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SECOw w w . s e c o a f r i c a . c o m

A lpha Group’s core services fall into two areas — food, and logistics and engineering. On the engineering

side is SECO, which was established in 1957 and provides a range of marine, civil, and offshore engineering services in addition to shipbuilding services in projects across East Africa.

“SECO was the first company created in the group, and actually used to do everything before the group started growing

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Alpha Group has been operating in Kenya for almost three generations. The flagship company

of its marine division is Southern Engineering Company Ltd (SECO), a firm that specialises in supplying construction services to the energy sector. Here, General Manager Omri Cohen talks about

the company’s growth and its current work on a 310MW wind farm in

Lake Turkana.

and different segments and other sister companies started coming up. In the early days, SECO was actually handling the fishing operations. This is actually how we started as a shipyard — we had to take care of our own vessels,” Cohen tells us.

Moving onAs the other companies in the group began to grow and develop, SECO slowly began to focus on the specific areas of marine engineering, camps and civil and mechanical engineering in which they still excel today.

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Energy

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“Firstly there’s marine engineering, which includes piling, dredging, and offshore engineering activities,” he explains. “We are the only company to run a fully operational shipyard in east Africa.”

Located strategically at the entrance to the port of Mombasa, SECO’s shipyard includes dry-docks, slipways, and facilities for constructing and repairing vessels as well as ocean going and projects to vessels for rivers and lakes.

“The other area that we are now very much focused on is the camps’ division, which is the division responsible for assembling and managing the camps on-site. Then, the last area

is all the civil and mechanical and EPC contracts we are targeting, mainly when it comes to renewable energy and green energy projects.”

Kenya’s vision of producing an additional 5000MW of energy by 2017 is spurring new projects across the country, many of which are renewables. One project of particular interest is

Our turnover only increased for the last year because we were smart enough not to put all our eggs in one basket

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Energy

the 310MW wind farm project in the area of Lake Turkana. Once complete, the project will boost the country’s installed capacity by around 20%.

‘’SECO was the fi rst contractor on site and we are very proud of it! Altogether, it’s the biggest project of its kind to ever take place in Kenya,” says Cohen.

Yet it is not just the scale of the development that has posed a challenge. The location itself — the eastern shore of Lake Turkana, the world’s largest desert lake — is a remote and harsh environment, populated by indigenous tribes that have in some instances had little contact with the rest of the country.

“Many have never been exposed to construction jobs on-site, so there is a lot of community coordination that’s required,” says Cohen. “Being the fi rst ones on site, we were exposed to a lot of diff iculties to begin with because we had to understand what they wanted, and we presented the whole project, as there was no-one else there initially. It was challenging, but we made it especially because of the great team we have up there.”

At the frontierAlong with renewable energy, SECO also has considerable experience in East Africa’s oil and gas sector, an area that has boomed in recent years following high-profi le discoveries in countries such as Mozambique and Tanzania.

The 310MW wind farmwill boost the country’s

installed capacity by around

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Until recently, this resource boom had skirted Kenya, with the country struggling with hydrocarbon exploration as numerous wells came up dry, despite high hopes from international operators.

However, in 2012 Tullow Oil and Africa Oil Corp — heavyweight names in the continent’s exploration industry — struck oil in Lake Turkana, declaring their finds to be commercially viable.

As the project has progressed to first production, a moment that could transform Kenya’s economy, SECO has been very much involved.

“We provide them with inspection services, steel work and specialized welding activities, all steel works, as well as fabrication of container units,” says Cohen. “And we’ve been doing this, including lifting and carriage activities, for the last four years.”

Currently, the development is under some pressure as oil prices remain depressed, a situation that has led to numerous projects across Africa being suspended or cancelled.

Given the cyclical nature of the market, and the fact that first oil is not forecast from Lake Turkana until 2018, well after prices are forecast to recover, its long-term future is not in doubt. Yet funding is still tight for SECO’s partners, meaning that its diversified portfolio has proved especially useful.

“Our turnover only increased for the last year because we were smart enough not to put all our eggs in one basket,” says Cohen.

At the same time, he remains upbeat about Kenya’s broader outlook.

“All these energy and power projects in the country are attracting massive investments, and it’s going to be affecting the country, hopefully in a positive way. Even now you can see that Kenya has developed and it’s growing rapidly.”

This is actually how we started as a shipyard — we had to take care of our own vessels

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Energy

HAJI GENERAL ELECTRIC SERVICE formerly known as HAJI AUTO ELECTRIC AND MARINE SERVICE was established in 1974. Haji General Electric Service has built an enviable reputation over the years for quality Motor Rewinding and Marine Electrical Repairs.

P.O Box no. 16701-80100 Mombasa, Kenya

Phone: +254 73 573 0786 +254 71 588 8431Email: info@hajiges.co.ke

www.hajiges.com

A/C and D/C Motor RewindingInstallation and maintenance of generators and electrical pumps

Repair of starters, alternators, motors, submersible pumps, welding machines

Marine Electrical RepairsElectrical power generation, protection and distribution maintenance and repair

Generator/Alternator control system service and inspectionsPower factor connections and suppliers

Emergency response repairs (e.g. fire damage repairs)Mechanical services

Quality Motor Rewinding and Marine Electrical Repairs

info@piledrivershop.com | www.piledrivershop.com info@vanthek.com | www.vanthek.com

Visiting address:Nekkerweg 63, 1461 LD Beemster The NetherlandsTel: 0031 (0) 299 31 30 57

Used and new piling & drilling equipment Worldwide deliveryPile driving cranes • Drilling equipment • Crawler cranes • Engineering and fabrication of crawler crane leaders

Diesel hammers • Hydraulic hammers • Vibratory hammers • Pile driving technology

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Southern Engineering Co. Ltd

P.O.Box 8416280100 MombasaKenya

Pilot GSM: +254 733 203 156 / 722 203 156

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©Essential Business Magazine 2015