Visser & Smit Hanab is a Dutch infrastructure contractor that develops, builds and maintains above‑ and underground cable and pipeline networks and mechanical installations for the energy, water, chemicals and petrochemicals sectors. Originating from the 1900-founded Visser & Smit and the post‑war utility contractor Hanab, the businesses were merged in 1979 as Visser & Smit Hanab B.V., headquartered in Papendrecht. The company has grown alongside the Dutch cable and pipeline network to become one of the largest pipelining contractors in the Netherlands, with more than 1,200 employees active on regional, national and international projects for utility companies, grid operators, water companies, industrial firms, telecom operators and government bodies.
The company combines conventional pipeline and cable laying with a strong specialism in trenchless technologies. It pioneered horizontal directional drilling (HDD) in the Netherlands in 1984 and has since established a leading HDD position in the Netherlands and across Europe. Its Hanab Directional Drilling activities offer turnkey trenchless solutions, including HDD, microtunnelling and other shield and thrust boring methods, supported by an in‑house engineering department. Visser & Smit Hanab owns a fleet of around 15 HDD and microtunnelling rigs ranging from 3 to 250 tonnes, used for crossings under rivers, canals, dikes, railways, roads and dense underground utility corridors, as well as landfalls and export cable routes for offshore wind projects, including in Poland.
Beyond drilling, Visser & Smit Hanab executes mechanical installation projects at refineries, (petro)chemical plants and industrial sites, processing a wide range of piping materials both in prefabrication facilities and on site. It has delivered above‑ and underground cable and pipeline projects at locations such as the Chemelot industrial complex for decades and works across the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Scandinavia, Portugal and Eastern Europe. Historically part of the VolkerWessels group, it now operates under the Hanab multi‑utility brand, which focuses on energy, technology and connectivity and participates in long‑term framework partnerships, for example with Gasunie, to support gas, hydrogen and CO₂ transport infrastructure for the energy transition.
