Bolloré Transport and Logistics management with journalists at the Port of Mombasa on March 29, 2018. The firm will provide the transport and logistics services for the construction of the Hoima-Tanga pipeline. PHOTO | FILE | NMG
By: Julius Barigaba
Local firms in Uganda and Tanzania will only play the support role in providing the transport and logistics services for the construction of the Hoima-Tanga pipeline, after oil giant TotalEnergies awarded the deal to French multinational Bolloré Logistics.
Bolloré’s media relations manager Cindy Patan declined to reveal the details of the deal, saying “we signed an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) with our client.” But sources say the French logistics giant will deliver the services within the budget of $133 million, which the company bid.
The company announced on May 9 that after “an extensive and detailed tendering process” it had been awarded a contract for the main logistics contractor (MCL) services for the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) project, whose total cost is expected to be $5 billion.
Industry sources familiar with the tendering process intimated to The EastAfrican that Bolloré faced stiff competition from German companies DHL and Deugro, which also bid for the logistics deal as soon as the invitation for bids was announced in 2018.
The sources said that local firms will only be subcontractors because, in the oil and gas industry, the main contracts will always go to the tried and tested multinationals that have sufficient capital and agility to mobilise the required resources for the job.
The MCL contract scope includes end-to-end receiving, storage, handling and transportation of hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of cargo, including more than 80,000 joints of 18-metre line-pipe, multiple heavy-lift operations and significant break-bulk and containerised cargo transportation.
Source: The East African
