Boreas launches tunnelling division

The tunnel division will be led by Harrie van der Steldt, who began working in tunnelling in 1999 for the Westerschelde Tunnel project in the Netherlands. 

Harrie van der Steldt has a degree in Accounting and Personnel Management, and his first work experience was in personnel for dredging companies from 1988 to 1996. In 1996, he started his first agency in Maritime personnel with a specialism in dredging and offshore. The first project was the Orseund tunnel project in Denmark. After selling his part in 2013, van der Steldt went on to start up and manage several other successful international business in other sectors. In 2017, Boreas Maritime was founded, and now Boreas moved into the tunnelling industry.

“We aim to supply single specialists on an ad-hoc basis to complete project teams to contractors on a worldwide basis,” said Julia van der Steldt, Boreas Tunnelling marketing manager. “We are currently focusing on establishing our network of contractors, manufacturers and tunnel specialists, and of course announcing ourselves in the market.”

“I love supplying personnel for projects on a worldwide basis, working with a broad range of nationalities, and with local legislation and customs,” says Harrie van der Steldt, CEO of Boreas Tunnelling. “With Boreas Maritime, I restarted my passion for personnel supply after a four-year break. First in the Maritime industry and now moving back into the tunnelling industry. In the meantime, Boreas is an established company with offices and partners in the UAE, Singapore, Indonesia and India.”

Van der Steldt was one of the founders of the company International Tunnelling Services, who supplied many contractors and TBM manufacturers. The most relevant projects were the SMART tunnel in Kuala Lumpur, Pannerdensch Canal in the Netherlands, and the Hallandsas project in Sweden. They supplied TBM specialists ranging from TBM pilots, Mechanics, PLC electricians, Ringbuilders and Foreman.

New hires are required for this new division. “We are currently looking to expand our office staff with skilled tunnel consultants who have experience with specialist supply,” said van der Steldt.