"Why We Chose Louisiana for Our First Office
in the United States"

About Harkoing, Inc.

Royal Haskoning (www.royalhaskoning.com), founded in the Netherlands in 1881, is an independent consulting firm operating worldwide with 3,200 employees. The firm has consultancy expertise in engineering, architecture, and environmental science. It was one of the first Dutch companies to visit New Orleans post-Katrina to seek new business opportunities, especially in the areas of:

1. Flood protection and coastal management: operation and planning, hydraulic and risk-based analysis, levee design and maintenance, numerical modeling of waves, surges and interior drainage. Specific examples of projects are: levee and flood wall design in New Orleans for USACE and the flood protection barrier in St. Petersburg (Russia) for the Federal Agency for Construction and Communal Services.
    
2. Maritime/Ports: design work for maritime structures (breakwaters, moorings, quay walls, jetties), logistics, port safety and security, and navigational studies. Examples are: development of Sakhalin LNG export terminal in Russia for Shell and design, planning and architecture of Palm Island in Dubai for Palm Island Developers Office.
    
3. Environmental Services: environmental impact assessments (EIA), awareness and training programs including health and safety, air quality, permitting, chemicals management, water treatment. Example: EIA land reclamation and sand mining Rotterdam Harbor extension Maasvlakte-2 for Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
   

Royal Haskoning opened its first office in the United States in March 2007 in Metairie, Louisiana through Haskoning, Inc.  The President of Haskoning, Inc. is Mr. Rene Zijlstra, who visited New Orleans on several occasions post-Katrina and participated in follow-up trade missions from the Netherlands.  Royal Haskoning's input has gradually increased since the start of the contract in 2006 with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is being carried out in collaboration with a number of American consultants. The firm's most important contribution lies in the determination of the design heights for the levees and floodwalls around the city and the contribution in the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration (LACPR) project.