Four-year plan to position Gaylin as market leader in Vietnam

Singapore-headquartered Gaylin, a specialist supplier of lifting, rigging and marine equipment, has initiated a plan to reposition its Vietnam facility to address changing trends in the local oil and gas, refining and chemical plant sectors. In essence, Gaylin will build on more than a decade of experience supplying slings and shackles to expand the portfolio, creating rental and labour-based revenue streams. Gaylin has five other global hubs in the region—South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and China—across which a dedicated training and competency programme has been rolled out to ensure personnel are trained on the latest legislation applicable to their respective geographies and marketplaces.

Ongoing development of the Vietnam operation, which is located in the Dong Xuyen Industrial Park (since 2014), is focused on implementation of a more robust quality management system coupled with a driven, long-term training plan. Gaylin will introduce a much wider range of rental assets locally that includes specialist equipment such as load cells, spreader beams, testing equipment, winch systems and spooling capabilities. Mike Duncan, Managing Director of Gaylin International Pte Ltd, said: “Gaylin has the potential to be the market leader in the region with its ability to diversify from a typical rigging shop to go the extra step and provide solutions that similar companies do not have the technical support or stock levels on the ground to cope with.” Gaylin Vietnam was established in 2001 with only a two-man marketing team before it evolved in 2007 and set up in a facility located at the commercial port of Vũng Tàu in the heart of the Bà Rịa province. Prior to that, all lifting and rigging equipment were shipped from Gaylin’s headquarters. Today, it has an 11-men strong team that specialises in the manufacture of wire rope slings and spooling services, principally to the oil and gas industry. The workshop is equipped with a 2,000t Wirop hydraulic press that can manufacture slings from 40mm to 76mm; a 1,000t press from the same manufacturer that can make slings from 3mm to 52mm diameter (both with ferrule secured eyes); and a 300t horizontal tensile testing machine, again from Wirop, that complies with verification and testing requirements of the region. Duncan said: “Typically, all slings made here at Gaylin Vietnam are with aluminium ferrule secured eyes, however, we have seen more demand for Flemish eye type terminations, so we are tailoring our solutions and responding to these market trends. All types of wire rope terminations are manufactured in accordance with European specifications, while many of the industry’s leading global lifting gear manufacturers supply a facility that now offers a comprehensive range of equipment.” He continued: “The current downturn in the market has led to contractors and operators alike seeking cost-effective solutions. We are able to relocate heavy rigging, plant and machinery from other locations to Vietnam in order to offer rental packages to the client, thus, reducing their needs for capital expenditure on low utilised assets.” And concluded: “Vietnam has developed with a heavy presence of western companies that influence procedures, evident in the way yards, ports and other sites are managed, whereas South Korea and Singapore, for example, apply their own rules and regulations. Vietnam has huge drilling opportunities and I often refer to its similarities with Azerbaijan or Kazakstan in earlier days.”