Saudi Review

Al Ajab to expand output capacity

Al Ajab workers readying steel products for galvanising

Steel galvanising specialists Al Ajab Group is set for a sizable hike in production capacity, foreseeing contracts from high-profile industrial and infrastructure projects involving bulk quality steel, the company said.

A new facility it is building in Dammam will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology that will reduce processing time by a huge margin and increase overall production capacity by 35 per cent, it said.

Saudi Arabia, despite lower oil prices, has decided to go ahead with vital and strategic projects including the Jizan Refinery Project, the Saudi Electricity Company (SEC)’s combined cycle plant and the Riyadh Metro all of whom would need the services of galvanising companies such as Al Ajab.

The company currently operates two processing facilities, the first one located in Dammam’s Second Industrial City and having capacity of 24,000 tonnes annually and the second located in Jubail Industrial City with capacity of 34,000 tonnes. The third facility will become operational in mid-2016.

“We expect that demand for galvanising services from future as well as ongoing projects will keep all three facilities working at close to capacity for the next five years,” said Mohammed Zafrullah Khan, general manager of the Dammam plant and acting plant manager of the Jubail facility.

“Saudi Arabia is seeing a boom in the construction of sport complexes and mega malls which will ultimately involve big quantities of galvanised steel,” Khan added.

Galvanisation is the process of applying protective zinc coating to steel or iron to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanisation in which parts are submerged in a bath of molten zinc.

Galvanising protects in two ways; it forms a coating of corrosion-resistant zinc which prevents corrosive substances from reaching the more delicate part of the metal and the zinc serves as a sacrificial anode so that even if the coating is scratched, the exposed steel will still be protected by the remaining zinc.

“Al Ajab has been in the steel galvanising business since 1990 when it opened its first plant in Dammam. The company became successful in a very short period, adopting various standards and building a client base of over 400,” a company statement said.

An Al Ajab production facility in the Eastern Province

An Al Ajab production facility in the Eastern Province

Khan highlighted: “The company has adopted a high-tech method of galvanisation called ‘High Velocity System (HVS)’ in order to ensure high quality, guarantee impeccable performance and conform to top international standards. Al Ajab is the only company in the Eastern Province which uses this technology.

“The HVS in the zinc bath helps maintain uniformity in the temperature throughout the bath and ensures uniformity in the coating thickness of galvanised steel so that we will be able to give our clients desired coating requirement without any compromise.”

In addition to galvanisation, Al Ajab introduced shot blasting at the Jubail Plant in 2011.

 

PROJECTS SUCCESS

Major projects for which Al Ajab has supplied galvanised steel include the Jubail United Petrochemical Company, United Ethylene Plant, Sulphur Recovery Unit of the Riyadh Refinery Projects and the Qatif II Expansion Project for Saudi Aramco.

Some 40 per cent of Al Ajab’s galvanised steel entails projects located outside the kingdom. These include the Sawan Gas Field Project in Pakistan, RGX Project, Qatar, and power plants in Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Iran.

“We are involved with projects in and around the GCC through esteemed fabricators and we offer service and best quality which is our main objective and due to which we have been able to work with more than 400 valuable and active clients,” said Khan.

The official added that Al Ajab is the approved vender for leading firms Saudi Aramco, Sabic, SEC and Sadara, among other parties, and is a member of the American Galvanisers Association and the Galvanisers Association of the UK while also having an ISO 9001 certification for its craft.

Membership of the key associations and the certification help it “maintain the high standards required to be an approved vendor for such exacting firms and to be at the forefront of technology,” commented Khan.