De Vries & van de Wiel, which would later become part of DEME, steadily built its expertise in coastal protection and dike reinforcement throughout the 1970s. A significant milestone came in 1976 with the investment in suction dredger Texel and booster station Texel II. The investment gave the company greater control over the execution of its projects, reduced its reliance on third parties and enabled it to undertake larger works independently. At the same time, its equipment was further modernized, including the acquisition of new cranes.

The value of the Texel quickly became apparent in the field. During the widening of the Abbesteder dunes near Callantsoog in the Netherlands in the late 1970s, de Vries & van de Wiel opted for an innovative approach. Instead of transporting sand to the dunes by truck, the suction dredger discharged the material into the Grinza hopper barges, from where it was pumped through a pipeline stretching almost seven kilometers to the project site. The solution significantly reduced traffic disruption and demonstrated the practical ingenuity for which the company was becoming known.

The expertise that de Vries & van de Wiel continued to develop in the decades that followed would later find its place within DEME.