EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Dredge Yard CEO

Over the years Dredge Yard has proven itself as a reliable supplier of many dredge and mining components to many dredge contractors and mining operators world wide.

Hereby we are bringing you an exclusive interview with Mr. Basel Yousef, the Dredge Yard CEO, who provided us with invaluable insight into the Dredge Yard’s business plans.

What can you tell us about the company’s 2013 business results, reached goals, accomplished tasks?

In terms of deliveries, we have accomplished the delivery of a big order of ball joints for MEDCO in Qatar, dredge valves for Van Oord, dredge pumps and other components needed for the dredgers for several dredging companies.

In regard to the market, I can mention the successful Europort exhibition that gave us the opportunity to meet our existing and new customers followed by a good feedback from the market.

For engineering, we improved the design of the CSD, we increased our production and engineering capacity by adding more machines and employing more engineers.

How was 2014 so far for Dredge Yard?

So far 2014 has been a very good year, we are ahead of schedule in terms of turnover, the demand is higher for Dredge Yard’s products and the production capacity is increasing by ordering 3 more machines for our facilities in Turkey. In our office in the UAE, we are in the process of recruiting naval architects and more engineers for design, production and quality control.

We have participated in the Forum of Dredging Companies that was held in Moscow, Russia. The forum hosted over 100 participants, including most of the leading organizations in dredging industry, port and local authorities.

Dredge Yard had the opportunity to present a variety of solutions developed for the coupling systems that can enhance the productivity and lowering fuel consumption.

What are your plans for the rest of 2014?

We are currently engaged in optimizing our dredge pump design together with our development and production partners to increase the efficiency and to lower the cost price.

We also go further with the development of Dredge Yard’s greaseless ball joint to make it environmentally friendly, achieve higher safety and lower operation costs.

We are in the process of delivering several big orders for Cross Over Ball Joints that have been recently developed by Dredge Yard.

It is also part of our plan for 2014 to increase the capacity of our office in The Netherlands that is responsible for the engineering, development and sales.

Further we will participate in 3 important conferences and exhibitions in North and South America.

In April you delivered big sized dredge valves to Van Oord. Can you tell us something more about your cooperation with Van Oord?

We appreciate our cooperation with Van Oord being one of the biggest and most developed companies in the world and their trust in our cooperation is growing as seen from the increased order amount.

Such a customer is of a great importance to Dredge Yard because we are continuously learning from them in order to increase our engineering and production skills.

Also could you provide more information about dredge pumps development?

Dredge Yard is working on the development of the dredge pump line using the hydraulic design, the expertise of its partners, two engineering giants, Simerics and Hyperworks.

Dredge Yard will use the simulation technologies to improve design efficiency, wear performance, to reduce physical testing costs and time that have always been the biggest engineering challenge in dredging industry.

The production of the pumps is done in Dredge Yard’s facilities in Turkey along with its partners. At the moment we are able to offer our clients dredge pumps in a range from 300mm to 1400mm in single and double wall types.

Which markets are currently in the focus of Dredge Yard, and do you have plans to expand your business areas?

In the past couple of years we have been active in the dredging market, manly in Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Indian Subcontinent. We aim for the expansion of the business in North and South America.

From the product side our focus will expand on the mining industry that is close to the dredging industry, being related to the transportation of sand, mud and slurry.

What can you tell us about the Dredge Yard’s current projects?

2014 has been a strong year for Dredge Yard. Currently we are producing several dredge components, as cross over ball joints, bow couplings, valves, pumps and some other spare parts needed for the dredgers.

One of the interesting projects is the replacement of the dredge pump of an existing TSHD in Bahrain. Dredge Yard’s team visited the dredger and took all the measurements and discussed customer’s specifications. After the visit the engineers made a new design for the dredge pump in order to improve the efficiency and life time of the dredge pump.

This dredge pump will be installed soon and Dredge Yard will test the performance on the dredger.

Further I can mention that Dredge Yard is in the process of negotiating new contracts for Cutter Suction Dredgers.

About Basel Yousef

Basel Yousef is the CEO and founder of Dredge Yard in The Netherlands, UAE and Turkey. The company Dredge Yard is specialized in engineering and delivery of dredgers, dredge and mining equipment worldwide.

He has graduated Dutch Technical University in Delft and he has completed his bachelor degree in Mechanical and Aeronautical engineering. After couple of years of work experience, he accomplished his Master Business Administration at American University in Dubai specializing in International Marketing.

Immediately after university graduation, Basel Yousef joined Vosta in Amsterdam, The Netherlands as System Calculation Engineer for dredge pumps and dredge systems and soon after that he got promoted to Product Manager of suction and discharge systems. After 4 years with the same company, Basel Yousef was appointed Area Manager China, responsible for the sales and production in China for the coming 3 years. Last challenge at the same company was the establishment of a subsidiary in UAE and taking care of the related business as General Manager.

After he left Vosta, he established Dredge Yard with the help of an enthusiastic experienced team in The Netherlands, UAE and Turkey.

Some of recent Basel Yousef accomplishments are:

– Patent of Bearing Ball Joint: a ball joint that has less friction when put in movement saving more fuel and making the discharge pipe more flexible;

– Patent of Rubber/Steel Hose: A combination of rubber and steel rings for the use in suction and discharge pipe minimizing the pipe flow resistant and maximizing the life time of the hose;

– Patent of a System and Method for predicting, monitoring, preventing and controlling algae in open water;

– Set up and operate of Production and Testing facility for dredge components like testing of several dredge and water ball joint in Turkey.

[mappress]

Dredging Today Staff, May 9, 2014