THE ECHO - Ferrostaal

Ammonia plant in Trinidad
THE ECHO August 2007
Editorial
Dear Readers,
The Scientific Advisory Council of the German Government
estimates that, by the end of the 21st century, global energy
demands will mainly be met by solar power plants.
Solar power is where the future lies. Thanks to key projects,
we are currently taking up the pole position in this growth
industry – this applies equally to the biofuel and petrochemical
markets. We are forming close partnerships with
technology providers and our efforts are creating added
value for our customers. We are well known for our expertise
in the field of methanol plants, which we construct in conjunction
with long-standing partners. Methanol is not
merely a useful chemical substance – it is also a fuel source
for the future. We are now in a position to enhance this
expertise even further with two large projects involving
the production of fertilisers. Such fertilisers are absolutely
vital with regard to meeting the rising demand for food
worldwide.
These projects are clear examples of the focus on energy,
fuels and petrochemicals which we initiated some time ago
under the “projects” banner. As a general contractor with
notable skill in the area of project development, we develop
and construct large-scale industrial plants, thereby enhancing
our technological expertise for the benefit of our
customers. Some recent examples of this would be our
joint venture with Solar Millennium, the purchase of a
stake in the Solar Power Group and the takeover of Eurotecnica.
All of these companies are technology leaders in
their various sectors. At the same time, we are constantly
Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Knothe, Member of the MAN Ferrostaal Executive Board
enhancing our competence in the area of processing. This
is not only achieved by the focussed expansion of staff
knowledge and skills, but also by external growth. To this
end we recently purchased Koch de Portugal, a proven specialist
in the EPC business for power plant construction. All
of these strategic moves increase our value proposition in
our projects and provide us with a long-term competitive
edge.
However, this strong focus on future technology does not
mean that we are neglecting our core business, which also
involves energy to a large degree. You can read about current
examples of power plant projects and compressor stations
in this magazine. Our core business involves concentrating
on projects in “our own” countries such as Venezuela
or the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region, which
other companies consider to be difficult markets. In these
regions we are particularly able to rely on excellent customer
contacts and professional project management. Given
our strengths in these countries, we are also keen to support
other subgroups in the internationalisation process.
This explains why we are currently assuming management
duties in the establishment of a number of MAN Houses,
which will bundle the operations of all MAN subgroups.
I hope you enjoy reading THE ECHO, which includes interesting
features on all these topics.
Yours, Wolfgang Knothe
3