Zamil Steel’s Towers & Galvanising (T&G) Division made fresh inroads into the international market in 2009 with an order to supply 13,500 tonnes of material to a New Zealand party and a contract for a telecom tower job in Italy.

T&G cited these deals among the successes of 2009 with other achievements being a contract awarded by Hyundai Engineering for the supply of 400 kV transmission line towers for the end user Transco of Abu Dhabi as well as the supply of complete substations for a 400 kV GCC interconnection in a deal with ABB.

Elaborating on the New Zealand contract it said it entailed supplying and testing 400 kV transmission line towers against stiff competition from Indian and Chinese companies. The end user was Transpower.

Meanwhile, a significant development is the impending opening of a new galvanisation plant with a designed capacity of 54,000 tonnes annually.

The plant is coming up in Damam’s Second Industrial Area and commercial operations are expected to commence by April of this year.

“We incurred extra costs to make it environmentally friendly in anticipation of stricter environmental laws and to fulfill our obligations to society,” said a company spokesman.

Focus on exports

The spokesman also said revenues in 2009 surged 14 per cent in 2009 compared with the previous year due to a 5 per cent increase in shipments. Export sales rose 9 times with export jobs being 69.8 per cent of  total booked sales compared with 7.9 per cent in 2008.

“We focused on the export market because local jobs and tenders were delayed or cancelled,” the spokesman explained. The company appointed three agents through agency agreements for remote overseas markets with growth potential. Production dipped 19 per cent as customers delayed fabrication clearance anticipating negotiations for price reductions.

Highlights

Among the highlights of 2009 was gaining reapprovals from Saudi Aramco and STC and receiving approved vendor status from European, American, Canadian and GCC authorities, customers and contractors.

T&G received quality certification from Lapem of Mexico. It won re-certification to ISO 9001:2008. It was approved in due diligence audits made by a contractor each from New Zealand and the UK on its capabilities
According to the spokesman, the cost of customer claims plunged 70 per cent compared with the previous year while the cost of quality was reduced by 20 per cent.

The Towers & Galvanising Division started operations in 1985 when Zamil Steel entered into a technical collaboration with ABB SAE Rebosio Srl of Italy for the transfer of technology in a field in which the Italian party was among world-renowned pioneers of galvanised steel tower designing and manufacturing.

T&G provides design, fabrication, galvanising and testing of the following products: power transmission line towers, radio and telecommunication towers, radar towers, rooftop towers, wall-mounted towers, substation structures, railway electrification structures and any other type of lattice steel structures.

Major portions of the towers manufactured are exported to various parts of the world in addition to meeting the increased demand for local transmission and telecommunications projects.