Royal IHC is a supplier for over 300 years of innovative and efficient equipment, vessels and services for the offshore, dredging and wet mining markets. The company has three thousand employees worldwide and in 2012 generated a turnover of 895 million euros and a net profit of 37 million euros, but is now close to bankruptcy due to heavy losses on a number of projects.
Royal IHC has been saved from bankruptcy by the government and a consortium of companies. The state will contribute approximately EUR 400 million to the rescue. This was necessary because a Chinese company had its eye on the Dutch shipbuilder. With the takeover, the consortium has prevented the possibility that IHC’s knowledge and technology fall into foreign hands through a possible purchase by a Chinese company. It is known that China wants to be world leader in this sector in 2025. They are buying knowhow and once they possess it they will close IHC.
Royal IHC plays a strategic and innovative role in the Dutch maritime sector. A bankruptcy would have major consequences “for the international competitive position of the maritime manufacturing industry”. It is a so called system yard. Losing it would mean that the entire Dutch shipbuilding will be undermined.