Maritime services company Boskalis on Thursday announced profit of €253m in the first half, double that of the year earlier period.

Turnover rose 21% to €1.5bn.

‘An historically high result over all areas of our company,’ CEO Peter Bendowski said in a statement.

‘This extremely good result must not, however, be seen as a realistic reflection of the current market situation, which remains very challenging,’ he said.

Boskalis depends on the development of world trade, energy consumption, climate change and the geopolitical stability of its clients.

Contracts

The order book still contains contracts to a value of €3.15bn, slightly down on the end of 2013, the company said.

In the six months to July, the company was working on dredging and port work on the Elbe and Weser rivers in Germany, in the ports of Southampton and St Petersburg, and on large projects in South-East Asia, Australia, Qatar and Mumbai.

The Papendrecht-based company is active in 75 countries and employs 11,000 people.