The transport group will set up offices in Iraq and Saudi Arabia
Blue Water Shipping’s Energy and Projects Division has experienced positive and sustainable growth in recent years, both in terms of activity level and expansion of locations. To further strengthen its global position, Blue Water Shipping is opening two additional offices in the Middle East: Iraq and Saudi Arabia. This is to underline and strengthen the objective of servicing customers across the business with a regional and local presence.
“We want to expand our global presence to serve current and future customers in the best possible way. Our customers in the energy sector operate internationally, and it is, therefore, a strategic objective that we continuously develop our organization to meet the demand and expectations of the market,” says Thomas Bek, Global Director of Energy &Projects at Blue Water.
Traditionally, the energy sector in the Middle East has focused on oil and gas production, which will continue to be a dominant activity in the future. However, there will also be a substantial investment and focus on renewable energy, an area where Blue Water has been heavily involved in delivering transport and logistics solutions since the 1990s.
“We see significant synergies between the oil & gas sector and the renewables sector, as some of the companies that traditionally operate in oil & gas show an interest in diversification within renewable energy. We have, during recent years, also consolidated our subject matter expertise within the two sectors into one division – Energy & Projects. In this way, we support our customers’ needs more effectively by drawing on our overall experience and competencies within Blue Water”, says Thomas Bek.
Blue Water has been active in the Middle East since the mid-80s and has several offices in the area today. The offices cover a wide field within the different business areas. Still, the focus is on the energy sector and project transports, where the company has built up extensive experience with complete project management tasks. These activities are today managed in Dubai.
“With the new locations, we are in a significantly better position to provide local service in the region based on our international experience in offshore and onshore wind, solar energy, and green hydrogen. We have seen a significant increase in demand for logistics services executed by those providers who can showcase experience in creating and implementing unique solutions that fit in with local conditions,” says Peter Ehrhorn, Regional Director Middle East and CIS. He expects further expansion in the Middle East for Blue Water in 2022.