Saudi Arabia’s booming heavy-lifting market

Saudi Arabia

Ali Al Anaizy, board member of Gulf Haulage Heavy Lift (GHHL), talks to The Energy Year about the growth in demand for heavy lifting services in Saudi Arabia and the ability of the heaving lifting market to meet that demand. GHHL is a heavy transportation and lifting company.

What are the growth drivers for heavy lifting services in the local market?
Saudi Arabia’s market is booming due to Vision 2030. The demand for lifting services is increasing at an exponential rate. During my 25 years of experience in the industry, we have never seen such growth prospects. Until 2030, the market will be very bullish.
The demand for heavy lifting and transportation equipment and services will be great when considering the development of projects such as NEOM, The Red Sea Project, King Salman Energy Park, the Qiddiya project, renewable energy and other projects in Jeddah and Riyadh.
In addition, there are the usual oil and gas projects, which are always ongoing, as well as the upcoming oil and gas mega-projects, such as the Jafurah unconventional gasfield, and the downstream expansion by Saudi Aramco and SABIC.

Is the domestic transport sector prepared to handle specialised cargo projects?
The existing resources in Saudi Arabia and the broader Middle East region will be unable to meet the requirements for the ongoing developments in the kingdom. For example, the equipment and skills required to develop the planned 3.4 GW of wind power in the coming three years are not yet available.
Specialised equipment has to be imported. International players will come in. The expertise required for heavy lifting is not readily available. These kinds of wind energy generation projects are going to be game changers in Saudi Arabia, like similar projects have been in other places in the world.
We want to take part in the upcoming wind energy projects, and we have previous experience in this area. In the past we worked for manufacturers and installers of wind turbines such as Vestas at the Dumat Al Jandal wind farm. We also worked with GE to put up the first windmill in Saudi Arabia.

What are the advantages of being a local player in the heavy lifting segment?
There are foreign players in the market who have established themselves here, but as a Saudi company, we are the only ones providing both the transport and lifting of wind turbines. As a local player, we provide customers with reliability regarding the local availability of needed equipment.
To support successful heavy lifting, you need to have strong infrastructural support. We have a facility of 127,000 square metres, of which 15,000 square metres are designated for the full workshop and warehouse.

How is the company planning to expand amid these favourable market conditions?
Our company is preparing for expansion based on these developments. In 2022, we purchased 18 cranes, and we will probably buy the same number in 2023. We are looking to invest almost another EUR 50 million from 2023 to 2025, and we further look to triple our fleet by 2025.
We’re first looking at European suppliers, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the current geopolitical situation affects European machinery suppliers’ capacity to supply on time. If so, Chinese suppliers will probably come into play.
We expect to participate in almost all the upcoming major projects in Saudi Arabia. We are already working in NEOM, Jeddah and Riyadh, and of course, we’re also working on oil and gas projects. We will be everywhere, taking a small piece of the pie here and there.
I would like GHHL to be ahead of the competition. Once the demand for equipment and resources normalises five years down the line, we aim to have a well-cemented market share of 40%.

What is GHHL’s value proposition?
We service the entire logistical scope, from the port to the construction site. We manage the Customs clearance, the handling of equipment in the port, the transportation of equipment to the job site and the installation of it using our own cranes and skilled workforce. We also provide all engineering support for all cargo up to 1,250 tonnes.
We are a one-stop solution in heavy lifting and transport. We can provide the entire range of cranes from 50 tonnes to 1,600 tonnes. We specialise in handling oversize cargo from 30 tonnes to 1,500 tonnes. This is a high-skill, niche market requiring a wealth of experience and planning, which our team has gained over the last nearly four decades.

Read our latest insights on:

• Saudi Arabia