MEA July 2017

86 MEA MARKETS / July 2017 , promoting environmentally friendly marine structures, products and materials for many years, in order to reduce the impact on the marine environment, protect our coastline and rehabilitate what has already been affected by development. For instance, we work with a lot of non-traditional construction materials, such as geosynthetics, which have a lower environmental footprint than the more traditional materials, such as rock, concrete and gabions. These structures have the dual benefit of providing coastal protection as well as a habitat for marine life through the growth of soft corals and seagrass, as they essentially turn into artificial reefs. Please give me a brief overview of your work in the Middle East currently. Ecocoast has been involved in a significant number of high profile marine projects over the past 10 years. In the UAE, these include coastal protection works at Bluewaters Island in Dubai, where we installed a temporary revetment (over 400 meters long) consisting of 1,800 units of sand-filled geosynthetic containers. This specific project was shortlisted for “Sustainable Initiative of the Year” in 2016. We carried out marine piling works at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, at Jumana Island, at Dubai Marina and more recently, at Port Rashid as part its development from a commercial port into a lifestyle destination. We also constructed berthing installations for over 20 new marinas and marine service stations throughout the UAE last year, mainly for ADNOC and Critical Infrastructure. Our environmental protection barriers are presently being used in key projects throughout the Middle East – Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan – and as far abroad as East Africa and the Indian subcontinent. Are there any specific challenges or outside influences affecting your work? We are seeing increased competition in the market from general contractors with little experience in marine construction works, leading to a reduction in margins. They have started a race to the bottom at the expense of quality, leaving no room for contingencies, which is a risky situation for those not experienced in marine construction and not healthy for the industry. We have also observed a slowdown in spending, delays in project awards and slow contract payments. Under these conditions, cash flow and liquidity can be a major challenge for many businesses. We are cautiously optimistic for the second half of 2017 and 2018, and are already seeing improvement in some of our business lines. With regards to your industry, what developments do you foresee and how will you adapt around these? Sustainability, coastal protection and coastal development. Construction is one of the key contributors to the GCC economy, but its contribution to the environment is not as positive. The GCC, particularly the UAE, KSA and Qatar, is slowly implementing more regulations on sustainability to incorporate international standards in local engineering and construction processes. For contractors, this means more focus on environmentally- friendly construction methods and materials, and marine protection. Over the past 3-4 years, we have seen a trend towards environmentally-friendly construction practices as well as high quality, engineered designs and materials that will last and do the job properly, although the market is still quite price-sensitive. Coastal protection is becoming increasingly critical in the GCC with the increase in coastal developments taking place. The coastline is dynamic and constantly changing. Reclamation works do not just require coastal protection for the new coastlines that are created, but these new coastlines affect adjacent existing coastlines. This increases the need for coastal protection strategies two-fold. Coastal protection is a ‘trend’ that is here to stay. 85% of the UAE’s population lives on the coast, and Dubai is one of the top-10 global destinations for tourism. The coastline is an important asset for the economy, and therefore the UAE will continue to develop, enhance and maintain its beach and marine facilities. The focus moving forward will not just be on leveraging these coastal assets, but balancing it with marine and coastal protection to ensure long- term sustainability of these assets. Continued increase in coastal development. The Dubai coastline is now over 1,900 kilometres longer than it was, mainly because of the construction of the Palm Islands and The World, and has grown over 7% in the past 5 years. This is not just happening in Dubai; it is a global phenomenon. Worldwide, coastlines have been extended 33,000 kilometres through ambitious new development and reclamation efforts. Demand will continue, both in the Gulf and other parts of the world, and with this more ambitious coastal development comes the need for innovative new solutions to support and protect these new coastlines. Working within your industry, what techniques do you employ to stay ahead of emerging developments? As with most companies, we do closely follow industry publications, trade shows and events that keep us up-to-date with standards and trends. However, our experience with manufacturing has also taught us to expand our view beyond our industry and consider alternative materials and even business models and strategies that have not been employed in the marine construction industry before. The only way you can really stay ahead is to stray from the path sometimes and see where it leads you. What does the future hold for your firm? Do you have any future plans or projects you would like to share with us? Last month, we were awarded the marine works package on Yas South Development, which involves the construction of ferry jetties and other associated works. The project will kick off over the summer. In addition, we have also been contracted for refurbishment of marine piles at Al Hamra Marina, which will be the largest installation of our proprietary UHMW-PE pile sleeves in the region. Internationally, we are in the final stages of discussions with key partners for our first international offices outside the region. More news should be announced on this before the end of this year.