Summary

Preface

Last summer’s golden jubilee of Eemshaven was the perfect time for us to look back together at the foundations of our success. We were certainly not alone; we welcomed so many people who did or still do something in the port in one way or another. They all felt they had a share in that success. We can only agree because you don't create something like Eemshaven with a handful of people. Whether it was constructing a dike, building part of a quay, or working in one of the many businesses in Eemshaven: it required thousands of people.

Just under two months later, Eemshaven hit the news even more prominently when minister Harbers designated it as the Port of Refuge for the car ship Fremantle Highway. Although it is certainly fortuitous that we could accommodate this vessel, we were also concerned because it was unclear to what extent this heavily damaged vessel could cause consequential damage whilst it was in the port. Fortunately there was none, and the quay was available again on time.

In financial terms, 2023 was a good year. There were 13 allocations of land, covering 46.6 hectares in total. A total of 36.2 hectares was issued in sublease, and 10.4 hectares were sold. With these allocations we achieved a turnover of € 52 million, with a net profit after tax of € 6 million.

In October we secured the financing for Groningen Seaports for the coming years. As a result of our growth and our current size, we opted to work with two banks: BNG Bank and the Nederlandse Waterschapsbank (NWB). We are ready for the future!

Cas König, CEO
Harold Sanders, CFO 

Key figures

2023 in events

1^st Quarter

18 January - Representatives of the six largest wind ports of Europe, including Groningen Seaports, agreed to join forces in order to accelerate the green transition in an attempt to achieve the ambitious European targets for offshore wind.

8 February - Groningen Seaports and the water authority Waterschap Noorderzijlvest work together on the circular use of dredge spoil by way of local reuse. This produces fewer CO₂ emissions and saves materials and processing costs.

14 March – The Swiss project developer Necron started the construction of a distribution centre of 68,000 square metres in Eemshaven.

2^nd Quarter

16 April – GIGA Storage concluded an agreement with Groningen Seaports to develop large-scale energy storage on the former Aldel site.

10 June – Over five thousand visitors explored the Eemshaven during the open day, organized by Groningen Seaports to celebrate the port’s 50^th anniversary.

28 June - The Groningen Provincial Executive, the water authorities Noorderzijlvest and Hunze en Aa’s, and Groningen Seaports (GSP) reached agreement with Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) about ring-fencing an amount of 500 million euros for damage caused by soil settlement.

3^rd Quarter

3 August – The cargo vessel Fremantle Highway, which caught fire in the night of Tuesday 25 July 2023, arrived safely in Eemshaven.

1 September – Close of Sandy Coast 23. Some 500 servicemen and a number of vessels from various NATO countries participated in this military exercise focused on mine countermeasures. This year was the first time the training also took place in the port of Delfzijl.

16 September - More than 150 volunteers helped to clean up the port of Delfzijl during the annual World Cleanup Day of Groningen Seaports. A total of 220 kilo of waste was collected.

4^th Quarter

13 October - The refinancing of Groningen Seaports N.V. was approved by its shareholder (Joint Arrangement), and that makes the company ready for the future. It means that Groningen Seaports no longer uses derivatives.

19 October - The 69^th, and therefore the last, wind turbine of Hollandse Kust Noord was installed. With the installation of this last wind turbine, the creation of the 19^th wind farm from Eemshaven is now complete.

7 November - A number of businesses that operate in Eemshaven launched the foundation ‘Werken in de Eemshaven’ [Employment in Eemshaven]. The purpose of the foundation is to increase the visibility and the recognition of Eemshaven, with attracting those looking for work as its main focus.

Ports as flourishing port and industrial areas

The presence of clusters of related customers in the same chain contributes to an attractive business climate. Eemshaven and the port of Delfzijl are flourishing port and industrial areas with many different large and medium-sized businesses.

Developments in Eemshaven

Over the past years, Eemshaven has become an energy hub of national and international importance with power stations, wind farms and solar parks, and with connections to the four corners of the world. In 2023, the construction of various wind farms takes place from Eemshaven. Eemshaven is also the dedicated maintenance base for a number of wind farms. With an installed capacity of 8,000 MW, the port has become attractive to major energy consumers, such as data centres. Eemshaven is expected to play a prominent role in future developments in energy, such as hydrogen.

Energy

• On 7 July, the new 380 kV connection from Eemshaven to the new high-voltage station Vierverlaten near Hoogkerk was commissioned.

• Early 2023, EemsEnergyTerminal in Eemshaven received the Langman Prize 2022.

Offshore wind

• Early last year, the Jan de Nul group occupied a large site behind the heavy-duty quay for the construction of the 20^th and 21^st wind farm from Eemshaven: Gode Wind III and Borkum Riffgrund III.

Miscellaneous

• Necron started the construction of a distribution centre of 68,000 square metres in Eemshaven.

• Koko Beheer B.V. located on approximately 0.5 hectare.

• Den Helder Support Service expanded its site by 1 hectare.

Developments in the port of Delfzijl

Chemical businesses and circular-economy activities are central to the port of Delfzijl. The larger part of our investments goes to preparing sites and land, and building the necessary infrastructure, to ensure new businesses can locate here and existing businesses can be linked together. In 2023, investments were made in the development of Heveskes and Oosterhorn-Zuid.

Heveskes

Groningen Seaports invested more than € 5 million in the development of the Heveskes site in 2023. To date, GSP's total investment in that site amounts to € 30 million. The 45-hectare site is destined for the biobased chemical industry cluster. In 2023, part of the site was completed. New businesses, such as Avantium and North Water, carried out various types of construction work. We also invested in a new steam pipe to connect Avantium and other parties to the public steam infrastructure.

Oosterhorn-Zuid

In 2023, Groningen Seaports invested more than € 10 million in the development of the construction and industrial sites at Oosterhorn. Total investments are estimated at € 43 million. Part of the sites to the south of the Oosterhorn canal, which are still to be developed, have been prepared for issue. Raising work has been carried out, the dredge-soil deposit site Oterdummerwarven has been remediated, and site remediation has been started in Weiwerd to prepare it for future issue as an industrial site.

New users and expansions in the port of Delfzijl

• Waste recycler EEW Energy from Waste expanded its site by 3.75 hectares to build a new plant.

• In October, solar park Valgenweg was opened. A total of 31,176 solar panels (17.5 MWp) has been installed on this 19.3-hectare site.

• On Oosterhorn-Zuid, SFP will build a green-gas production plant on a plot of 4.6 hectare.

• In 2023, Avantium Renewable Polymers continued the construction of the world’s first commercial FDCA factory on the new industrial site Heveskes. FDCA (2,5-furandicarboxylic acid) is the building block for the 100% plant-based recyclable polymer PEF (polyethylene furanoate).

• NorthWater, a specialist in supplying process water and processing wastewater, expanded its site by 1.3 hectares.

• Tankterminal Contitank expanded its plot by 2.9 hectares.

• In 2023, Roba Metals Delfzijl expanded its current plot at Oosterhorn-Noord by around 2 hectares.

• GIGA Storage will build a large-scale storage on the former Aldel site, which measures 10 hectares.

• Bertschi, a logistics company in the chemical industry, expanded its plot by 0.4 hectare.

Port facilities

Groningen Seaports works on the digitisation and automation of nautical processes to guarantee it can handle shipping traffic in a way that is safe, quick, clean and secure. This is also related to new and amended EU directives and requirements for better registration and monitoring of ballast water and ship-generated waste. Protecting the safety in the ports, on the docks and for shipping is another important pillar in nautical management.

Port calls

The year 2023 saw a drop in the number of inland port calls (-23.9%) and in the maritime port calls (-2.7%), which produced a total decrease in the number of port calls of -12.6%.

Transshipment

In 2023, we achieved transshipment of more than 14.1 million tonnes, which represents a slight rise compared to 2022 despite a decrease in the number of ship movements. This is largely down to the supply of LNG.

Shipping incidents

In 2023, there were 39 shipping incidents in the management area of Groningen Seaports (2022: 36). These incidents neither involved personal injuries nor fatalities.

Organisation

As a result of the improving labour market and possibly due to our internal organisational change in 2022, we saw more personnel turnover than usual last year. At the end of 2023, Groningen Seaports had 99 employees (2022: 105).

Workforce composition

At year-end 2023, the workforce consisted of 33% women and 67% men. The supervisory board also values diversity and a balanced distribution between the number of men and women. Two of the five members of the supervisory board are currently women.

Corporate governance

Groningen Seaports NV is an unlisted public limited company with one shareholder: the joint arrangement Havenschap Groningen Seaports. This joint arrangement consists of three participants: the Provincial Executive of Groningen, the municipality of Het Hogeland and the municipality of Eemsdelta. The Executive Board of the joint arrangement Havenschap Groningen Seaports decides how the chair of this Executive board will exercise the voting rights attached to the shares in Groningen Seaports NV. In 2023, work continued on a proposal for a more simplified corporate governance of Groningen Seaports.

Executive Board

• Mr C.L. (Cas) König (CEO)

• Mr H.V. (Harold) Sanders (CFO)

Supervisory board

• Mr F.A.M. (Frans) Keurentjes (chairperson)

• Mr H. (Herman) Roose (chairperson of the audit committee) - to 1 October 2023

• Mr J. (Joop) Atsma

• Ms D. (Dertje) Meijer

• Ms J. (Jantje) Schiphorst (member of the audit committee)

• Mr U. (Ulco) Vermeulen (member of the audit committee)

Balance Sheet

Income statement