. (7 April 2010). "Application made for delisting Smit". Boskalis.
24. (9 February 2018). "Smit International to deliver safety and training vessels to UK MoD".
25. (4 January 2019). "US Navy contract for Smit and Donjon".
26. Official [http://www.smit.com/sitefactor/public/Our_work/Fleetlist/Fleetlist_as_at_1_March_2009.pdf Fleetlist per 1 March, 2009] {{webarchive. link. (11 November 2011 as published on companies website, retrieved 12 February 2012)
27. link. (13 June 2007 , visited 12 February 2012)
28. Gatti, Carlo. (April 2010). "The running aground and the shipwreck of the British cargo ship "London Valour"". Societa' Capitani e Macchinisti Navali – Camogli.
29. (25 March 2021). "Elite Salvage Team Expected to Clear Up Suez in 5 to 6 days".