Suez Canal expansion plans lift dredging firm Boskalis (updated)

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock

12/05/2021 13:04

(Recasts with Boskalis' shares and Suez Canal project, adds
detail, analyst quote)
    May 12 (Reuters) - Shares in Dutch marine services provider
Boskalis  BOSN.AS  jumped on Wednesday, a day after the Suez
Canal unveiled a project to expand the southern stretch of the
waterway.
    The Suez Canal Authority plans to expand and deepen its
southern section, where a container ship became jammed and
blocked traffic for six days in March, throwing international
supply chains into disarray.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MY0OM
    Back in 2014, Egypt signed contracts with six international
firms to carry out dredging of the Suez Canal, including
Boskalis.
    "The market is thinking - and rightfully so - that these six
companies will again be active in expanding the canal," said
Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Andre Mulder. "So they should be the
main beneficiaries of that."
    Boskalis' shares rose nearly 6% at 1142 GMT.
    In 2014, Egypt had also contracted Dutch peer Van Oord,
Belgium's Jan de Nul Group and Ackermans & Van Haaren  ACKB.BR 
owned Deme Group, U.S.-based Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company
 GLDD.O , and the UAE's National Marine Dredging Company
 NMDC.AD . https://reut.rs/3w1QsIk
    Boskalis's subsidiary SMIT Salvage also assisted in efforts
to dislodge Ever Given, the giant container ship that was stuck
in the canal.
    Boskalis, which offers marine services and contracting for
the oil and gas sector and offshore wind industry, on Wednesday
guided for capital expenditures of around 350 million euros 
($424.31 million) in 2021, as its first quarter met company
expectations.

($1 = 0.8249 euros)


 (Reporting by Sarah Morland in Gdansk, editing by Louise
Heavens)
 ((sarah.morland@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 769 65 92;))