A Reliable and Sustainable Company Now Full Speed Ahead with Transition and Innovation

Michael Yang, Group Vice Chairman of CTCI/ CEO of Group Engineering Business

Headquartered in Taiwan, CTCI enjoys global outreach. Last year (2020), our primary business focus was Taiwanese market due to global lockdowns caused by COVID-19. Taiwanese government’s energy diversification policy offered us business opportunities in times of hardship. We aggressively tapped into gas-fired power plant, wind power, and solar power sectors, a strategical decision that produced unprecedented Group contract amount signed as well as backlogs. 

As the pandemic eases this year, economies around the world are back on track. The engineering sector is doing better as we see investments increase. Against this backdrop, we decided not only to keep pursuing green energy business and catch this wave that mega government investment offers, but also to reorganize our resources swiftly to develop advanced technology facilities business as we have spotted global trends and market demands. These are the keys to maintain our global competitiveness. Just three months into 2021, CTCI’s new contracts have reached 59 billion TWD, equivalent to 45% of previous year’s amount. The performance is also much better than the same period in 2020. We expect to break new record this year.

Business Transition Driven by High-Tech Facilities and Green Energy

With over 40 years of history, CTCI’s engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) business has spanned across hydrocarbon, power, environmental, transportation, and industrial sectors. Aware of the rising demands in high-tech facilities and clean energy in recent years, we decided to transform our businesses.

Firstly, the high-tech sector. Semiconductor companies offer lucrative business opportunities both up- and downstream when it comes to plant engineering and construction. Last year, we integrated Group resources and established Advanced Technology Facilities Business Operations (ATFBO), a decision that helped us successfully secure semiconductor EPC contracts in the United States. This March, we further established an office in the state of Arizona to better serve our customers and take advantage of local technological clusters.

Our ambitions does not stop at merely fab EPC. By drawing on our experiences in high-tech wastewater and solid waste treatment, such as waste isopropanol recycling and reuse, we are eyeing for project opportunities within the semiconductor chain. Situated in a nation known as high-tech powerhouse, we have settled a long-term plan to move toward higher end with more sophisticated technical expertise, earn track records, and gain firm foothold in the high-tech engineering sector. We go wherever our client goes, and expect to continue set remarkable records.

Secondly, the clean energy sector. In addition to energy from waste (EfW), our renewable power business now includes solar, biogas, and offshore wind. The successful completion of transition pieces for Yunlin Offshore Wind Farm was a landmark feat that saw the first locally produced offshore wind power equipment. This is followed by the successful completion of pin piles for Changfang & Xidao Offshore Wind Farm Phase 1 in March this year, as well as horizontal directional drilling (HDD) for export cables. CTCI has now become a top-notch foundations manufacturer that helps the government reach its offshore wind localization target.

And lastly, we continue to take part in the nation’s gas-fired power plant EPC to ensure stable power supply. Low-carbon and low-emissions projects such as the ones we secured last year from CPC Corporation and Taipower allow us to contribute to the Earth’s sustainability through our core competencies. Green or low-carbon projects already accounted for 84% of annual contract amount in 2020, or 64% of backlogs. Driven by energy transition, we are gradually realizing a sustainable vision that strikes balance between making a profit and protecting the environment.

Business Expansion through Synergy from Group Resources Integration

To cope with competitive global engineering market and meet ever-growing demands in various dimensions, CTCI has undergone transition that calls for resource integration to create Group synergy. Our global business will take a “vertical and horizontal” approach to widen and deepen our service scope.

In terms of vertical service expansion, we have now successfully extended upstream scope to include Front-End Engineering Design (FEED), which is more difficult technically and can increase the chances of acquiring EPC work. On the other hand, we extended downstream scope to include Operations & Maintenance (O&M) across EfW plants, water reclamation plants, liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminals, as well as potential refineries and combined cycle thermal power plants. O&M offers many post-EPC business opportunities and is a way to generate long-term and stable revenues. On the other hand, many aging EfW plants will need to be renovated or rebuilt in the coming years. As a leading EPC and O&M company in EfW plants, we will muster Group efforts to secure projects and keep CTCI in leading position.

In terms of horizontal service expansion, we will rely on strategic alliance to ensure stable business development. For example, LIWA EPC1 project, which we jointly contracted with McDermott, was completed successfully with 77 million safe-man hours record, setting key milestone for CTCI’s role in Omani market. PTTLNG’s LNG receiving terminal, which we jointly contracted with Saipem from Italy, was successfully roof air-raised, on track to become Thailand’s single LNG tank once completed. These two projects have broken CTCI’s contract records locally in Oman and in Thailand, a big boost in our competitive edge in the Middle East and South East Asian hydrocarbon markets.

Advanced Intelligent Technologies

To provide customers more immediate and highly efficient quality services, CTCI continues to introduce advanced and smart technologies. This year, our intelligent EPC (iEPC) has moved on to the next stage of development called iEPC 2.0. Previously, iEPC 1.0 combines the concepts of digitalization and automation to successfully integrate various internal project interfaces. By connecting all stages in a full life-cycle— planning, engineering, procurement, and construction (even maintenance)— projects can now receive more comprehensive sets of data more quickly. Moreover, there have been nearly 30 innovations last year— and counting, such as welding robots, piping internal inspection and cleaning robots, and drones for site monitoring. iEPC 2.0, currently under development, will extend its applications up- and downstream. More focus will be placed on AI-enabled functions and improving the automation level, so that projects can be better managed, costs streamlined, and schedules controlled. 

Module prefabrication for Gulf Coast Growth Ventures (GCGV) project— the 1.1 million tons per annum monoethylene glycol project, also the world’s largest modularization project on land to date— is now completed, thanks to the collaborated efforts from our team in Taiwan, the United States, China, Mexico, India, and Malaysia. In February, the modules have been successfully transported to site in the US and are now officially on to the next stage of assembly. The success of this project has set a new milestone for CTCI in modularized EPC as well as our global projects.

Achieving Corporate Sustainability through Reliable Teams

As Taiwan’s leading EPC company and among the world’s top 100, CTCI remains dedicated to providing high quality EPC services to customers around the world. To do so, we will follow market trends closely, open up new businesses, and leverage Group resources and smart, innovative technologies.

With a vision of becoming “the most reliable global engineering services provider,” CTCI will keep up its growth momentum and head towards corporate sustainability.