Boskalis deepens entrance channel to port of Melbourne

Date 21 December 2007

Royal Boskalis Westminster nv wishes to announce that it has acquired a major contract for deepening the entrance channel to the port of Melbourne in Australia. The project will be executed in an alliance with the Port of Melbourne Corporation. The work will take about two years and the contract value is approximately 300 million.
The Australian Federal Minister for the Environment granted final approval for this project today.

The project involves dredging sand, clay, contaminated silt and rock. The work will be executed using two hoppers - one of which will be the Queen of the Netherlands - backhoes and cranes. After the completion of the project, the port of Melbourne will be accessible for container vessels with a draft of up to 14 m.

Peter Berdowski, Boskalis CEO:
"The entire project will be executed in an alliance with the Port of Melbourne Corporation. We have worked together with this client in recent years on the entire decision-making process. The far-reaching collaboration with the client and the strict environmental standards make this a unique and pioneering project."

This project is closely linked to the expansion in global transportation by container: a market that is primarily driven by the expansion of the global economy and international trading volumes.

Royal Boskalis Westminster nv is an international group with a leading position in the world market for dredging services. Its core activities are the construction and maintenance of ports and waterways, land reclamation, coastal defense and riverbank protection. The company holds ten home market positions in and outside Europe and targets all market segments in the dredging industry. It also has positions in strategic partnerships in the Middle East (Archirodon) and in offshore services (Lamnalco). Boskalis has a versatile fleet of over 300 units and operates in over 50 countries across five continents. Including its share in partnerships, Boskalis has approximately 8,000 employees.

For further information please contact:

Roel Berends - Corporate Relations
Telephone:        +31 (0)78 69 69 822 / +31 (0)6 2001 0232
Telefax:            +31 (0)78 69 69 020
E-mail              r.t.berends@boskalis.nl

This press release can also be found on our website www.boskalis.com.