Smit Internationale N.V. (or Smit International) is a Dutch company operating in the maritime

Sea

A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...

 sector. The company was founded in 1842 by Fop Smit

Fop Smit

Fop Smit was a Dutch naval architect, shipbuilder, and shipowner. He founded the towage and salvage company L. Smit & Co that is now part of Smit International...

 as a towage company with only the 140 hp paddle steamer

Paddle steamer

A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...

 tug

Tug

Tuğ is a village in the Khojavend Rayon of Azerbaijan....

 'Kinderdijk'.
Fop's sons, Jan and Leendert, continued the company under the name L.Smit &Co and expand the fleet. In 1870 they began using tugs with propellers.
After a merger in 1923 with Internationale Sleepdienst the name was changed to 'L. Smit & Co.'s Internationale Sleepdienst'. Formerly listed at the NYSE Euronext

Euronext

Euronext N.V. is a pan-European stock exchange based in Amsterdam and with subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. In addition to equities and derivatives markets, the Euronext group provides clearing and information services...

 stock exchange in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, the company was fully acquired by Royal Boskalis Westminster

Royal Boskalis Westminster

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. is a Netherlands-based company that provides services relating to the construction and maintenance of maritime infrastructure on an international basis...

 in 2010.

Takeover

Dutch marine engineer Boskalis

Royal Boskalis Westminster

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. is a Netherlands-based company that provides services relating to the construction and maintenance of maritime infrastructure on an international basis...

 made an indicative €1.11 billion takeover offer

Mergers and acquisitions

Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...

 for Smit on 15 September 2008. Despite the offer being promptly rejected by Smit's board, Boskalis subsequently built a stake of over 25% in the firm and expressed a continuing desire to buy a number of its business units. A revised offer from Boskalis of €1.35 billion, coupled with a pledge to retain the Smit name and its distinct operations, was accepted by the firm's board in January 2010, with Boskalis declaring its offer unconditional that March having reached share ownership of 90%. Smit's shares were delisted from the Amsterdam Stock Exchange on 4 May 2010.

Corporate structure

The company consist of 4 divisions, in order of revenue:

• Transport & Heavy Lift (33.5% of total revenues)
• Salvage (23.9%)
• Harbour Towage (22.8%)
• Terminals (19.8%)

High profile operations

Its marine salvage

Marine salvage

Marine salvage is the process of rescuing a ship, its cargo, or other property from peril. Salvage encompasses rescue towing, refloating a sunken or grounded vessel, or patching or repairing a ship...

 division was involved in several high-profile salvage operations such as:

• The Herald of Free Enterprise (1987)
• The Russian submarine Kursk (2000)
• The Ehime Maru
  Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville collision
  The Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville collision was a ship collision between the United States Navy submarine USS Greeneville and the Japanese fishery high school training ship Ehime Maru on 9 February 2001, about off the south coast of Oahu, Hawaii, United States...
  
   (2001)
• The Prestige (2001)
• The Tricolor (2002)
• The MV Rocknes
  MV Rocknes
  M.V. Rocknes was a -long rock discharge vessel that hit a shallow and suddenly capsized south of Bergen, Norway, killing 18 members of its 30-person crew. At the time of its sinking, it was the worlds largest dynamically positioned flexible fall pipe rock dumping vessel...
  
   (2004)
• The Mighty Servant 3 (2006)
• The M/S UND Adriyatik (2008)

Internationally, Smit International is known mostly for its expertise in salvage operations.

Often unrealized is the environmental importance of oil removal in many salvage operations. Smit International has dedicated much research into their modern equipment used to extract remaining oil of sunken vessels. They have also partnered with the French firm JLMD System to support preinstalled Fast Oil Recovery

Fast Oil Recovery

Fast Oil Recovery are innovative systems which can be built into a new ship or integrated into an old ship facilitating fast, efficient, and safe removal of an oil spill from a wrecked ship...

systems which assure quick reliable oil removal in the event of a shipping accident.