Sarens Nass is one of a handful of Middle East crane rental companies that have flourished in the past five years, working to meet a seemingly insatiable demand for heavy lifting. The high price of oil and gas, coupled with the region’s desire to diversify its industrial base as well as develop world-leading tourism infrastructure, have all led to a demand for cranes that is proving a struggle to meet.
Sami Abdulla Nass foresaw the coming workload back in the 1990s. Sami Nass is the second of five sons of Abdulla Ahmed Nass, who founded the AA Nass Group in Bahrain 40 years ago. The Nass Corporation, as it is now called, has grown to become a diversified industrial group, with interests that include construction, fabrication and marine activities.
AA Nass Construction began working with the well-known Belgian crane and heavy transport group Sarens NV in 1999 when both were working in Kuwait. Sarens had a heavy lifting project. Nass was building a petrochemical plant that required the use of many cranes, some owned by Nass and others rented in for the project.
Sami Nass approached Ludo Sarens to examine the possibilities of working together. They came to a 50/50 joint venture agreement to finish the work they had in hand in Kuwait and then relocated the company to Bahrain as Sarens Nass Middle East WLL, starting up in late 2001 with Abdulla Nass and Ludo Sarens as joint chairmen and Sami Nass as managing director.
The following year Bill Sanderson joined as general manager. Sanderson, a Scotsman, was an experienced crane industry professional. He has spent more than 30 years in the crane business in the Gulf, firstly with manufacturers Grove and Manitowoc and their local distributors, and since 1994 in the rental business, mainly in Saudi Arabia.
“I had met Sami Nass several times and was impressed with his interest in cranes and his ideas for future expansion,” Sanderson recalls.
Sarens Nass began operations in Bahrain but the company’s research soon showed that the planned expansion of neighbouring Qatar would require huge numbers of cranes. In 2004 it established the QAIG Heavy Lift Division, under the sponsorship of the Qatar Al-Attiyah Intl. Group (QAIG).
The next expansion was to Saudi Arabia, in 2006, operating under the sponsorship of AA Nass & Partners Company, which has been trading in Saudi Arabia for seven years.
Sanderson says: “As Saudi is not the easiest country in the world to start a business, with problems obtaining work visas, etc., start-up has been slower than expected but we are now operating with 20 cranes and many more are ordered for arrival through to 2010.”
He adds: “The plan is to develop our operations to the maximum in each of the three countries that we operate in. There are no firm plans for expansion to other GCC countries, although countries like Kuwait and Oman are obviously of interest.”
Over the past five or six years, the crane fleet has grown substantially. The company started in Bahrain supplying six crawler cranes to an 18-month quay wall contract. In the first year a total of 22 used Liebherr cranes were purchased from the Dubai-based Liebherr distributor Frontline Cranes & Construction Equipment. Further orders with Frontline followed, including more used cranes and a package of 20 new all terrains, which arrived in 2005. At the same time, equipment was also being supplied by Sarens.
A second package of 30 new Liebherr LTM all terrains was ordered and Sarens has shipped over 29 used ATs.
The company is expecting a further 40 Liebherr and 22 Kobelco crawler cranes by June 2009.
As of July this year, Sarens Nass has 39 cranes in Bahrain, 72 in Qatar and 20 in Saudi Arabia. Out of the 131 total, 28 are crawlers up to 500t capacity and 103 are hydraulic telescopic mobiles up to 250t capacity.
With new cranes arriving all the time, however, by the end of this year the fleet will be at 184 units, says Sanderson, and by June 2009 the fleet will reach 245 units: 91 crawlers and 154 hydraulics, including a 600t Terex-Demag crawler and a 500t Liebherr all terrain.
“Because we do not see any slowdown on construction work until at least 2017 and considering the long deliveries from almost all manufactures, we have placed provisional orders for a further 68 units from Liebherr for deliveries through to end 2010. These include an LTM 11200-9.1 [1200t] and the new LR 1600 [600t],” says Sanderson.
“The demand for cranes in this area is unprecedented,” he says. “It is mainly driven by oil prices and the need for gas products, power and water. Bahrain and Qatar were late developers compared to the UAE and are now rushing to catch up with infrastructure projects, such as hotels, resorts, roads, bridges and airports.” A causeway connecting the islands of Qatar and Bahrain is also about to go out to tender, he adds.
Sanderson continues: “Saudi Arabia after the construction boom in the eighties tended to stagnate with heavy debt problems, but with the rise in oil prices they are also starting a 15-20 year period of tremendous growth, with more than 100 petrochemical projects to be built, including refineries, mining and railroads running into trillions of dollars, so there is a need for hundreds of cranes.”
Having the power of Sarens behind the company has clearly helped it when it comes to procurement. Sanderson says: “While Sami Nass personally negotiated excellent crane purchase deals locally, mainly with Liebherr Frontline, Sarens, being such a large company, has very strong buying power and they regularly source parts and equipment for SNME and provide engineering services as and when required.
“An example is when we saw a good market for modular trailers, we asked Benny and Marc Sarens to help us with the selection and purchase of the correct specification for modulars and prime movers to meet our needs.”
Outside of this joint venture, Sarens still acts independently in the region as well, primarily in heavy lift projects. Sarens Nass will support Sarens in this area. Sanderson says: “Using our local knowledge we assist with importation, invoicing and provide support equipment to Sarens’ heavy cranes on these heavy lift projects.”
In the current market, getting enough cranes is only one of the problems that fleet owners face. Finding appropriately-qualified people can be as difficult. Sami Nass and Bill Sanderson have established a strong senior management team to lead the company’s planned continued growth and clearly pride themselves on their human resources management.
Dutchman Rini Hartman, who manages the operations in Qatar, has worked all over the Middle East for more than 20 years. Sanderson says of him: “In addition to his crane knowledge, he is a plant shutdown specialist and our long term planning is that, when construction activity starts to slow, we will move hard into supply of cranage for plant shutdowns. In six to eight years there will be so many plants built, there will be maintenance shutdowns almost weekly.”
Sarens Nass has also recently recruited South African David John Du Bruyn as service and plant manager. He has 20 years’ experience with heavy equipment, many of them spent running a large equipment fleet in Saudi Arabia. Another recent recruit is Paul Calline as senior crane supervisor and safety officer. He too has strong experience of working with cranes in the region.
Sanderson says: “After many years in the crane business in this area, we knew when we started Sarens Nass that success would depend on the skills and dedication of the manpower we hired. We started by offering salaries higher than the norm, and we ensure salaries are paid exactly on time or even early before Eid or Christmas holidays. We provide good quality accommodation; we listen to our men and assist if they have problems. Where we have men who give 100% plus effort we reward them financially.
“Admittedly it is currently proving more difficult to find good men. We actively recruit in the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In some cases these men do require training on the latest models of cranes. For this we use our crane suppliers, TÜV and Bureau Veritas, plus our own in-house training procedures. The new appointment of our senior supervisor and safety officer is directly related to increasing our
in-house training programmes and safety procedures.”
In 2005 the owners of the Nass Corporation sold 24% of the company to strategic investors and listed 25% on the Bahrain stock exchange through an initial public offering, retaining a majority 51% stake.
Sanderson says that the owners of Sarens Nass Middle East are now exploring the possibility of doing something similar: offering up to 40% of their holding in the company to long-term strategic investors to help fund the company’s expansion into further new markets and to increase their share of existing markets. With the way the crane market is playing in the Gulf, and the plans Sarens Nass has in place, there should be no lack of interest.
Just a bit of work
Much of the crane work that Sarens Nass undertakes in Bahrain is taxi rental. However, the company has also been involved in a variety of major projects in the past five years.
One of the most interesting is the Durrat Al Bahrain Township & Resort, a $2bn luxury resort off the south coast of Bahrain consisting of 13 man-made islands where thousands of villas, schools, a hospital, and a shopping mall will be constructed. Sarens Nass won the contract to lift and place 395 bridge elements, each weighing 195t, to build nine bridges that link the islands and connect them to the mainland. It was an 11-month project for Sarens Nass and equipment deployed for it included Terex Demag CC 2600 and CC 1800 crawler cranes, 12 axles of modular Nicolas trailers, three 80t Hitachi crawlers and three mobile telescopics. The CC 1800 worked in the casting yard, lifting elements to storage and loading onto the modular trailers. The CC 2600 lifted from the trailer and placed all the bridge elements.
Other projects on which Sarens Nass has worked in Bahrain include:
– Hidd Power Plant extension: 12-month project with a 300t crawler and several mobile telescopic cranes
– Grandstands for the Formula One motor racing track: eight-month project with a 100t crawler and eight mobiles
– Alba Bahrain Aluminum Pot Line 5: 18-month project with 26 crawler and mobile telescopic cranes up to 300t capacity
– World Trade Centre, Sheraton Towers: 13-month project with eight mobile telescopic cranes up to 160t capacity
– Al Areen Resort and Spa 7 units: 10-month project erecting precast concrete with crawler and mobile telescopic cranes
– Dolphin Gas project: 18-months work in a specialised pipe yard and loading barges, with eight crawler and mobile telescopic cranes
– BAPCO Oil Refinery, Low Sulfur Project: 14-month project with a 100t crawler and 12 mobile telescopic cranes
Sarens Nass also has a subsidiary in nearby Qatar, called QAIG Heavy Lift. Most of the crane fleet here is engaged in long term work on gas-related projects in Ras Laffan, such as cement and steel plants.
QAIG Heavy Lift also took part in the race to complete the Al Khalifa Stadium in the Qatari capital of Doha in time for the Asian Games last November, working 24 hours a day with more than 10 cranes from 30t to 250t capacity. The company was instrumental in building the steel frame and 165m-long television screen for the games.
Bill Sanderson, general manager of Sarens Nass Bill Sanderson Sami Nass, founder of Sarens Nass Sami Nass A Demag CC 2200 erects the main structure at Hidd Power Station in Bahrain A Demag CC 2200 erects the main structure at Hidd Power Station in Bahrain Sarens Nass used a Sumitomo SC 1000 crawler crane at the Bahrain International Circuit Formula 1 Race Track to erect modular tower columns for the main grand stand Sumitomo at the races A Sumitomo SC 1000 on the Alba Port Line 5 Expansion project A Sumitomo SC 1000 on the Alba Port Line 5 Expansion project A Demag CC 1100 working on a power station in Bahrain A Demag CC 1100 working on a power station in Bahrain A Demag CC 1800 loads bridge elements onto a trailer on the Durrat Al Bahrain Township & Resort project A Demag CC 1800 loads bridge elements onto a trailer on the Durrat Al Bahrain Township & Resort proj On the Durrat Al Bahrain Township & Resort development a Demag CC 2600 lifts and places bridge elements weighing 195t Durrat bridge lifts
