Royal Haskoning: Global experience, local application

Royal Haskoning has been active in India since 1950s, and has played a major role in some of the largest ports and industrial projects in the country including Ennore Port and Project Seabird, as well as shipyard developments like DGNP Mumbai, Mazagon Dock and Nana Layia. A multi-disciplinary engineering and environmental consultancy company, Royal Haskoning has its presence in more than 17 countries, with 57 offices and 3,900 employees. Haskoning India has a staff of some 100 based in Delhi, Mumbai and project offices around the country. Founded in 1881, it is the oldest private consulting engineering practice firm in the Netherlands. The company was awarded with the honorary title ‘Royal’ in 1981 for its 100 years of outstanding achievements in the fields of maritime, infrastructure and transport, coastal and civil engineering, structural engineering, spatial planning, building and building services, environment, water and water management.

Engineering consultants like Royal Haskoning can bank on a wide international experience and can give advise on all aspects to ensure that the project develops in the right direction. The added value of engineering consultants is the largest in the early stages of project development, when the challenges with planning the port facilities are many. They should be addressed with the best engineering judgment to come to an educated view on technical and financial feasibility. In the early stages assessments, surveys, investigations and simulations should be carried out, especially the alignment and costs of breakwaters and the dredge-fill ratio are important aspects that need to be investigated.

It is important to take into account the socio-economic costs and benefits of the development. The issues in port development are many—the interface between land and water can be of major environmental value. To ensure an efficient decision making process, it is important to be transparent and to keep an open dialogue between the stakeholders. Royal Haskoning has a good track record when it comes to risk and stakeholder management.

Niek van der Sluijs, the author, heads the Maritime Delhi Business Unit and has had leading roles in the planning and simulation of terminal operations for projects worldwide.