Ducab continues investing in quality, innovation, and fire performance of cables and eyes a more prominent place in the Indian market.
Since its founding in 1979 by the government of Dubai as a joint venture with BICC cables, Ducab has supplied cables and wires for a number of landmark projects within the UAE and internationally. Some of its biggest projects in the UAE include Burj Khalifa, Dubai Metro, Emirates Palace, Burj Al Arab, Atlantis, The Palm and Yas Marina Circuit.
Within the greater GCC, Ducab has also supplied power cables to projects such as the Ras Gas Project, Dasman Hypermarket (Qatar), Central Bank of Oman, Dilmunia Health Centre (Bahrain). Its milestones include working on the Public Utility Board (Singapore), ICC Tower (Hong Kong, HSBC Corporate Office (Hong Kong) and the Delhi Metro (India).
Ducab’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in the UAE include Ducab Jebel Ali, Ducab Mussafah 1 Factory, Ducab Mussafah 2 Factory, Copper Rod Factory and High Voltage (HV) Cable Systems Factory (Opening end 2010). With five manufacturing facilities, it has a manufacturing capability of over 110,000 copper tonnes of high, medium and low voltage cables per annum.
In 2014, SENAAT and DUCAB announced a joint-venture, Ducab Aluminium Company (DAC), to develop a 50,000tpa aluminum rod mill, of which 16,000tpa will be converted on-site into finished overhead conductors. Located in Kizad, Abu Dhabi. The plant will manufacture Electrical Conductive (EC) grade and aluminum alloy rods, wires, and bare overhead conductors through environmentally friendly processes, using liquid aluminum supplied from the EMAL smelter in Taweelah. With an investment of AED220 million (USD60 million), the world class DAC plant will offer best in class products based on a strong understanding of customer needs, creating custom-built solutions using a highly-skilled and well-trained workforce.
Recently, Wire & Cable India magazine talked with Mr. Andrew Shaw serves as Managing Director at Dubai Cable Company (Private) Limited (Ducab) at the sidelines of Elecrama 2016 in Bangaluru. Excerpts:
Wire & Cable India: To start with, tell us what new developments are happening at Ducab.
Andrew Shaw: Ducab is continuing to invest. Fortunately, our shareholders felt fit to continue investing in the business. As announced, we are already building our fifth factory in UAE with the construction of Ducab-Aluminium which is in Kizad – the Khalifa Industrial Zone between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It will produce aluminium rods and conductors for overhead transmission lines, and will supply the cable manufacturing industry and the utility sector.
Aluminium will be delivered via a ‘Hot Metal Road’ planned by Kizad to transport molten aluminium from the EMAL (Emirates Alunimium) plant to nearby manufacturing firms. By the middle of 2016, we would be able to offer aluminium rods and wires (alongside the already offered copper rods) which are unique to the market. In 2017, we will start the development of overhead conductors using the same factory.
WCI: Tell us something about Ducab’s presence in India.
AS: In India, we are not present in great meaningful way. We have only focused on niche markets for cable supplies and we don’t have production here in India. However, we are finding some success in the niche industrial products – very specialist applications where it makes sense to use imported cables. But, otherwise, for standard cables, the tariffs are punitive and there is very little chance of being competitive.
Of course, our biggest business in India is Ducab-copper. India is the second largest market we have for copper rods after the Saudi Arabia. It’s pleasing to see how the business has grown in the last 5 years. We have got a lot of loyal customers who appreciate the premium service and products we are able to offer from our copper rod mill in Abu Dhabi.
WCI: Would you throw us some names from your clientele in India?
AS: To name a few, Matherson Sumi and Polycab are among our major customers in India for copper rods.
WCI: What are your plans for the Indian market for the next five years?
AS: I think it’s more of the same. In the next five years, perhaps, we will continue to build our presence in the premium copper rod markets. We will also introduce aluminum rods for those customers who want Ducab products. As for the cables and wires division, Ducab will continue its focus on specialist cables. Within next five years, we are sure we will have prominent presence in addition to our sales agents for copper rods. We also will be servicing our specialist cables’ customers. Beyond that, it’s difficult to say.
WCI: Coming back to UAE, tell us if something is happening on the front of product development and technological innovation.
AS: In terms of cable products, we are putting in lots of effort to improve the fire performance range of cables. I think this is now becoming seen as the default fitting in quality buildings – the owner and the fire codes are demanding independently tested fire performance cables. We are the market leaders and so will continue investing in the fire survivability of our cables.
We are also putting considerable efforts in developing our nuclear cables range. We were the first in the world to introduce 60 years life; we will now further develop the range to supply to other new builds across multiple geographies.
The teams have been busy developing and launching the entire range of power, control and instrumentation range of all shipboard and marine cable applications. Branded as the MarineBICC, this range is offered with the relevant LR, ABS, BV and DNV certifications.
WCI: What works for Ducab? Any vision or philosophy?
AS: Underlying everything we do is quality. I think Ducab can be criticized for a number of things, but never for quality. In a crowded marketplace, I think Ducab has never wavered from its focus on offering the best possible quality. I think hard on the heels of quality, service is another feather in our cap which sets us apart in the marketplace – our copper rod business in India is the best example of quality service. Of course, the quality (of product) is a given, but then you have to have the quality of service, the quality of back-up, and the quality of response. And, that probably sums up Ducab.
