Southern Engineering Company Limited

Southern Engineering Company Limited and Alpha Logistics Services (EPZ) Ltd, part of the Alpha Group of Companies’ brand, is benefiting from international interest in East Africa. But it is no newcomer: it has been building ships and delivering marine engineering and logistics solutions at Mombasa for decades.

East Africa arguably contains the ‘tiger’ economies of Africa. Kenya has traditionally been in the regional driving seat with a developed economy based on agricultural exports; but recent oil and gas discoveries in Uganda, Tanzania and Sudan are starting to attract investment from every part of the world, while Tanzania’s mineral resources are finally being exploited efficiently.

However to realise this potential, these countries are having to upgrade their infrastructure, which returns the focus to Kenya, which has the advantage of well established roads, railways, power networks and ports. Mombasa has been a key harbour on the East African coast for centuries. It competes with the Port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania for traffic, and both ports are investing to overcome depth restrictions and delays. Work to deepen the berths at Mombasa has finally started; once the dredging work has been completed, Mombasa port will become a strategic harbour, the main route in and out of East Africa.

The port is being extended to include a new container quay and the navigable depth is being increased substantially by dredging the access channel. As a result of the work, larger vessels will be able to enter the port in the future, which will lead to an increase in container traffic. Southern Engineering Company Ltd (SECO) and Alpha Logistics Services (EPZ) Ltd (ALSL) play a role in the marine support activities to the port and its contractors.

Occupying a strategic location in the Port of Mombasa, SECO is a well established player in marine engineering and support services across the region. As the only sizeable shipbuilding company in East Africa is it also very important to the governments of Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. “Shipbuilding is SECO’s core activity,” says company spokesman Shivan Agravat. “However we do an enormous amount of maintenance work as well.” With a 160 metre long private berth and an engineering/ship yard covering approximately 40,400 square metres with 4,000 square metres of covered workshop space, it has serious capacity at the port to service its clients’ vessels. Two floating dry docks provide these clients with a convenient and cost effective resource—they have a combined lifting capacity of 1,200 tonnes for vessels up to 60 metres in length.

Ferries, cargo carriers, bunkers, tugs, passenger boats and landing pontoons have become something of a speciality for the shipyard. “There’s a continuing demand for small passenger and car ferries on the rivers and lakes, and we have done a number of them for the Ugandan government,” says Agravat. “We build them here in Mombasa and transport them in modules, by road to rivers, lakes or wherever they are to be deployed, assembling them on site.”

Following the sinking of the ancient Greek-built ferry Spice Islander off Pemba earlier this year, safety in both design and construction has taken on a new importance for this ISO 9001:2008 certified company. However its bread and butter work is in tugs, lighters, barges and other medium sized sea-doing vessels. “We are accredited to build military vessels as well as civil ones, and despite the downturn of recent years, demand for these medium sized craft from 100 to 150 metres has increased.” To accommodate this demand, SECO is building a brand new $2 million fabrication workshop in Mombasa Port. Larger than the original facility, construction of the new workshop was commenced in January and will be completed before the end of 2011.

SECO has a specialised team of ship builders. The ship building team handles all construction work with full compliance to health, safety and environmental regulations and it has good knowledge of the requirements for ocean-going vessels, says Agravat. “The shipyard has its own range of workshops including modern fabrication, machine, carpentry and electrical workshops.” Since it is part of the Alpha Group, SECO can also call on the services of other companies in the group involved in marine logistics, supply base services, offshore engineering, container terminal services, cold chain management, shipping and road logistics.

Ugandan Railway Corporation is also on the list of SECO’s contracts. Rehabilitation of the floating dock and marine wagon vessels is also being carried out in Port Bell. Completion of this work will provide landlocked Uganda with a faster logistics passage and the ease of using track and marine. 

The Alpha Group has a 50-year history and its spread of operational expertise means that SECO with ALSL—the key companies in its marine and logistics division—can position itself as a one-stop-shop for clients in the region. As well as government and private clients, SECO and ALSL and the Alpha Group of Companies support the United Nations in many of its operations in East Africa, from Southern Sudan to Somalia. “The UN is an important customer,” he says. “All their operations require backup from a competent logistics partner, since most of the material they can’t bring in by air has to come through Mombasa.” The group is carrying out the bulk of the UN’s marine logistics requirements, its fabrication and construction work, and transporting its goods to destinations like Mogadishu.

ALSL, which has offices in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Somalia, DRC and Mozambique, as well as overseas support offices, offers various services including marine logistics, vessel charters, salvage, towage, civil engineering works, specialised supply base services and the provision of specialised container utility units right across East Africa. This has given the company a foothold in one of the largest infrastructure projects in Tanzania, where Canada’s Orca Exploration is investing $130 million (through PanAfrican Energy) to double natural gas output from the Songo Songo field following a surge in demand in East Africa’s second largest economy. Songo Songo is an offshore island located around 30 miles to the south of Dar es Salaam. As the oil and gas industry moves into East African waters, ALSL’s experience of offshore engineering work such as wellhead engineering, jetty construction and the fabrication and installation of specialised equipment on rigs and supply vessels will be in even greater demand, he believes.

ALSL plays a major part in marine support activities in the East Africa region. Mobilisation and planning is currently going on for the renewal of the single point mooring system for the Tanzania Ports Authority, which includes installing a new pipeline, trenching and dredging. Power cable laying between Zanzibar and mainland Dar es Salaam is also being carried out by ALSL in Tanzania. http://www.alphaafrica.com