Programmes such as Saudi Made have many advantages, which help sustain localisation by successfully integrating local experts and partners into FUELTRAX’s global team, John Donovan, VP of Operations for FUELTRAX, tells OGN

As the first move toward a larger and more local presence in the Kingdom, FUELTRAX, leading fuel management solutions company serving deep sea and offshore support vessels, has named Saudi-based Integrated Marine Solutions (IMS) as its local partner to focus on sales and installation for clients in the region.

Located in Tanajib in northeastern Saudi Arabia, IMS now sells, installs, and supports the industry-leading FUELTRAX Electronic Fuel Management System and other FUELTRAX solutions.

IMS’ technicians have been thoroughly trained by FUELTRAX and have already worked closely with FUELTRAX on five installations in the UAE.

"It is vital to FUELTRAX to have strong local support presence close to areas where we have concentrations of clients," says Ruben DeLeon, Vice-President of Product Support for FUELTRAX.

Saudi Arabia and the entire Middle East region are key growth areas for FUELTRAX, especially in light of the move toward digitization. And this new partnership supports the company to get closer to its current and future clients.

For FUELTRAX, IMS is the first installation commissioning and service partner that also offers the entire range of sales and sales support for clients.

Rawabi Vallianz Offshore Services is deploying FUELTRAX

Faisal Al Zahrani, Managing Director of IMS, says the FUELTRAX affiliation is an important addition to the company’s offerings.

"We established Integrated Marine Solutions as a primary gateway to support the marine industry with a full suite of services," Al Zahrani says.

"With a centralised maritime industrial operation service hub, we can support the entire spectrum of offshore vessel requirements. That now includes selling, installing, and supporting the premier fuel management solution."

SAUDI MADE PROGRAMME

Speaking to OGN, John Donovan, Vice-President of Operations for FUELTRAX, says they recognise the many advantages of programme such as Saudi Made and have plans to increase their Saudi-based infrastructure and capabilities in response to the growing regional demand for marine digitalisation.

About the impact of localisation programmes, Donovan says: "These programmes are critical for not only amplifying local presence, but for giving us access to highly trained personnel to fill critical local roles."

Localisation, he says, is sustained by successfully integrating local experts and partners into FUELTRAX’s global team, allowing them to take advantage of the marine digitalisation collaboration opportunities that the company’s global partner network affords.

"FUELTRAX team members in Houston, Kuala Lumpur, Lagos, and Australia cross-communicate daily, sharing marine fuel management best practices and lessons learned. These are not individual silos, but instead parts of a larger ecosystem that ensures we can always be counted on for fuel management expertise at the regional level," Donovan adds.

Furthermore, having local service and sales support is critical for clients who engage in ‘zero-fail’ operations like upstream energy production. It also provides FUELTRAX the ability to provide face to face engagement with clients at all levels.

"We like to say that our relationship with our clients begins at the point of sale and installation. While our clients certainly appreciate our 24-hour remote support from Houston, there is no replacement for capable and competent local expertise when it comes to building market confidence in our product," says Donovan.

Sustainability for FUELTRAX is at the core of it operations. Vessel optimisation at scale is what its does best.

By providing the most accurate, stable, and cyber secure fuel sensors available on the market FUELTRAX can provide clients with the truth of their operational carbon intensity.

"With no opportunity for human data entry (or error), our clients can provide auditable emissions figures, in real time, to their ESG stakeholders and regulators," says Donovan.

Additionally, FUELTRAX has proprietary vessel optimisation algorithms for recommended throttle settings, as well as a best-practices playbook for vessel management, both of which have been proven to reduce consumption over multiple case studies.

Since 2017, FUELTRAX clients have reduced approximately 800,000 metric tons of CO2 across our global fleet. This equates to the removal of 173,913 passenger cars from the road for a year.

FUELTRAX has 14 other installation commissioning and service partners, spanning the globe on five continents.

The FUELTRAX Electronic Fuel Management Solution (EFMS) is the industry’s leading and only patented fuel management solution. It measures direct fuel consumption and transfers on board, enabling vessel operators to reduce operational and fuel costs.

Its unparalleled accuracy and stability are achieved by taking direct measurements using Coriolis smart meters to measure mass-flow rather than volume.

The system consistently measures fuel quality and transmits that data to the FUELTRAX operations center for real-time monitoring.