On the occasion of the Breakbulk exhibition, Al-Borsa had a talk with the managing director of Universal Transport Egypt (UTEET), Hisham El Dahshan, to shed some light on growth opportunities in the Egyptian market and the challenges his company had to overcome when entering the Egyptian market just recently. What does your participation at the Breakbulk exhibition mean to you and what are the benefits? Universal Transport has been participating in the Breakbulk Europe exhibition and conference with great success for many years now. Being one of the biggest heavy haulage companies in Europe, it is important for us to be present at such an important event. This year, we will be highlighting Universal Transport Egypt's mega project HL transports. We ask all Egyptian visitors to meet our colleagues at our booth to learn more about the Universal Transport Group. What are the main challenges for the heavy lift transport industry in Egypt? Does the infrastructure of Egyptian ports represent an obstacle for the growth of this industry? There are major challenges at the ports due to the lack of a sufficient number of heavy lift cranes. The roads and bridges also represent major challenges. But with our unrivalled new equipment and our highly-trained personnel, we have managed to overcome all obstacles and meet and exceed our clients' expectations. What are the features of this market in Egypt in terms of investment size, the number of companies operating, and competition? Universal Transport only entered the Egyptian market recently. We saw an opportunity in the Egyptian market because of the ambitious mega projects in infrastructure, power generation, etc. There is a lot of HL cargo movement, and we were aware that there wasn't enough high quality equipment in the Egyptian market. We invested in brand new equipment and have a team of Egyptians and Germans operating them at the highest standards. So far our operation has been a great success, and we are very optimistic for the future. Did the specialised heavy haulage companies benefit from Egypt's execution of several mega projects that required the transport of equipment for new power plants, the New Suez Canal, and the development of the Suez Canal Economic Zone? As mentioned, we benefited hugely from the mega projects, as they allowed us to enter the Egyptian market with great success. We have been transporting heavy pieces of up to 200 tonnes on our brand new axle lines for the power stations of Beni Suef and the New Administrative Capital. What is your company's turnover in 2016 and what were the major projects handled? Universal Transport group's turnover is close to €200m. The two major projects in Egypt that we participated in during 2016 and 2017 were the power plants of Beni Suef and the New Administrative Capital. What are the targets and forecasts for 2017? We are still busy with the existing HL transport contracts that we have in 2017. We have also been bidding on several projects in the wind energy business for our international customers. Being a neutral heavy haulage operator, we are also serving the requirements of both the big international freight forwarders and the local forwarders in the Egyptian market.
