“Malaysia’s central location makes it a strategic location for a regional headquarters. This is augmented by the country’s maturing oil and gas industry. Our presence in this country allows McDermott to be closer to our customers and suppliers and gain access to an established workforce and a matured supply chain network,” says Cuthbertson.
He also points to the good standard of living that Greater KL offers and finds the cost of doing business in this city to be very competitive. “Kuala Lumpur has good connectivity and infrastructure. These are important factors needed for a good working environment. McDermott works closely with our customers and we have a number of project offices around the region so that we can be near our customers in those countries. McDermott’s office in Malaysia is the company’s largest management office in Asia as it functions as the regional headquarters,” adds Cuthbertson.
McDermott’s local operations include the main engineering office as well as central project oversight and management functions such as its finance, supply chain, and sales and marketing. Its office in Kuala Lumpur currently supports the company’s operations in Southeast Asia, China, Australia and India. “Our office in Kuala Lumpur offers full corporate, strategic, shared and technical services to our operations and projects in Asia. Clearly, our local operations play an important role in expanding our footprint in Asia; a region that we believe has vast untapped potential especially for deepwater projects. The Asia Pacific region is one of Mc- Dermott’s core markets along with Americas, Europe and Africa, and the Middle East” says Cuthbertson.
In Asia, McDermott currently has two fabrication yards located in Batam, Indonesia, and Qingdao, China, respectively. “Our operations in Batam was setup in 1970 and, at 119 hectares — which is equivalent to 177 football fields — is the largest fabrication yard in size within the company. Our yard in China is a joint venture with the China Ship Building Industry Corporation Wuchan and quite new. It is fully equipped with modern facilities that can accommodate indoor fabrication,” says Cuthbertson.