EQUIPMENT rental major Byrne Investments Saudi Arabia Limited says its business has continued to move in a positive direction despite facing many challenges, most notably in the human resources sector, this year.

“The knock-on effect of this has been escalation of resourcing costs but the outlook has remained positive throughout the year and there have been many successful and welcome additions to the current fleet both in terms of new products and existing range,” says Rajnish Kar, general manager, Byrne Investments Saudi Arabia Limited.

There has been tremendous and focused movement in the oil and gas sector within the kingdom and also in many of the countries in the Middle East in which Byrne operates. “This has been visible in both the upstream and downstream sectors and while the number of projects are too numerous and large to quantify, Byrne’s thrust into this sector has been nothing short of aggressive and it has paid dividends across the group in terms of growth and penetration,” Kar elaborates.

Byrne has recently introduced a variety of specific oil and gas sector products targeting the upstream sectors. A large number of plug and play, fully composite drilling support camps have been successfully supplied and commissioned – all high-spec and fully-furnished, with all facilities including offices, sleepers, recreation, kitchen and dining, laundry, prayer rooms, guard houses, along with power, water, sewage treatment, lighting, tool rooms – suitably to support frequent rig movements across the vast spread of the kingdom.

In addition Byrne, working with Spacemaker Emirates, UAE, the group’s hi-spec portable building manufacturing arm, is also actively supporting off-shore installations for the oil and gas segment which continues to dominate the market in Saudi Arabia and most of the Middle East and North America (Mena) region.

With respect to downstream operations, Byrne remains an active contributor by providing complete solutions, products and support services to plant shut-down, turnaround, expansion and maintenance activities through most of the year.

Products include mechanised and non-mechanised equipment (but not limited to) temporary power, air, steam, welding, lighting, water and facility solutions to name a few. “All these products are backed by the 24/7 service commitment which remains Byrne’s USP across the Middle East,” says Kar.

The Byrne group of companies across the Middle East, including Spacemaker in the UAE, has recently been acquired by Al Tala’a International Transport Company (Hanco), which is a part of the Bin Sulaiman Holding Group based in the kingdom and a major player in vehicle lease industry in the Middle East.

The acquisition, says Kar, is a very positive move for Byrne and Hanco as it will not only consolidate their individual businesses under a single roof and contribute to inter-development of client bases but also make the amalgamation a one point source for virtually all rental needs of the growing industries in the region.

“We firmly believe that this is a large step forward for company and a solution to be able to expand more freely within and external to the kingdom,” says Kar.

With the acquisition of Byrne by Hanco, the company now has additional facilities and products available for clients across the region. Within the kingdom, by virtue of this move, Byrne now not only enjoys an immediate presence via Hanco’s 110 existing branches but will also continue to expand from its current five offices and six strategically placed fully fledged operational yards viz two in Jubail and one each in Dammam, Riyadh, Yanbu and Jeddah into other areas such as Ras Al Khair, Turaif, Jizan and Qassim in due course. The company maintains a current strength of 200 staff in the kingdom.

Byrne continues to expand its activities across the Mena region continuously acquiring new technology and enlisting necessary talent to support this with the sole view of improving existing support to their ever growing fold of customers. The ambition of the group remains on becoming the primary rental solutions provider in the Middle East and a company of choice as the prime objective.

Talking about the prospects for its company over the coming year, Kar says: “We are extremely positive about the coming year, based on known and visible opportunities in our markets. We continue to drive for growth and further diversification of our fleet and services which is in keeping with our objective to become the largest equipment rental and lease company throughout the Middle East.”