New Regional Headquarters in Mumbai
IHC Merwede has opened a new regional headquarters in Mumbai in a bid to boost its presence and service offering on the Indian Subcontinent. The Dutch shipbuilding group, well-known worldwide for its dredging and offshore work, has actually had an office in Delhi for nearly 25 years and it has already been doing business in India for more than 80 years. Philip de Bats, Area Manager for India, IHC Merwede Dredging & Mining, says IHC Merwede has been considering setting up a regional office in India for some years now, adding to regional offices it already has in Dubai, Nigeria and Singapore. De Bats says: “The Indian market is very special for IHC Merwede and has been for many years but we want to offer additional support to our growing base of clients. IHC Merwede has regularly been supplying new vessels and spare parts to companies in India but we were keen to boost our service offering. We want to be near to the customer, where they have their offices. Being closer allows us to deliver the service required at all levels. These improvements allow our clients to benefit from IHC Merwede’s unique Life-cycle Support service. We expect that this new regional presence will give our customers the opportunity to optimize their performance and be even more successful in their business.”
IHC Merwede’s ambitions for the Indian market include future plans to establish warehousing and storage facilities in the Mumbai region. De Bats hopes that these plans will come to fruition within the next six months. In the longer-term, IHC Merwede is also considering increasing its presence with the addition of more local branches and it is mulling over the possibility of establishing local production facilities, bringing many new jobs to the region. For IHC Merwede, India is an exciting market. De Bats comments: “India is still growing, there are so many possibilities and challenges. The biggest problem is choosing which possibilities we are going to develop but that is a luxury problem!”
