CEO INSIGHTS ZAL RUSTOM

This is a series of interviews with the CEOs of some of our industry companies, not to gather their own secrets but to gain insights into what they have learned during their career that may be useful to others, learn how technology is affecting their business and also to hear their thoughts on how their business is adapting as we move toward net zero.

I caught up with Zal Rustom, CEO of Ambipar Response, for an interview scheduled for 40 minutes but lasted well over an hour. It was probably a good thing that we were online as we share a love of wine and had it been over dinner the Rioja bottles would have come and possibly gone resulting in sore heads in the morning! Zal is easy to talk to, approachable and happy to dig into his long career in the industry

He joined it in the late 1980s, representing a small Texas based company that had developed a novel microbial product that helped to clean up the oil impacted areas around wells for a company called Javelin. It was directly aimed at upstream companies keen to improve their environmental management. It took him to many spill incidents exploring how the products could enhance bio-remediation. Indeed, the Texas General Land Office was very proactive to encourage innovation. One of Zal’s first major spills was viewed from a Bass fishing boat in the Gulf of Mexico during the Megaborg spill spreading microbial product with a leaf blower into contaminated wetlands! Whilst the company eventually folded it taught Zal how the upstream business worked and grounded him in the US ‘Big Oil’ culture.

The first Gulf War in early 1991 changed the US market and so he returned to the UK armed with sufficient knowledge to work as a consultant marketing innovative products to the UK oil industry and attending many incidents. Here he met, and to a degree was mentored by, Dave Salt and Dave

Brocklehurst who were working for the BP Oil Spill Service Centre (OSSC) in Southampton. Here they were developing a spill response capability for the oil majors. Zal spent 1991 – 1995 contracting with his own and to the OSSC’s clients. It was a productive learning period with valuable contact to big oil. This gave him an understanding and thorough knowledge of the international oil industry and its progressive culture. It also enabled him to graduate from Coventry University in Emergency Planning.

In February 1996, MV Sea Empress grounded on mid-channel rocks at St Ann’s Head, Milford Haven and over a week lost 72,000 tons of crude oil into the sea causing significant impact on the shoreline. Zal attended to support the response as all resources was being called upon to assist. He arrived at the Incident Management Centre to be met by Chris Morris, who was responsible for Texaco. Zal knew him well and asked about his two daughters who were keen rowers. Chris’ reaction was; ‘ You haven’t come all this way to ask how my family are….!”

Zal ended up responsible for a large area of shoreline clean up. A large spill gave the opportunity to evolve solutions and experiment with different techniques; Berm relocation was tried and seemed to work. Oil is easier to recover from the water, so why not use an 360 excavator to lift shingle into the sea to let natural surf action remove the oil which can more easily be recovered. It worked and the ‘washed’ pebbles were then driven back upshore by surf and tidal action. Whilst at Milford Haven, Zal met and worked with Simon Rickaby of DV Howells and an association that lasted several decades formed. This incident and its scale left a strong impression on Zal and he learned that spill response has to work in conjunction with the existing environment and not against it.

With experience of major spills under his belt, his response business (Hi-Bar) was becoming well known and took him to the Far East supporting the Japanese Navy following the Nakhodka spill incident.

Whilst at Milford Haven he and Simon Rickaby started to develop clear ideas on training and would often spend many lengthy dinner meetings mapping out the syllabi for training courses and engaging with the ‘new’ IMO model courses. When he returned to UK from Japan he picked this up and started running these through his own company, sub contracted to DV Howells. It started to become obvious that training and consultancy had a good future for this relationship.

Offshore support for Shell STASCo (1999)

As a contractor you get to pick up the tasks employees do not want to do. So as Big Ben started to chime at 2359 31 Dec 1999, Zal had four different oil companies looking to him to solve problems should they arise from the ‘millennium bug’. This allowed his skills to expand from oil spills to crisis management.

In the Asian tsunami on 26 December 2004 he was called upon to assist oil companies in delivering aid to affected communities. One thing oil companies had in abundance was logistics, resource and importantly cash. This they mobilised to try to help affected communities and they looked to their response partners to turn this into effective action.

Graduation Coventry (2002)

With his experience Zal appreciated that in spill response we learn to manage change. A good response manager has a toolbox of resources and equipment and deploys these to effectively respond. This ability to project manage is applicable to any crisis situation.

In 2006 Braemar Shipping Services plc acquired DV Howells and formed Braemar Howells. Zal was approached to sell his company, Hi-Bar, to Braemar which gave Braemar Howells access to his network of international clients. Zal found himself running the International and Specialist Services Division of Braemar Howells.

It was good for a while and was enjoyable,varied but also disruptive. In Feb 2010, Zalfound himself working for a Braemar client,Talisman Oil, in Indonesia on a consultancyproject expected to last a few weeks.Following the Deepwater Horizon Spill inApril 2010, oil companies were lookingat their own risk management plans andtightening these up. Zal found himselfworking for Talisman Indonesia throughto 28 Dec 2011 on their first deep waterdrilling programme.

So having had plenty of time to think about the future, while seconded to Indonesia, he spent the flight home writing a 7-page resignation letter! When he got home he reduced this to 3 pages and handed it in, leaving Braemar in January 2012. Whilst it did not go down too well with his boss, the ill will soon passed and he found himself again contracting, as an independent consultant, all over the world. This period underwrote his air miles investment!

In February 2016 he was about to sign a9 month contract to work in Iraq but atthe same time he was being head huntedto return as MD of Braemar Response toreplace Simon who wished to retire. Aftermuch thought, he accepted and startedthe following Tuesday. Braemar Responsewas a global business, owned by BraemarShipping Services, a London StockExchange PLC.

After a year in the role it was becoming clear that the high risk work that Braemar Response was winning and delivering was out of step with the risk profile of a PLC with shareholders and a city profile to protect. The range of work was extensive; dealing with human and animal casualties on motorways and the rail network, attending chemical incidents, being involved in nuclear, biological and chemical response that may be as diverse as clearing drug dens for the police, attending and sterilising sites where people have committed drug overdoses so police can attend and so on. Braemar in 2006 had also been involved in the collection transportation and disposal of Alexander Litvinenko body parts which were poisoned with Polonium-210. They were also being called more frequently to respond to the ‘unusual’ by Defra and other government departments.

With Drilling Rig Security Team, Kudistan/ Iraq (2013)

So, in conjunction with and the agreement of the PLC Board CEO, Zal started to design a new business independent of the PLC. The PLC preferred an MBO with perhaps the PLC retaining an interest for the first two years and the package that was put together was very good. However, one of the companies Zäl contacted to support an MBO later expressed an interest in acquiring the company directly. The organisation was Ambipar Response, a Brazilian company who provide extensive response services in Brazil and South America. They were looking to expand beyond South America. Braemar seemed a good fit. They liked Zal’s business plan and with the blessing of the PLC Board acquired 100% of the shares in Braemar Response which renamed as Ambipar Response in 2018.

James Kidwell (CEO, Braemar Shipping Services) and me the moment we sold Braemar Response to Ambipar Group (2018)

Essential to Zal was maintaining the visionand ambition of Braemar Response andnot become an entry on an investorsspreadsheet. He was confident thatthe business would steadily grow andexpand as it had been doing prior to theacquisition. Not surprisingly getting twodifferent cultures and business stylesto align took effort and commitmentfrom both sides. But the shared visionof building a global response group wasinspiring to all.

The Group wanted to expand by sensibleacquisition with synergy to the rest ofthe business and has now completed fiveacquisitions; 4 in US and 1 in Canada. The

UK company opened a daughter company in the Republic of Ireland. It is actively looking at others in Europe to support their European clients and contracts.

In 2020 Ambipar floated part of their company on the Brazilian stock exchange. This gives the business the opportunity to expand further and earlier this year completed the acquisition in UK of Enviroclear Site Services.

Ambipar has global framework agreementswith oil majors, chemical majors, mineralmajors, logistic majors and shipping orcruise line majors. They require Ambiparto help them manage the risk involved inall aspects of their operation, not just spillresponse and be there when they needurgent assistance. They need consistentstandards of support delivered globallyand Ambipar, including its UK company, areable to do this. If multinationals cannot beserviced locally then they will look for localpartners to do so!

Looking to the future, Zal sees Ambipar expanding in Europe through acquisition and into Africa and the Middle East. People are more aware of what Ambipar can deliver and independent companies are increasingly attracted to work with it and join this international network. This acquisitive nature is part of the new DNA and has delivered the group wider capability, financial stability and the ability to take on and deliver contracts with multinationals who seek product delivery wherever they operate across the globe.

Training the Irish Coast Guard (2005)

In Europe, the UK company have delivered a Crisis and Emergency Management Plan for the Irish Coastguard, the MCA Counter Pollution Contract, undertaken crisis management work for IMO, IPIECA, and been involved in counter terrorism work with Defra and delivered many other framework agreements with clients.

As part of an international group, Zal is always being exposed to technology and some has been integrated into the business. He is a believer that technology can make response smarter and safer. However, it has to be reliable and available. It is no use planning to use drones and not having them available. Consequently, Ambipar buy in sophisticated services from trusted partners eg modelling, UAVs, satellite services which can be provided on call.

The company also had a large database of support serviices and has a knowledge base that enables past experience to be replicated eg who is a reliable contractor or who provided that particular service in a particular area.

He sees developments coming in how waste is managed with increasing emphasis on minimising waste, recycling and reuse. He also sees risk management being refined with greater use of workflow processes to eliminate exposure to risk wherever possible.

Despite his global travels and extensive air miles earned Zal is proud of the capability the UK has developed. He puts it down to entrepreneurship coupled with attitude of mind, the ability to think through solutions and solve problems in a dynamic and creative manner.

FINAL THOUGHTS

In his spare time, Zal is Chair of the trade association ArGo. ArGo brings together specialist manufacturers and service providers with an ability to play a credible role in humanitarian aid and disaster relief incidents. Its resources are comprehensive, allowing the group to command and control response efforts, provide life support (power, shelter, clean water etc.) and remedial activities. Each member brings their best products and services to the group. ArGo members are 42 UK based SMEs with a proven track record and a commitment to excellence.

It frustrates him that Government and major organisation do not recognise the capability networks like ArGo and UK and Ireland Spill Association have at their fingertips. He sees government departments and local authorities struggling to get pump and hoses and 20 Fastanks to mobilise to a forest fire, knowing that a couple of local responders could deliver this as part of a day’s work. In the same way he sees Government department’s outsourcing services to overseas companies that could have easily been delivered by UK SME – particularly in defence contracting - if the SMEs could operate collectively. Capability takes time to build and cost to maintain and Government could help in this.

CEO INSIGHTS