Aziz Bamik

Full transcript

All right. Hello, everyone. Welcome to the fourth episode of the Beyond the Blueprint podcast. Today, we have Mr.

Bamek, who used to be a project manager, and we're going to gain some insights from him. So for my first question, you began your career as a development engineer in the late 90s. What types of projects did you work on and how did these early technical challenges shape your career? Yeah, great.

So first of all, you know, I completed my engineering degree with an internship at SLB. former Schlumberger, which specializes in oil services. This experience highlighted really the energy sector's significance. I always have a lot of interest in geopolitics.

That made me aware of the role that energy is playing. So when I get the chance to join GTT in 1999, I see immediately the opportunity. At that time, the company was a small technology company that has a very unique technology that is crucial for the safe transportation of liquefied natural gas by sea. So this is a very asset light business model focused on intellectual property.

That was what I loved. And at that time, you know, LNG, liquefied natural gas, was a very niche market. But I always believed it is going to play a bigger role because in order to reduce, you know, the geopolitical tensions that are related to gas pipelines. Because when you have a gas pipeline, you need to cross several countries.

By having LNG carriers at sea, you have a virtual pipeline. So LNG is transformed, you know, from gas to at minus 163 degrees Celsius. It's very, very cold. We call it chilled gas.

It's a complex process. but the good thing about that is that it reduces the volume by 600 times. That means that it makes the storage and transportation easier and safer. So basically, in one single LNG carrier, typically, you are able to fuel power for more than 100,000 households.

So 100,000 houses like yours, only with one cargo. This is the energy density of liquid natural gas. So long story short, I'm giving you this context. This is what really attract me.

So I joined the material department at that time as a material development engineer. I was conducting all kinds of tests to assess the behavior of the materials we are using in our technology. Because cryogenic temperature is something complicated. So basically we would assess the mechanical behavior of the materials.

We will not use LNG because you have to be in a safe environment. We use what we call the liquid nitrogen, which is liquid at minus 196 degrees Celsius. So I worked on the response of our technology under liquid impacts. I realized the complexity of performing repeatable, I would say, tests.

And also, I realized that during that period of time, I had to present my test results to many stakeholders outside the company and internal of the company. So after 18 months, I would say, as a development engineer, I have been offered two job opportunities. And I wish these kind of things will happen to you, and I'm sure it will happen to you as well. Thank you.

One was really focused on engineering. Imagine the engineering vice president came to me and say, I want you to join my engineering department. I would have done continue to do engineering studies, hydrodynamic studies and so on and so forth. And another job opportunity was a project director.

And at that time, you know, the LNG market was a very niche. There was barely 110 LNG carriers around the globe. So he said, you are going to become my deputy. And at that time, the project director, what he has to do is basically to be the technical and commercial liaison for the company with our client.

and the company was based in France with only international clients. At that time, it was Korean clients and Japanese clients. These are big industrial players that build these ships under license with us. Without our technology, they cannot build the LNG carrier because the LNG carrier is built around our proprietary storage technology.

I decided to go with a project manager. Why? Because I thought by being involved with all the stakeholders, engineering, operational team, procurement team and so on. This is how I would learn, you know, the business and I will learn the importance of everyone in this value chain.

And also I had a mentor who really pitched me very well, you know, the job. He said, I want you. He said, we are going to travel. We are going to contribute to the transition from coal to LNG.

While the engineering, he said, you are going to do nice studies and so on. So at that time, my calling was really for business. And this is how I did from engineering to project management. Yes, I see.

So I see that your responsibility evolved a lot throughout your experiences. What major technical or leadership lessons did you take with you? Look, you know, when you are project manager, I was basically responsible for all the technical and commercial relationships with our client. As I said before, I was working with all the technical departments to ensure excellent engineering support that represent thousands of engineering documentations for every single project and you get to know very well the technology okay on the commercial side you ensure that you support the client and you make sure that the implementation of your technology into an LNG carrier that is built is successful at the end of the day you know we are a small portion of a vessel but since our technology is the core of the vessel this is very key and very strategic for the shipyard.

This shipyard, it takes them, at that time it was taking them 48 months to, from contract signature, to deliver these vessels. And they were 200 million each. It's a lot of money. And our contribution was key because without our technology there is no transportation.

So in the end, after the vessel is delivered, and the guarantee period is finished, the shipyard is no more involved and the property of the vessel is being transferred to the owner for all the rest of the life. And usually the ship has been designed for more than 40 years. At that time, us as GTT, we support the owners and the operators of the asset okay and we deal with these owners with these operators that are using ships using our technology and our role is to support them throughout the life of the operations in inspections in maintenance cycles and so on to make sure they get the best of our of their asset so i realized at that time that ultimately the decision making people are the one who own the asset and i also realized that the people who are even stronger are the one who own the molecule the cargo these are what we call the charters these are the people who basically are going to say i have a product i need the ship to move it from a to b they ask a ship owner for a contract for 20 years to use to transport that cargo and then the ship owner will go to a shipyard to buy the vessel so when you go at the top of the food chain of a cargo owner I realized that this is where I wanted to play. This is where I wanted to make sure that these guys, in their specification, they specify our technology.

So that each time we have to deal with a shipyard, they have no choice but to go with our technology. So really, you know, from a technical field, understanding the whole life cycle of a product, I was able to identify that. So very quickly in 2010, I was promoted as the global head of business development and basically shaping the strategy for the group with our ecosystem and making sure that we have a good market share. So when we started in 2000, we have 30% market share.

Okay. And for the last 10 years, we have 100% market share. And all of that, we've done it to provide an excellent service from an engineering standpoint, but also to make the effort to understand the value chain. So always, you know, you can focus on one particular detail, but you have to make the effort to understand what is the importance and what are the requirements from people that need your technology.

And by trying to understand what they need, then you are capable basically to evolve from technical leadership to, I would say, more responsibilities. I hope that addresses your question. Yeah, thank you. so you mean we know you started in engineering and then business development eventually to general management and that's like you know we're a path so how did the your engineering background basically help you like do well and thrive in executive roles yeah so you know uh uh basically when uh uh if if the question you know at the end of the day we are we are a technology company okay so people when they entrusted us very immediately become a technical discussion okay so uh me i had the opportunity to stay in a project in development and in project management for 12 years so i could say i knew the product very well then I put a lot of effort to understand the ecosystem of the whole value chain beyond ourselves.

OK, to make sure that we understand the needs of the value chain and then we serve them. So, you know, being curious is key. Understanding the big picture is very important. and whenever you are capable, I would say, to do that, you will have the opportunities to transition from technical to business and then to general management.

But of course, you know, when you go to general management, we are looking at something different from yourself, okay? So me, for example, I have been sent by myself to open a subsidiary in America to run the Americas operation. So you start from scratch. It's not like I arrive in a company that is already established.

No, I have to start to set up the accounting, the bank, to set up the legal framework, the human resource framework. And of course, on top of that, being the face of the company with the government in United States, with all the stakeholders, to ensure that the corporate strategy is well executed in the Americas. So it's a lot of opportunities, but also a lot of work. Okay, thank you.

Yeah. So as chief business officer at Ascense Marocca, how do you balance commercial growth with technical innovation and sustainability in your ship's transport? Yeah, sure. It's a very good question.

So, you know, Ascense Marocca is the digital branch of our group because we do believe, you know, that digitalization is going to play a significant role in a sustainable maritime world. Why I'm saying that right now, if you look at the CO2 emissions, shipping, transportation contributes for 3 percent of the total emission. OK, so this industry is rapidly becoming more complex with new technologies to reduce the environmental footprint. Regulation is imposing you to use different type of fuels.

There are even people now starting to come back to wind assist mechanism. regulation are having, I would say, significant operational and commercial impacts on the way shipowners conduct their businesses. Basically, when they look at a digital company, they are looking at a robust platform that encompasses the latest state-of-the-art technology, sensors, AI, expertise. You need expertise in all the maritime disciplines and you need proximity.

In our company, we spend a lot of time, you know, listening to our clients, listening to their needs and trying to ensure that we deliver the maximum performance, the maximum safety and the lower environmental footprint. And really, when you look at the shipping organization, you have technical, you have operational, you have commercial and you have environmental. Our goal is to be the link between all these stakeholders to encourage collaboration through a consistent source of data that are grounded by what we call naval architecture principles, because it's vessels that are going through sea and provide the value to ensure a more sustainable, I would say, shipping operations. And this is what we are trying to provide.

And you know, when you look at the GTT, our company, our core business is LNG. But there are 700 LNG carriers worldwide. And there are 300 more being built. So in 2030, there will be maybe 1,100.

But the number of trading vessels worldwide is 100,010. So we want to be the digital arm that helps these 110 ships to improve their performance and reduce their environmental footprint So the size of the market is very huge So that's why we decided to create a full business line. And I have a chance to be the chief business officer of this business now. I see.

I see. Yeah. I know you just talked a little about it, but can you maybe go a little more on how your cross-functional teams collaborate effectively? to deliver these maritime technology projects?

Yeah, you know, this is key. I would say everyone has a key role throughout the life cycle of the project. I would say that commercial people, primary job is to be the voice of the client, okay? They have to make sure that there is a market.

They have to provide input for the product specification. they have to involve the engineering teams in advance in the technical negotiations because at the end of the day if they don't negotiate very well with the engineers then the engineering team is going to struggle with what they negotiate so it's very important even before the contract is being made to involve the engineering teams the engineering teams they need to pay attention to the client opinion but also to executing the project according to the contract on time and on budget. And for that, they need to keep in mind the constructability, the operability. They need to work closely with the commercial people in case of deviations compared to the contract, in case of delays.

So what is key is to implement some regular project status meetings so that the engineering team and the commercial team are capable, in fact, to review all the items and to act in case there is a need of actions. And when it comes to analytics, you know, they support the KPI, they use the operation feedback to feed the design. They have a key role in that as well. So you have to, before the contract, during the execution of the contract, to organize platforms where all these people meet and make sure they share everyone's input and output to deliver the right product at the end.

I see. So having a functional team is very important, especially when you're dealing with liquid natural gas, right? Yeah. Yeah, I see.

So my other question is, what major innovations have you witnessed in maritime engineering or liquid natural gas technologies during your 25 plus years in the industry? Yeah. So first of all, you know, liquefied natural gas was a niche market. When I joined the company, there were 110 ships worldwide transporting liquefied natural gas.

I said earlier, we are now around 750 and there are 300 under construction. So it has been it has developed hugely. At that time, an LNG carrier was smaller. Now you have LNG carriers that are that almost double the size.

OK. And at that time, the engines were consuming a lot of energy. So that means that to carry a certain quantity of gas, you needed more fuel in a smaller footprint. So the engines and the operating profile has changed significantly over the last 25 years.

And us, we have to adapt our technology in order to make sure that the efficiency of our technology match with that. You didn't ask me this question, but something that is important is that LNG at atmospheric pressure evaporate. you can say this is a wasted it's like you know and when you have your your boiler after a certain time if you come back there is no more water it's same for lng here us we conceive a technology that limits the evaporation of energy and match the evaporation of the energy with the needs for the propulsion. That means that the thermal efficiency of the containment system is adjusted to the speed that you want to reach.

So the gas that is going to evaporate will be used for the propulsion of the vessel. So this is very sophisticated. And we adjust the thermal efficiency to meet that demand. So over the last 25 years, engines have improved their efficiency by a factor more than two.

So us, we have to improve our technology by a factor more than two. This is one thing. The other thing is, I said earlier that shipping contributes to about 3% of CO2 emission. So when you have a container vessel that is carrying goods from China to the United States, a very large one, before it was burning heavy fuel oil.

Heavy fuel oil has a big environmental footprint. So if you use, for example, liquefied natural gas instead of heavy fuel oil, you reduce the CO2 emission by 25%. But to do that, you have to make sure that you have a fuel tank that carries liquefied natural gas. So that means all of a sudden you have to adapt your container vessel to be able to burn gas and conventional fuel.

So we have to adapt over the last 10 years our technology to make sure that these type of vessels that are not LNG carriers can burn alternative fuel, gas, to reduce their environmental footprint. it. These are the major items because now our technology has been adapted to container vessels, to bulk carriers, to crews. Many crews now are running on gas and no more on heavy fuel because when they stay at key, instead of having heavy smoke, you will see just water because when you burn LNG, it's clean, there is no odor.

So when people have fun on board these cruise vessels, they don't have this smell, you know, of carbon. They don't have this particle that you have in your car when you drive your car inside the cruise. So all of that is to reduce, in fact, the environmental footprint. These are the two major things, but there are many others.

so you believe that burning LNG like using LNG as a fuel source will be like a booming industry in the future yeah in fact you know there is no magic elixir an energy to be well used it has to be easy to produce easy to transport and easy to store so oil is the best for that. Whenever you go to alternative fuel, you lose efficiency. But the good thing is when you move from fuel oil to LNG you reduce the CO2 emission by 25 It better And then you have to build the LNG infrastructure That means that when you are at the port instead of having a barge with oil to bunker your vessel, you will need to have an infrastructure to bunker LNG. So us, we have to adapt port infrastructures to help on the safety, because when you handle LNG, it's not the same as heavy fuel oil.

So you have to build the barges, you have to bring the bunker vessels, the procedures in order to transfer liquefied natural gas instead of heavy fuel oil. So all of that takes a lot of time. It does not happen overnight, but this is the work that has been done over the last 10 years in order to continue. As I said earlier, shipping is 3% of the CO2 emission globally to reduce the impact of shipping because, you know, Whenever you are at home, when you click Amazon button and you say order, most of the time it comes with a Chinese tag or a Vietnamese tag.

90% of the goods are transported by sea. So it's very important that we ensure that these goods are transported in a sustainable way. that's really interesting to see how that as we grow older different you know things start using LNG more so yeah my question is what technical tools methods or software have been most valuable throughout your engineering and leadership journey it's a good question so at my time we use as an engineer we use AutoCAD we use SolidWorks These are 3D base. We use LNG.

So when you have a vessel, you have a tank, you have to ensure that you can load the LNG and you can unload the LNG. So when you use pipeline, the pipe, you use also equipment to manage all these LNG and all these LNG operations. So we use specialty software like Cesar for piping design and so on. But, you know, when I transitioned to more commercial roles, I used more CRM, you know, a customer base where you have database for customers.

I use PowerPoint. I use Word. And now more and more collaborative tools. For example, you know, something that I have my commercial team to use now is these are tools that, for example, are going to generate leads for you.

you want to reach out to a company you want to reach out to i don't know if tomorrow joshua you are going to be a mechanical engineer how can i reach out to you i don't have your mobile phone your email address or something today through linkedin and through other tools you have some ai driven tools where you go and you select companies you select field of interest and you select mechanical engineer and you select the field, they will give you many companies where you have mechanical engineers. Sometimes you will see their e-mail address, you will see even their phone if it is in one database. So AI is going to help in order for commercial people, for example, to reach out to people, understand their needs, and do this what we called cold callings. before it was much more complicated so through the journey you change the tools to adapt to your needs and to uh to uh type of job that you are doing i see so uh my question is that for students looking to pursue engineering and eventually move into leadership what mindset or habits do you believe are essential for long-term success look i think you have to be curious it's more than important particularly today uh things are changing me it's okay i have maybe 10 years but for you technology is moving very fast you have to be curious you have to train yourself in new technologies and you have to develop soft skills because at the end of the day technology is not going to replace human skills.

So you have to be collaborative, you have to connect, because this is what all these soft skills tomorrow, this is what is going to make the difference. So, and always look at the big picture. If, for example, when you start your career, you are looking at a narrow field, understand what is the, what you are doing impact in the big picture. Find a mentor, very important.

Find someone who will accompany you, who will help you grow in your career. Be a problem solver. Go beyond your own list score. And I would say opportunities will present to yourself.

And if you are engineers, if you are interested in engineering fields, I think there will be a bottleneck on all software engineering. I will encourage you to go on energy. You know why? We always need energy.

Economy is a transformed energy. When you go in McDonald's, if he doesn't have the burner to cook his burgers, there is no business case. Since centuries, you need energy to generate wealth. And more than so today, if you look at AI, a prompt on chat GPT consume 10 times more than Google search.

You need this energy. So understanding how energy comes into your plug is very important. Thank you. I think that's yeah, I guess I haven't even looked at energy engineering or different things.

that's something i guess i'll look into too yeah and you know energy if if you are international students okay look at me each time i communicate with you i was in a different country now i am in paris last time we communicate i was in china the other time i was in middle east so you know we live in a very complex world the only way you can understand this world is to be emerged and energy business help you to do that so you will visit other people you will understand other cultures okay through through outy you have a chance to have access to that but it goes beyond because you are in the bubble but when you go and visit what's going on in china what's going on in middle east what's going on in europe what's going and then you come back to us you realize you have a different perspective you realize that the world of opportunities is vast and also it helps you understand this world that is becoming more and more complex and it helps you position yourself so the only uh i would say uh advice i will give you find something where you are passionate because uh you will do it for a long time and you will thrive but energy could be a good a good way Thank you for your advice That was our last question Thank you for this interview Mr.