Van Oord is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 contracting company that specializes in dredging and land reclamation

Land reclamation

Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...

. Van Oord has undertaken many projects throughout the world, including land reclamation, dredging and beach nourishment.

History

The company was founded by Govert van Oord in 1868. In 1990 it acquired Aannemers Combinatie Zinkwerken ('ACZ') and in 2003 it acquired Ballast HAM Dredging (formed from the merger of Ballast Nedam's dredging division with Hollandse Aanneming Maatschappij ('HAM') two years earlier).

Major projects

Projects undertaken by the company include the Oosterscheldekering

Oosterscheldekering

The Oosterscheldekering , between the islands Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland, is the largest of the 13 ambitious Delta works series of dams, designed to protect the Netherlands from flooding...

 between Schouwen-Duiveland

Schouwen-Duiveland

Schouwen-Duiveland is a municipality and an island in the southwestern Netherlands.The Brouwersdam is a dam, part of the Delta Works, from Schouwen-Duiveland to Goedereede, the west part of the island of Goeree-Overflakkee in South Holland....

 and Noord-Beveland

Noord-Beveland

Noord-Beveland is a municipality in the southwestern Netherlands and a former island, now part of the Walcheren-Zuid-Beveland-Noord-Beveland peninsula....

 completed in 1986, the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

 completed in 2003, the IJsselmeer

IJsselmeer

IJsselmeer is a shallow artificial lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland, with an average depth of 5 to 6 m. The IJsselmeer is the largest lake in Western Europe....

 pipeline in the Netherlands completed in 2006 and the World

The World (archipelago)

The World or World Islands is an artificial archipelago of various small islands constructed in the rough shape of a world map, located off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The World islands are composed mainly of sand dredged from Dubai's shallow coastal waters, and are one of several...

 in Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

completed in 2008.