INTERVIEW
A MAMMOTH TASK
Mammoet’s CEO Paul van Gelder, COO Jan Kleijn and Group Commercial Officer Darren Adams discuss focussing on projects for the renewables sector, and its future collaboration with freight forwarding companies
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hat was the thought process behind Mammoet’s current
focus on renewable projects? Paul van Gelder: In 2018 we formulated
the strategy ‘Reshape to Win’. At that point in time, it was already a strategic imperative for us to diversify our portfolio into other sectors next to petrochemical - which will always be a substantial part of the work we do. We saw the developing renewable energy market as an interesting sector, and a market where we could do more. Over the last five years we have gained more experience working in the sector – learning some key lessons along the way. During 2020 16 JUNE 2021
we saw a significant acceleration in renewables projects in Western Europe, and also in the US with the change of government. If you take a step back and look at what is happening in the world, you can’t deny that there is a clear push to come out of the coronavirus crisis with a stronger focus on sustainability and renewable energy. Jan Kleijn: From an operational perspective, if you look to offshore wind, the turbines are getting bigger and bigger, so more and more clients will need the expertise of a company like Mammoet to deal with the increasing size of heavy components involved. Darren Adams: There’s also a clear overlap with offshore wind. These projects share many key features of the work we are used to doing in the oil and gas fabrication
During 2020 we saw a significant acceleration in renewables projects”
yards from an operational perspective and are taking place in similar locations – making us well placed to serve them. What challenges is the renewable energy market facing over the next few years? PvG: The foremost challenge is of capacity.
After the acceleration in demand for renewables projects experienced during 2020, there is a huge need for capacity in the market. So, the large OEMs will have to deliver to the market the required number of turbines - but the supporting industries should also be ready. This is an area where the market needs some further maturity. We’ve seen in the onshore wind market that the setup of contracts was not allowing efficient meconstructionnews.com
