14 October 2008
Oslo-listed Maritime Industrial Services (MIS) is struggling at acquiring a yard in Abu Dhabi to support its expansion plans, Emirates Business has learned.
According to Jerry Smith, MIS managing director, the Sharjah-based firm has been scouting for over a year but has not been able to find one. Abu Dhabi, he said, tends to be a "bit harder" since it is the base for several large scale oil and gas related industries and firms and a lot of the available yard space has been bought already.
"This means there are more firms vying for whatever yard space is currently available," Smith added.
According to Karim El Solh, member of the board at MIS and CEO of Gulf Capital, the largest shareholder in MIS, they will either build a greenfield yard or acquire an existing operation.
He said although the firm has set its eye on the UAE capital, looking to the East is a natural progression for MIS as currently all the shipyards in the region especially in the UAE are fully booked. The list of orders is also growing and to accommodate that, companies need more space.
"We may be looking in India or Indonesia or China where we may have access to competent but very attractively priced labour, space and also access to cheap raw material like steel, El Solh said. "We could outsource some of the lower value added projects to Asia and focus on the very complex technology and projects here in the UAE."
Smith said looking to the East could be a good alternative solution depending on the company's specific growth strategy and priority business lines. "We are not opposed to looking overseas in the future for joint ventures or acquisitions opportunities," he added.
MIS had recently increased its yard capacity by 60,000 square metres when it acquired 3C Metal International in June, which has 30,000 sq m capacity.
It has also obtained a 30,000 sq m land in Hamriyah Free Zone, Sharjah.
Smith said MIS will develop this greenfield yard into a feeder fabrication facility and a material storage warehouse. Both should be ready for operation in the second quarter of next year.
The firm's main yard in Sharjah is about 200,000 sq m. It also has a 90,000 sq m in Saudi and a 15,000 sq m yard in Kuwait. MIS has seven offshore jack-up drilling rigs under construction in its new-build programme and backlog orders of $1 billion (Dh3.67bn).
Oslo-listed Maritime Industrial Services (MIS) is struggling at acquiring a yard in Abu Dhabi to support its expansion plans, Emirates Business has learned.
According to Jerry Smith, MIS managing director, the Sharjah-based firm has been scouting for over a year but has not been able to find one. Abu Dhabi, he said, tends to be a "bit harder" since it is the base for several large scale oil and gas related industries and firms and a lot of the available yard space has been bought already.
"This means there are more firms vying for whatever yard space is currently available," Smith added.
According to Karim El Solh, member of the board at MIS and CEO of Gulf Capital, the largest shareholder in MIS, they will either build a greenfield yard or acquire an existing operation.
He said although the firm has set its eye on the UAE capital, looking to the East is a natural progression for MIS as currently all the shipyards in the region especially in the UAE are fully booked. The list of orders is also growing and to accommodate that, companies need more space.
"We may be looking in India or Indonesia or China where we may have access to competent but very attractively priced labour, space and also access to cheap raw material like steel, El Solh said. "We could outsource some of the lower value added projects to Asia and focus on the very complex technology and projects here in the UAE."
Smith said looking to the East could be a good alternative solution depending on the company's specific growth strategy and priority business lines. "We are not opposed to looking overseas in the future for joint ventures or acquisitions opportunities," he added.
MIS had recently increased its yard capacity by 60,000 square metres when it acquired 3C Metal International in June, which has 30,000 sq m capacity.
It has also obtained a 30,000 sq m land in Hamriyah Free Zone, Sharjah.
Smith said MIS will develop this greenfield yard into a feeder fabrication facility and a material storage warehouse. Both should be ready for operation in the second quarter of next year.
The firm's main yard in Sharjah is about 200,000 sq m. It also has a 90,000 sq m in Saudi and a 15,000 sq m yard in Kuwait. MIS has seven offshore jack-up drilling rigs under construction in its new-build programme and backlog orders of $1 billion (Dh3.67bn).
By Karen Remo-Listama
© Emirates Business 24/7 2008
