This article is the first in a series about our agent network. It will be followed up by interviews with our agents around the world.
Introduction
In addition to its headquarters in Antwerp, Belgium, Subsea Industries has a large network of offices and agents around the world to help ensure that our coatings and equipment are available wherever they are needed.
We have offices in the Tampa Bay Area, in Rotterdam and in Algeciras which are manned by Subsea Industries and Hydrex personnel. In order to cover the rest of the globe, we work through a number of agencies who represent our commercial interests locally. Many of these agencies have worked with Subsea Industries for decades and are very knowledgeable in our products. We value their support highly, since it would be much harder to provide the high levels of service we strive for all over the globe without well-established local support.
In this series of articles we will introduce you to some of the agents. But in this first one we wanted to provide an overview of our agent network so that you can see how broad our coverage is and, should you require our products or services, so that you know you can contact our local agent who will be able to help you in many ways.
How we work with our agents
“It is important to know that they are commercial agents,” explains Manuel Hof, Sales & Production Executive over Subsea Industries who currently oversees the agent network. “Their role is to enlighten shipowners and operators about our products with a view to generating inquiries. We consider them an extension of our sales team – they are our front office while we in Antwerp man the back office.”
In return, Subsea Industries supports the agents with any inquiries and pays them a commission on sales. The agents stay in touch with customers and support them with further requirements, such as a new ship that needs Ecospeed for the hull, or a series of ships already in service whose rudders and thruster tunnels need protection against cavitation erosion and damage, which we handle with Ecoshield when they are in drydock. It is an ongoing collaboration between Subsea Industries and the agent in order to provide the best possible service to the customer.
One agent per territory
“Although in theory we could have more than one agent per country, for the sake of simplicity we prefer to work with one major representative in any given geographical area,” explains Manuel. Some agencies are larger companies than others and have a number of branches around their country. In Canada, for example, which is such a large territory, we are fortunate to be represented by an agency who has an office on each coast as well as a separate one in central Canada. Similarly in China, our agent has offices in Shanghai and also in Dalian. So while we still follow the pattern of one agent per country or territory, we also benefit from the coverage of the more than one office.
Sales conferences
Before COVID restrictions turned the world upside down, Subsea Industries hosted fairly regular sales conferences at our Antwerp headquarters to which all agents were invited. Attendance was remarkably good. These conferences gave the agents an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the latest developments and news, as well as to network and share with us and with the other agents.
Along with COVID and the related travel restrictions, the era of Zoom and Team meetings was ushered in, which opened everyone’s eyes to how much could be accomplished over long distances without having to travel. Now that the travel restrictions have been lifted, it remains to be seen just to what degree we will revert to pre-COVID habits or whether the benefits of videoconferencing will continue to be taken advantage of. Perhaps a balance will be struck. We certainly miss being able to get together with all our agents in person at our facilities so that we can renew our personal relationships and share our news and developments as a group.
Outside events
Not surprisingly, major shipping events are often attended by ourselves as well as the local agent. In these cases, such as Posidonia, Nor-Shipping and so on, we often participate in the local agent’s booth, since they have the local contacts. At Posidonia in 2022, our agent in Greece, N. Bogdanos Marine Bureau invited Subsea Industries and our sister company Hydrex to join them in their very professional, well-presented booth. At Nor-Shipping in Oslo in June 2023 we will participate in the booth of our Norwegian agent, GearConsult AS. We often take the opportunity to visit prospects and customers with the agents when we are in their territory. Often we can help answer questions and come up with solutions from a fresh perspective.
“When we go to an exhibition, our preference is to join our agent in their booth at the exhibition if they are participating,” Manuel explains, “because they are well known in that area, which always helps us to meet more potential customers.”
But in other cases where we have our own stand at an exhibition and the local agency does not, we invite the agent to join us so that together we can meet the local prospects and customers
In all the cases, the combination of local knowledge and connections, and the technical knowledge and experience of our head office staff works well, to the benefit of the shipowners and operators we speak with.
More than just sales
In addition to putting potential customers in touch with us or generating sales of Subsea Industries products, our agents provide invaluable support with the delivery and servicing of our customers. For example, Carich Marine Engineering with offices in Dalian and Shanghai have represented us in China for over 20 years. We work extensively with a number of shipyards all over the country and it’s almost impossible for an outside company to do business in China without a Chinese representative. Carich helps in many different ways to make this possible.
Sometimes we have the added benefit of our agent also being a qualified paint inspector, as in the case of Per Gabrielsson of Coating Inspections & Consultants in Mynämäki, Finland. In addition to representing Subsea Industries, Per provides great technical expertise to customers. For example he was the Owner’s Agent for a Finnish Owner and worked with our agent in Turkey, Orkun Çomuoğlu of Amat Engineering for an Ecospeed newbuild application at a Turkish shipyard. In that case Subsea Industries benefited from representation with the owner as well as with the shipyard.
Stay tuned
But we will go into more detail about the teamwork between Subsea Industries and our agents across the globe as we speak to individual agents and present them in future articles.
A full list of our agents and offices can be found on our contact page.
You can also contact us directly.
+32 3 213 53 18
info@subind.net
This article is the first in a series about our agent network. It will be followed up by interviews with our agents around the world.
Introduction
In addition to its headquarters in Antwerp, Belgium, Subsea Industries has a large network of offices and agents around the world to help ensure that our coatings and equipment are available wherever they are needed.
We have offices in the Tampa Bay Area, in Rotterdam and in Algeciras which are manned by Subsea Industries and Hydrex personnel. In order to cover the rest of the globe, we work through a number of agencies who represent our commercial interests locally. Many of these agencies have worked with Subsea Industries for decades and are very knowledgeable in our products. We value their support highly, since it would be much harder to provide the high levels of service we strive for all over the globe without well-established local support.
In this series of articles we will introduce you to some of the agents. But in this first one we wanted to provide an overview of our agent network so that you can see how broad our coverage is and, should you require our products or services, so that you know you can contact our local agent who will be able to help you in many ways.
How we work with our agents
“It is important to know that they are commercial agents,” explains Manuel Hof, Sales & Production Executive over Subsea Industries who currently oversees the agent network. “Their role is to enlighten shipowners and operators about our products with a view to generating inquiries. We consider them an extension of our sales team – they are our front office while we in Antwerp man the back office.”
In return, Subsea Industries supports the agents with any inquiries and pays them a commission on sales. The agents stay in touch with customers and support them with further requirements, such as a new ship that needs Ecospeed for the hull, or a series of ships already in service whose rudders and thruster tunnels need protection against cavitation erosion and damage, which we handle with Ecoshield when they are in drydock. It is an ongoing collaboration between Subsea Industries and the agent in order to provide the best possible service to the customer.
One agent per territory
“Although in theory we could have more than one agent per country, for the sake of simplicity we prefer to work with one major representative in any given geographical area,” explains Manuel. Some agencies are larger companies than others and have a number of branches around their country. In Canada, for example, which is such a large territory, we are fortunate to be represented by an agency who has an office on each coast as well as a separate one in central Canada. Similarly in China, our agent has offices in Shanghai and also in Dalian. So while we still follow the pattern of one agent per country or territory, we also benefit from the coverage of the more than one office.
Sales conferences
Before COVID restrictions turned the world upside down, Subsea Industries hosted fairly regular sales conferences at our Antwerp headquarters to which all agents were invited. Attendance was remarkably good. These conferences gave the agents an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the latest developments and news, as well as to network and share with us and with the other agents.
Along with COVID and the related travel restrictions, the era of Zoom and Team meetings was ushered in, which opened everyone’s eyes to how much could be accomplished over long distances without having to travel. Now that the travel restrictions have been lifted, it remains to be seen just to what degree we will revert to pre-COVID habits or whether the benefits of videoconferencing will continue to be taken advantage of. Perhaps a balance will be struck. We certainly miss being able to get together with all our agents in person at our facilities so that we can renew our personal relationships and share our news and developments as a group.
Outside events
Not surprisingly, major shipping events are often attended by ourselves as well as the local agent. In these cases, such as Posidonia, Nor-Shipping and so on, we often participate in the local agent’s booth, since they have the local contacts. At Posidonia in 2022, our agent in Greece, N. Bogdanos Marine Bureau invited Subsea Industries and our sister company Hydrex to join them in their very professional, well-presented booth. At Nor-Shipping in Oslo in June 2023 we will participate in the booth of our Norwegian agent, GearConsult AS. We often take the opportunity to visit prospects and customers with the agents when we are in their territory. Often we can help answer questions and come up with solutions from a fresh perspective.
“When we go to an exhibition, our preference is to join our agent in their booth at the exhibition if they are participating,” Manuel explains, “because they are well known in that area, which always helps us to meet more potential customers.”
But in other cases where we have our own stand at an exhibition and the local agency does not, we invite the agent to join us so that together we can meet the local prospects and customers.
In all the cases, the combination of local knowledge and connections, and the technical knowledge and experience of our head office staff works well, to the benefit of the shipowners and operators we speak with.
More than just sales
In addition to putting potential customers in touch with us or generating sales of Subsea Industries products, our agents provide invaluable support with the delivery and servicing of our customers. For example, Carich Marine Engineering with offices in Dalian and Shanghai have represented us in China for over 20 years. We work extensively with a number of shipyards all over the country and it’s almost impossible for an outside company to do business in China without a Chinese representative. Carich helps in many different ways to make this possible.
Sometimes we have the added benefit of our agent also being a qualified paint inspector, as in the case of Per Gabrielsson of Coating Inspections & Consultants in Mynämäki, Finland. In addition to representing Subsea Industries, Per provides great technical expertise to customers. For example he was the Owner’s Agent for a Finnish Owner and worked with our agent in Turkey, Orkun Çomuoğlu of Amat Engineering for an Ecospeed newbuild application at a Turkish shipyard. In that case Subsea Industries benefited from representation with the owner as well as with the shipyard.
Stay tuned
But we will go into more detail about the teamwork between Subsea Industries and our agents across the globe as we speak to individual agents and present them in future articles.
A full list of our agents and offices can be found on our contact page.
You can also contact us directly.
+32 3 213 53 18
info@subind.net
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