Can you provide a detailed explanation of the service package TEAM Industrial Services offers in Trinidad and your involvement in the offshore sector?

Founded in 1973, TEAM Industrial Services is the largest industrial mechanical service provider in the region, offering repair and various technical services. We provide over 11 different service lines as a complete package. In Trinidad and Tobago, we derive 100% of our business from the oil and gas industry. However, the offshore business has not contributed significantly to our success in Trinidad, although we aim to expand our involvement in this sector. Our primary revenue stream comes from chemical plants. Our success is due to our ability to continuously improve and push the envelope year after year.

We’ve noticed a surge in business for service companies such as yours during the ‘maintenance season’ following the downturn for upstream players in the industry. Could you elaborate on this?

A decade ago, companies had their internal divisions for providing maintenance services. With shrinking budgets, upstream companies are now returning to their core business and outsourcing their maintenance to external service providers. Despite the downturn in the upstream sector and the economy, TEAM Industrial Services has not experienced a lapse in business; in fact, we have experienced record growth over the past four years. Other service companies have had similar experiences. Although we have also diversified our service offering, the main reason for our success is the increase in demand for maintenance work. In addition to shrunken budgets, companies are increasingly attempting to work with only one contractor providing all required services, rather than with four or five contractors individually; our diversification fits in with this trend.

We’ve also noticed that local companies are starting to establish themselves in a variety of different markets both regionally and internationally. What role has the Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago played in assisting Trinidadian companies in going abroad?

Our partnership with the Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago has been mutually beneficial. For example, as a part of our partnership, we were requested by the Suriname Energy Chamber to communicate with Trinidad and Tobago companies and companies from the region attempting to enter Suriname. Two years ago, the Chamber also assisted us in establishing a connection with Angolan companies, and we are currently in the process of creating a partnership in that part of the world. Our global headquarters granted the Trinidadian offices of TEAM the license to develop projects beyond the Caribbean region. Our team here has led us to consider ourselves a localized international company and a part of the movement of Trinidadian companies expanding abroad. We have also established a training program with our head office, sending a number of Trinidadians abroad and having several Americans work for us here, ensuring that TEAM’s knowledge base is as diverse as possible.

Where do you believe the most significant opportunities for growth lie?

Our focus for TEAM Industrial is on the Caribbean: Suriname, French Guyana, and the wider Caribbean. However, we are also looking beyond our continent to Africa. We believe that there is still a lot of potential in Trinidad and Tobago, particularly if exploration continues to pick up, as it has been. Five years from now, we hope to expand our services further into the Caribbean market, including Jamaica, Barbados, and Martinique. Despite the oil and gas market’s age in Trinidad and Tobago, we believe that both the country and the greater Caribbean region have significant growth potential in the future. While most business papers and magazines may say that Trinidad and Tobago has plateaued, we believe that we still have a long way to go.