Gulf Construction Online

Saudi Review

Al Zamil ... steady growth.

One-stop shop

01 May 2014

ZAMIL Steel Holding Company has evolved over the years into a one-stop shop for the industrial and energy sectors, supplying not just the buildings to house the facilities but also the structural steel fabrications and process equipment required by some of the massive ventures taking shape in Saudi Arabia.

The Dammam-headquartered company is involved in some of the most prestigious industrial, oil and gas, and petrochemical complexes being built in the country, including PetroRabigh, Jazan Refinery and Terminal, Wasit Gas and Shaybah developments.

A sector business of Zamil Industrial Investment Company (Zamil Industrial), the company has grown into a highly recognised global leader of total steel buildings and steel structures solutions in five continents.

Over the past 37 years, the company has grown to be a force to reckon with as a highly diversified provider of steel buildings and steel structures as well as other steel components, and in the process has gained international recognition as a premier provider of such product lines. It has an overall manufacturing capability of more than 530,000 tonnes per year (tpy) from its facilities in Saudi Arabia (one), the UAE (one), Vietnam (two), India (one) and Egypt (two) for pre-engineered steel buildings (PEBs) alone.

Zamil Steel’s activities are grouped under four categories – PEBs, structural steel, towers and galvanising, and process equipment. Of these, PEBs account for the major share of the company’s business.

The Dammam facility has seen its capacity of PEBs increase to 130,000 tpy from 114,000 tpy in 2012. The facility also manufactures around 150,000 tpy of transmission towers, structural steel and related products.

Given the construction boom in the kingdom and the demand for increasingly complex structures, Zamil Steel believes there is good potential to expand its product range, which is “currently being addressed”, and design and supply of more complex structures is on its agenda, according to Nawaf Al Zamil, vice-president, Zamil Steel Holding Company.

Following its “relatively healthy” performance during 2013, Zamil Steel has seen a steady growth in sales revenue this year with the company having been able to maintain market leadership.

“Currently, we are focusing on strengthening and upgrading the systems and mechanisms at our existing plants worldwide in order to keep pace with the steady growth in the construction industry,” says Al Zamil.

Its impressive performance on projects last year has earned it repeat orders on some of the largest developments, including the Sadara Chemical petrochemical complex, a joint venture of Saudi Aramco and Dow Chemical, in Jubail.

For the Sadara complex, its structural steel unit – Zamil Structural Steel Company (ZSSC) – is currently supplying 13,000 tonnes of structural steel for the polyethylene and specialty elastomer facilities.

“We have signed an agreement with Larsen and Toubro (L&T), one of the leading engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors from India, to supply various categories of steel products, including pipe racks, equipment structures, miscellaneous platforms, and other products for trains One, Two and Four,” Al Zamil indicates.

The PEB division had last year provided chemical workshops for Fluor Arabia, comprising a 3,500-tonne structure for Sadara.

Saudi Aramco’s Jazan Refinery and Terminal is yet another major project that Zamil Steel is currently executing. This contract involves the supply of 7,000 tonnes of structural steel, and was signed with one of the leading Japanese EPC contractors, JGC Corporation, to supply different categories of steel products for Package Two of the project. The supply consists of pipe racks, equipment structures, miscellaneous platforms, and shelter structures, among other products for the project in Jazan.

Zamil Steel’s process equipment division is also involved in this project supplying 57 pieces of equipment weighing a total of 1,750 tonnes.

The company is also providing 23,500 tonnes of structural steel to the second phase of the expansion of PetroRabigh, a petrochemical complex being developed by a Saudi Aramco/Sumitomo joint venture.

“ZSSC signed an agreement with one of the primary Korean EPC contractors – GS Engineering and Construction – to supply different categories of steel products for two packages, namely utilities and offsite (UO-1) and CP3&4, which call for the supply of pipe racks, equipment structures, support structures, and platform structures, among others,” Al Zamil says.

In addition, Zamil Steel is supplying process equipment for the PetroRabigh Two expansion project, which entails the delivery of 275 pieces of equipment, involving a total tonnage of 3,000 tonnes, he says.

Incidentally, Zamil Steel’s PEB division was also involved in the project last year, having completed a warehouse under a subcontract from Saudi Arabian Baytur Construction (1,500 tonnes); and a chemical warehouse for GS Engineering and Contracting (3,200 tonnes).

The PEB division currently has a healthy order book which involves delivery of a number of factory buildings in the kingdom. These include a contract to supply a PEB comprising around 2,600 tonnes of steel for Al Qahtani Pipe Coating’s factory; a production facility in Dammam for Rowad Global Packing (1,850 tonnes); and a factory building for Arabian Bemco Contracting in Rabigh (1,200 tonnes). It is also engaged in supplying a PEB structure for a power plant in Ras Az Zawr under a subcontract from Al Arab Construction (1,400 tonnes). Last year, the PEB division was involved in supplying classroom buildings at King Abdulaziz University for Rabya Trading Construction (2,500 tonnes).

Meanwhile, the process equipment division of Zamil Steel handled a number of large-scale orders for two key Saudi Aramco projects, namely the Shaybah and Wasit Gas developments. “For the Shaybah project, we have completed one of the largest cladded amine contactors built in Saudi Arabia,” says Al Zamil. “The 42-m-long amine contactor, which has a diameter of 6.8 m and a thickness of 160 mm, weighs 1,048 tonnes.”

“Also for this project, Zamil Steel has completed one of the largest stainless steel demethaniser columns built in the country with a diameter of 6.5 m, length of 62 m and a thickness of 125 mm. It weighs 700 tonnes,” he adds.

For the Wasit Gas project, Zamil Steel has executed one of the largest inlet separators in Saudi Arabia. The four separators fabricated by the company have a diameter of 6 m, length of 23 m and a thickness of 149 mm and weigh 700 tonnes.

Turning to Zamil Steel’s towers and galvanising division, Al Zamil says the company has been involved in the kingdom’s telecommunication and power supply sectors, supplying transmission towers to Saudi Electric Company (SEC); and telecommunication and camouflaged towers to Mobily, STC. In addition, it is also exporting transmission towers to the Philippines and Indonesia.

Last year, the division supplied transmission towers to SEC (around 30,000 tonnes of steel) and to Yemen (3,250 tonnes). It has also supplied and installed 30 telecommunication rapid deployment units for Mobily.

Zamil Steel’s success in the market can be attributed to its focus on meeting the needs of the market as well as its proactive role in promoting itself in the Saudi and regional markets and its close support to the construction sector from the early stages of a project.

Al Zamil elaborates: “We provide consultants and customers with strong support, information and details before the bidding stage and try to implement company standards and specs in the bidding documents, with full detailed drawings, technical submittals and information.

“Also, throughout the project cycle from the day we start the bidding process and during the bidding stage, we conduct meetings with consultant/customers and undertake value engineering on projects to save them cost and time.

This apart, even after the project is awarded, Zamil Steel accords due importance to after-sales support. “After-sales service is the most important tool,” Al Zamil emphasises. “We serve our customers 24/7, even on weekends and holidays. In addition, after the shipment of the project, we give top priority to responding to customer feedback during the overall execution of the project. We also take maximum care to minimise mistakes or respond to queries received from site.”

Another key strategy to boost its business is ensuring market awareness of its products and services. Al Zamil comments: “We participate in various construction exhibitions and seminars; advertise in construction publications; maintain an active presence on social media; and conduct regular meetings with consultants and contractors.”

“We have increased market awareness and boosted our image in the past two years by securing the most prestigious projects and placing our signboards on them, to enhance our visibility on the streets or in the new industrial zones – thus convincing clients that no one can execute their projects better than Zamil Steel,” he concludes.

Zamil Steel’s global sales and services network comprises 54 offices worldwide, and is supplemented by a vast network of certified builders that provide professional support to its clients. The company has supplied more than 65,000 buildings to over 90 countries.