Marco CORREIA
Board Member
DUYS MOÇAMBIQUE

Spanning Mozambique's steelwork spectrum

Mozambique

Marco Correia, board member of Duys Moçambique, talks to The Energy Year about the importance of strong governance for business success and potential opportunities for the company in the power sector. Duys Moçambique is a mechanical and industrial engineering firm.

What are Duys Moçambique’s core business areas and what sectors is the company looking to for growth?
Our primary focus areas are aluminium smelters, heavy sands and coal operations. We also have a presence in infrastructure and logistics, particularly ports and railways. Oil and gas is an area of business that we wish to continue to pursue and we are also looking to enter the power generation sector.
Mozambique’s USD 80-billion energy transition plan will bring new opportunities, as power generation projects require significant engineering expertise and we’re confident our Mozambican engineers can deliver significant value. Besides fabrication and installation, we can contribute engineering know-how at the initial concept stages.

What expertise can Duys contribute to engineering projects?
Our capabilities span the entire heavy steelwork spectrum. We can take a project from the initial concept and design stages through to fabrication and testing. Our expertise encompasses various certified welding techniques, which we can carry out to the highest quality specifications.
We played a critical part as one of the subcontractors in the deployment of the AP3XLE energy efficiency project for South 32, whereby Mozal was able to increase its productivity with no associated increase in power consumption. Our team can also handle the installation, construction and maintenance of steel structures. Our versatility allows us to design and build anything from small towers to high-voltage transmission structures such as those used by EDM, and even floodgates for dams. If it’s heavy steelwork, we can do it.

Can you share some recent projects Duys has been involved in?
We have been working with Kenmare for several years, a major player in Mozambique’s mining sector, and recently participated in a large-scale relocation of equipment to Nataka. We also did modifications on two of their dredgers. We are in regular communication with their engineering team and have a team of 50 personnel deployed on their site. We were the first company to establish operations in the Topuito industrial free zone, which is located near Kenmare’s operations.

What differentiates Duys from other competitors in the market?
Our biggest advantage is the installed capacity at our workshop, which has heavy lifting capabilities of up to 127 tonnes. Second, we operate from a strategic location within a free zone that allows us to optimise the duties we pay when importing raw materials. Third, as an ISO 9001 and ISO 45001 certified company, our compliance practices are very rigorous. We adhere closely to all local regulations and we certify the safety, quality and financial audits that we regularly conduct.
The true differentiator, however, is how we conduct business. Strong ethics, robust governance and a rigorous commitment to compliance are what enable us to build successful partnerships. An investor might be impressed with our costs and capabilities, but if we don’t agree on governance practices, our partnership won’t thrive. Conversely, with a strong governance foundation, we will be able to work through operational details successfully.
Ultimately, a focus on compliance and good governance leads to cost optimisation, market share growth, and success. When the Mozambican central bank became more rigorous with commercial banks, they, in turn, became more rigorous with their clients. We’re happy to see this emphasis on compliance growing in Mozambique. The narrative that the country lacks a developed industry can be challenged by consistently demonstrating our commitment to rigour.

How have the company’s operations evolved in recent years?
Duys was originally almost entirely reliant on the Mozal aluminium smelter, but we have diversified the portfolio of services and have made significant progress in the past five years. Mozal currently represents less than 70% of our business, as we have expanded into areas such as heavy sands operations, maintenance services and fabrication for clients such as Kenmare.
We have also partnered with other companies to take on projects in the coal and infrastructure sectors, working with clients such as MPDC [Maputo Port Development Company] and Grindrod. In the oil and gas sector we have conducted projects for Technip Energies and Baker Hughes, beating international companies in the tenders.
Our goal is to keep diversifying our portfolio and participate in different segments of the mining sector, such as coal and precious metals. We also expect opportunities to arise from the country’s growing demand for logistics infrastructure. Such projects require substantial steel and engineering work, which are areas in which we excel.

What are some of Duys’s objectives for the years to come?
We recently doubled our production capacity to deliver pot shells to Mozal without carrying out physical expansion. It was a useful test, and we have realised that we want to modernise our facilities. We are also interested in establishing ourselves in other industrial parks that may grow in the country, and we feel the time is right to start thinking about establishing a location closer to the future oil and gas operations that will arise.

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