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Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering NV (''in short'' DEME) is an international group of specialised companies in the field of capital and maintenance dredging, land reclamation, port infrastructure development, offshore related services for the oil & gas industry, farshore windfarm installation, environmental remediation a.o. The group is based in Zwijndrecht, Belgium, and has current operations on the five continents.〔DEME Annual Report 2009〕 The roots of the group date back to the mid 19th century.〔Mort J. Richardson, ''The Dynamics of Dredging'', Irvine, California (USA) 2001, ISBN 0-9665413-1-6〕 DEME is committed to the practice of sustainable development.〔 In 2009, the Flemish government agency Flanders Investment and Trade awarded the ''Export Lion 2009'' to DEME for what was called its 'sustainable strategy of internationalization' and 'the many prestigious assignments carried out worldwide'. In a survey by temporary employment company Randstad Holding of 12,000 Belgians in early 2010 DEME was proclaimed one of the most attractive employers in Belgium. ==History== The history of DEME and the Belgian ocean engineering industry at large should be seen against the background of three peculiar conditions: the need for Belgian people to keep open their sea lanes through the Flemish Banks in the North Sea; the efforts to maintain free access to the deep inland port of Antwerp; and their perennial struggle against flooding in the Low Countries. In the process valuable expertise was built up in throwing up banks, reclaiming polders and embanking rivers. This millenary experience is well documented in history.〔〔Flanders International Technical Agency (FITA), ''Flanders: hydraulic engineering and contracting'', Brussels, 1998〕 At around 1180, a very early canal lock was already in operation at the Belgian city of Damme on the canal from Bruges to the sea. In 1292 dredging works are chronicled in the canals that linked the mediaeval city of Bruges to the North Sea. In his ''Divina Commedia'' (between 1308 and 1321) the Italian writer Dante Alighieri compared the hard embankment on which he was sitting to the dikes that Flemish craftsmen had built between Bruges and the Dutch border.〔Dante Alighieri, ''Divina Commedia'', l'Inferno, XV, 4: ''"Quale i Fiamminghi tra Guzzante e Brugia ... Fanno lo schermo perché 'l mar si fuggia".''〕 As craftsmanship gave way to a more professional approach and the Industrial Revolution found its way to the European continent, local contractors incorporated companies〔"From Hand-drag to Jumbo: a Millennium of Dredging", Special edition of IADC's ''Terra et Aqua – International Journal on Public Works, Ports & Waterways Developments'', n° 77, December 1999, ISSN 0376-6411〕 that would later merge and consolidate as projects became bigger and the business needed ever more capital. But the millenary tradition, skills and expertise of dealing with water has remained. The roots of DEME are in the coastal region and the Antwerp area of Belgium.〔〔Mon Vanderostyne, ''Waterbouwers – De wereldwijde expansie van de Vlaamse waterbouw na 1945'' (In Dutch), pp. 13–22, Tielt (Belgium) 1994, ISBN 90-209-2422-2〕 Three companies are at the cradle of DEME: Baggerwerken Decloedt & Zoon, Ackermans & van Haaren and Société Générale de Dragage ((オランダ語:Algemene Baggermaatschappij)). Around 1850, the De Cloedt family had a small contracting business in the Belgian city of Bruges which diversified into dredging canals and building coastal defences as from 1875. The company would be incorporated in 1928, and is nowadays part of DEME as Baggerwerken Decloedt & Zoon. In 1880 the contractors Nicolaas van Haaren (1835–1904) and Hendrik-Willem Ackermans (1855–1945) established a gravel winning and dredging business in the Belgian city of Antwerp. It was incorporated on 30 December 1924 and remained the core asset of what is nowadays the Belgian investment company Ackermans & van Haaren, one of the two shareholders of DEME. Maintenance dredging on the Scheldt river was also carried out by Société Générale de Dragage/Algemene Baggermaatschappij (SGD). This company was established on 5 April 1930 with the De Cloedt family and the Belgian construction and publicly listed company CFE as its shareholders. However, SGD had older roots dating back to the construction of the port of Zeebrugge (inaugurated in 1907). In the 1970s a major consolidation movement happened in the dredging industry in Europe. In 25 years, the number of European dredging companies dropped from fourteen in 1970 to six by the turn of the century.〔 On 27 November 1974 the dredging division of Ackermans & van Haaren merged with Société Générale de Dragage – creating synergies that proved to be much welcome in the booming markets of the Middle East after the 1973 oil shock. Together they formed Dredging International. After the global crisis in the dredging business during the 1980s had been resolved, Dredging International and Baggerwerken Decloedt & Zoon teamed up to become DEME on 10 April 1991. In 2000 the De Cloedt family was bought out by the other shareholders. By 2010 Dredging International and Baggerwerken Decloedt & Zoon are two DEME operating companies. The founding companies of DEME have always been active both on their first home market Belgium and abroad. Total volume dredged by Ackermans & van Haaren between 1888 and 1967, both in Belgium and abroad has been calculated at 593,254,000 m3 – without counting the 8,548,000 m3 of rock that was removed and some 1,941,000 m3 of civil constructions and bank protection.〔 Before the First World War, Ackermans & van Haaren was involved in port construction and dredging in France, Russia, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Since the early 1950s Baggerwerken Decloedt & Zoon and Société Générale de Dragage became involved in dredging and reclamation projects all over the world. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「DEME」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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