Board of directors’ report board of directors’ report
In 2011, DNV continued to perform strongly in all its key markets worldwide through its range of services for managing risk. The company managed to secure a good share of the newbuilding classification market in a contracting shipping market, while matching industry growth rates in the oil and gas sector. In addition, it managed to strengthen its global position within the Business Assurance sector. DNV also announced its largest ever acquisition, giving it a new global position in the energy business.
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In order to realise its long-standing ambition to positively impact the transition towards a low-carbon economy, DNV announced the acquisition of 74.3% of the shares in KEMA N.V. in December 2011. This Netherlandsbased energy consulting and certification group has a world-leading position in the electrical power and transmission industry. This acquisition led to the formation on 1 March 2012 of the DNV Group, which consists of three separate organisational entities: DNV Maritime and Oil & Gas; DNV KEMA Energy & Sustainability; and DNV Business Assurance.
Market positions. The maritime industry witnessed a short recovery in 2010, and this continued into 2011 bringing ship newbuilding contracting during the first half of the year to a fairly high level. However, the second half of the year developed very differently with much lower new contracting in most ship segments. All of the three main ship segments – container ships, tankers and bulk carriers – have been affected by the slow-down in world trade and continued over-capacity in the world fleet. High oil prices and increased exploration and drilling activity resulted in a boom in the mobile offshore units segments. DNV experienced a breakthrough in the container ship segment, capturing 16% of the newbuilding contracts in 2011. This achievement is mainly due to long-term, targeted
marketing efforts, supported by dedicated positioning through innovation, technology and service delivery. In total, DNV managed to secure 281 new classification contracts in 2011, corresponding to 12 million gross tonnes (GT). This gives an estimated market share of 14% in numbers and 22% in gross tonnes. The DNV-classed fleet has grown from 5,909 ships and mobile offshore units end of 2010 to 6,134 end of 2011. This represents a growth of 4%. A programme started in 2009 to secure the transfer of more quality ships to DNV class from other class societies was continued in 2011, resulting in a net class entry result in a highly competitive market. Capital investments in the oil and gas industry increased by 10–15%, demonstrating that oil will continue to be the dominant transportation fuel and that gas consumption is growing in the power, heating and transportation sectors as part of the transition to a lower carbon economy. DNV managed to grow its oil and gas business in line with the market in 2011, and continued to build on its strong global position within offshore safety. This was underpinned by the role DNV had in the post-Macondo investigations in the US. DNV was also active in EU dialogues to direct discussion in the best direction in order to improve offshore safety practices and regimes.