Royal Boskalis Westminster has suspended crew and project staff rotations in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, but cargo is still moving.
The Dutch offshore contractor has implemented several precautions to ensure the health, safety and well being of its employees, while simultaneously taking all necessary steps to continue its business.
To date, precautionary measures taken by most countries have not resulted in a shut down of infrastructure projects and the import of goods vital for the company’s projects is permitted, said Boskalis.
As a consequence, Boskalis has at large been successful in keeping its business activities operational around the world.
In the affected countries and regions, Boskalis employees are working remotely from home where possible. For staff working on international projects and vessels, this is not an option. Still, as a consequence of global travel restrictions and to ensure the health of its personnel, the customary crew and project staff rotations have been suspended as of March 16.
“At present, it is clear the COVID-19 crisis will have a negative impact on our business in 2020 but it is currently impossible to quantify this,” said Boskalis.
“Given this uncertainty and to preserve the strong financial position as much as possible Boskalis has decided not to schedule a dividend proposal over the financial year 2019 for the agenda of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) and to suspend its share buy-back program as of next week.”
