How Boskalis maximized AI’s value creation and capture
The situation
Boskalis is a global dredging and maritime services provider, offering a range of solutions to clients in offshore energy, ports, and coastal and delta regions. As data and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities advanced, Boskalis recognised an opportunity to capitalise on these developments. The ambition was to be strategy-led. As Carlo van Noort put it: ‘The ambition was to operate in a strategy-driven manner and to use AI to strengthen our competitive position’. To achieve this, a clear vision of AI's value creation potential and frameworks for resource allocation were needed, as well as an organisation capable of developing, delivering and maintaining AI use cases.
Deloitte & Boskalis: creating a competitive advantage together
Defining the North Star and building a delivery‑ready portfolio
The solve
Deloitte was selected for its ability to make AI relevant within Boskalis' strategic context and to act as an end-to-end partner—from strategy development to implementation, including ownership and development of the prioritised use cases. Over a roughly 12‑week engagement we worked with the Executive Board to activate and mobilise senior leadership around a practical plan to create and capture value with AI.
Selected key activities included:
- Level set: ensuring executive alignment on foundational AI theory and first principles.
- Ambitious objective: setting a clear North Star that signalled ambition, investment appetite and the Board’s expectations of AI across the organisation.
- Translating ambition into focus: determining where AI efforts and resources should be focused, based on strategic contribution and value creation potential. These focus areas were supported by a portfolio of AI use cases that balanced risk, return and time-to-impact. Long-term investments were combined with quick wins to demonstrate momentum and early results.
- Value capture: AI has been used to prevent unplanned downtime of vessels, improve dredging productivity, and optimise project timeliness and costs.
- Use case realisation: setting up a new corporate AI department and staffing it to realise the portfolio of use cases.
"Deloitte helped us create focus while preserving operational momentum and excitement around AI"
"A key success factor was that Boskalis and Deloitte truly walked the journey together."
- Nieke Sterkman, Programme Manager AI Strategy at Boskalis
The impact
The Boskalis–Deloitte partnership created substantial value. It established strategic clarity and executive alignment around a single AI North Star that set clear expectations and defined where to focus — and where not to. This focus was operationalised through a balanced, organisation‑backed AI use‑case portfolio. In parallel, the necessary technology and data foundations, and the organisation to deliver the portfolio were put in place.
The collaboration enabled Boskalis to increase its competitiveness and outperform its competitors where it matters: in the market.
