INDUSTRY REVIEWOIL & GAS
volumes have declined in the past 24 months,” he confirmed. “With that industry currently
consolidating, we are focusing our efforts on reducing costs and increasing value for our clients while maintaining strong and clear compliance practices. We are always looking to develop new opportunities and services, but right now we have to be realistic that such opportunities are limited.” Similar points were made by Mike
Hussey, regional director North America for Sarens, which last year secured the largest project contract in its history from energy industry partnership Tengizchevroil (TCO) covering the provision of land transport and installation services for a major expansion of the Tengiz oilfield and refinery in Kazakhstan (HLPFI, November/December 2016, page 27). “Everyone in our industry is under a lot
of pressure on margins at the moment because we are all going after the same jobs. So it has been a challenge, not just from the perspective of there not being a lot of work to get, but also that the work we do win does not have the same margins,” he stated. On the plus side for logistics management
providers, those same financial pressures are creating new business development opportunities for companies able to provide wider-ranging and potentially more cost-efficient project supply chain services. “We are certainly seeing that and we are
increasingly getting involved in different ways to what we did in the past,” confirmed Thomas Bek, global manager, oil, gas and industrial projects for Blue Water Shipping, whose most recent developments in that
context included being part of consortia that last year secured three major module transport and logistics contracts from TCO relating to the Tengiz project. “That trend had started to develop even
before the recent oil industry crisis and now that it is established we anticipate it will continue regardless of what happens to the oil price in the future. That is reflected in the type of people we employ today. They are not necessarily forwarding or logistics staff but rather engineers, naval architects, construction managers, etc.”
Tougher competition Meanwhile, tougher competition and squeezed margins are also apparent in the oil and gas project logistics supply chain served by ocean and air carriers offering heavy transport options. A spokesman for German line SAL Heavy
Lift said competition in the sector is likely to remain “fierce”. At the same time, he continued, some engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies are moving away from using forwarders and managing their logistics in-house. “In general, we are feeling pressure on
Companies are really analysing how much they are spending to achieve their targets. – Fayçal Boumerkhoufa, Volga-Dnepr
www.heavyliftpfi.com
margins. With a lower feed-in rate for the oil and gas companies, EPCs are exposed to a requirement to deliver projects at lower costs as well, which drips down to us in the logistics sector. So we do not expect things to be easier in the times to come.” Fayçal Boumerkhoufa, global director oil
and gas for Russian freighter airline group Volga-Dnepr, said the oil and gas sector crisis over the last couple of years has forced everyone involved with projects in that market to review how best to achieve maximum cost efficiency.
“Companies are really analysing how
much they are spending to achieve their targets. Everything is driven by cost- efficiency and both they and we are looking at the way their projects are being run to see whether things are being done in the most efficient way or whether there is overkill to mask inefficiency,” he reported. In that context, Boumerkhoufa said that
in addition to continuing to organise charter flights for oil and gas sector customers using its large fleet of AN 124, IL76 and Boeing 747/737 freighters, Volga-Dnepr is also looking to make greater use of the scheduled Boeing 747 freighter services operated by group carrier AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), in order to be “more flexible” in servicing that industry.
BWS said financial pressures are creating new opportunities for logistics services providers.
HLPFI
We are increasingly getting involved in different ways to what we did in the past. – Thomas Bek, Blue Water Shipping
January/February 2017 51
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