Port accessLOINTEK, a capital goods production company in Biscay, is building a production plant in the Port of Bilbao in order to be more competitive and to increase markets. This factory will enable it to manufacture goods over 1000 Tms vacuum, up to 12 metres in diameter and a minimum length of 50 metres.
The company itself will develop all its own new products. Thus, its export capacity will be reinforced, enabling it to continue its growth in both staff and in the products it can offer the market.
First order to Mexico
Lointek already has its first order for the new plant – Oversize Equipment for the Mexican petroleum company Pemex.
The equipment has 700 Tm and is 9 metres in diameter and Lointek designed the mechanical engineering. The piece is destined for a petrochemical complex and the outside will be made of carbon steel and the inside of stainless steel using complicated soldering techniques.
In addition to improving the quality of the work and the possibility of increasing markets, the plant will also contribute to creating quality employment for engineers coming mainly from the technical faculties and for trade professionals who have been trained in Basque centres, where Lointek represents interesting work alternatives.
At peak moments, Lointek employs 250 people in its companies as a whole, but it is estimated that the pull effect in the activity generates 300 more posts. Over 60 engineers are employed. The new plant will provide 15 new posts, and in a short time, this will be 25.
A further objective of this plant is to increase the pull effect on a large number of suppliers, mostly Basque, with whom the company enjoys excellent relations.
Competitive advantages of the Port
Lointek opted for the Port of Bilbao facilities because it is the main port on the Bay of Biscay for its volume and its services: it offers a wide range of shipping lines to the five continents –
from the Port of Bilbao any international market can be reached; moreover it has “key-in-hand” lands in the Outer Abra; the Port Authority facilitated the company’s quick location and it is close to Lointek’s installations at Urduliz.
So, together with all this, the fact that production in the Port itself will eliminate road transport costs will have an impact on the price of the pieces, which will make the company more competitive in the global market.
Another reason for producing in the Port is that Lointek’s customers are also the greatest industrial complexes in the world (oil refineries and petrochemical plants of derivatives like urea) are being systematically located on the dockside. Consequently, greater equipment and more integrated combinations are demanded, so that assembly work is minimum. Neither can this equipment be transported by road in the country of origin, which means that they have to be built in the Port.
Besides, the market tendency is to replace traditional acquiring equipment acquisition management and carry out field assembly of module pieces in work island systems.
The homologation processes for final customers and engineering are exhaustive. They must be accredited with references to previous techniques to obtain the majority of orders, and as Lointek has an ample range of references, it is a differential factor in its favour.
