Skilled staff are easy to find

THE EASE with which companies are able to recruit skilled employees from the surrounding region and the wider world is an important factor that encourages them to locate there.
Single Buoy Moorings (SBM) is a major employer in the Principality, with a staff of 500—of which more than half are engineers and management.

DIDIER KELLER President and CEO of Single Buoy Moorings

According to Didier Keller, the company’s President and CEO, high quality human resources are readily available.
“Here we can assemble a multinational work force, as Monaco employment regulations offer great freedom in this respect,” he says. “We need talented people and experienced engineers from all over the world, and it is fairly easy to recruit them, as the region is so attractive to live in.

“Monaco provides a favorable and business-friendly environment for our activities,” Mr. Keller says. “The location is favorable for companies that want to attain high-level performance.
“We enjoy a good relationship with the government and receive serious support, attention, and encouragement. We feel welcome and appreciated.”

SBM enjoys a global reputation for excellence in the design and supply to the international oil and petrochemical industries of loading and offloading marine terminals (SPMs), floating storage offloading systems (FSOs) and floating production storage, and offloading systems (FPSOs).
“From Monaco, we carry out a large part of our R&D and engineering functions. In addition, we also run the offshore oil and gas operation of our FPSOs,” says Mr. Keller.

“Since engineering and production operations are the most important functions of our group, the general management of our global business is also located here. That covers the supervision and coordination of all the offshore companies of the IHC Caland Holding, including the main ones located in Houston and the Netherlands.”
SBM also benefits in more subtle ways from the cachet of such a prestigious location. “Established clients enjoy coming to visit us in the Principality,” says Mr. Keller.

The company, which moved to Monaco from the Netherlands in 1972, is a member of the IHC Caland Group, which is quoted on the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange and has more than 50 percent of its shares held by U.S. investors.
SBM were pioneers in their field. Mr. Keller says, “In the late seventies, together with Shell, SBM was the first company involved in an FPSO. The second major milestone was in 1979 when, for the first time, the company promoted the concept of leasing an FPSO to an oil company.”
Today, FPSOs have become SBM’s core business. “The high demand for FPSO systems has fuelled our exponential growth through the last few years,” says Mr. Keller. “We are now a highly specialized company, one of the world leaders in a field where technology and innovation are an essential requirement.”