DEME Group: 'Flemish innovation has been instrumental in DEME Group's success.'

Belgian group DEME, which boasts a history going back almost 150 years, has grown into a global player when it comes to dredging and installing offshore wind farms. ‘We’re becoming truly global thanks to the expertise we’ve built up in Flanders,’ says CEO Luc Vandenbulcke.

DEME Group operates worldwide and has projects on every continent. It employs around 5 000 people and achieved a turnover of 1.5 billion euros in the first half of 2023, representing growth of no less than 14% year-on-year. ‘Even though we’re a global company, Belgium remains important to us,’ stresses Vandenbulcke. ‘Over here, for example, we’re responsible for maintaining the Scheldt river and ensuring access to the port of Antwerp. Our achievements in the offshore wind sector are partly due to the experience we were able to acquire with C-Power, the first wind farm off the Belgian coast that we built over 20 years ago.’

Innovations achieved in their home market have therefore been instrumental in DEME’s global success. Luc Vandenbulcke explains: ‘We firmly believe in the power of innovation. In Flanders, we have access to a cluster of maritime expertise that enables DEME and other companies to collaborate with universities, knowledge centres and suppliers to explore innovative applications in the blue economy. This is also a major focus of ours within the company itself. On paper, our R&D department has just two people, but they mainly play a coordinating role, collecting the ideas suggested by all of our employees with the aim of developing them further. Innovation is deeply ingrained in this company’s DNA and an aspect of the work that each of us does.’

A prime example is Princess Elisabeth Island. Construction of this artificial island for storing energy will begin in 2024. ‘For this project by Elia, the high-voltage grid operator, we are combining our expertise across all of our disciplines, including dredging, building caissons, rock dumping and laying cables at sea. All of those innovations are now being brought together for this important project. So, we have high hopes for the energy island. We’ve gone through an extensive design and testing phase to prepare ourselves for the challenges we’ll face at sea.’

KBC Commercial Banking has been a partner of DEME for many years. ‘As a global company making numerous investments, we often need to carry out international transactions and we require lines of credit, guarantees and insurance. It’s therefore particularly convenient that we can rely on KBC’s international network of branches. Thanks to their support, we were recently able to secure financing for the construction of a large ship in Taiwan. The fact that you know each other so well is certainly advantageous,’ says the CEO.

Anja Goris is KBC Commercial Banking's Relationship Manager for DEME: ‘We maintain an active dialogue at every level so that we stay well-informed about strategic developments and what’s going on at DEME. That allows us to provide proactive input. In the US, for example, the group seized upon emerging opportunities in offshore wind energy. By working with our colleagues on the ground in New York, we were able to provide DEME with local support right away. We can therefore combine the best of both worlds: local expertise from colleagues abroad and management of the overall relationship from Belgium.