“Grand Plans” for the Americas

By Liesl Venter

From Issue 5 of Breakbulk Magazine.

There was nothing fancy or extraordinary about the advertisement that changed the course of Edward Talbot’s life. As an engineer working in his hometown of Burton-on-Trent in the UK, he had never considered delving into the intricate world of project cargo. “It was an opportunity for a job at ALE at their UK office. I had randomly come across it and, spur of the moment, decided to contact them to interview for the role,” he told Breakbulk.

That marked a turning point in the career of the now managing director of Roll Group USA, propelling him towards an entirely new trajectory. Coincidentally, ALE’s Middle East office was also actively seeking a candidate. In a peculiar twist, the Middle East team presented him with an unexpected opportunity even before the UK counterparts could contact him.

In 2007, Talbot relocated to Abu Dhabi with his mechanical engineering and business management degree from the University of Liverpool and a couple of years of experience as a project manager in the food and pharmaceutical sectors. “Within six months, I lived in a camp in Qatar, working on this massive gas-to-liquids (GTL) project. Looking back, we were on the limit of our capability, yet we pulled it off and did an excellent job.”

Shell Pearl GTL stands out as one of the pinnacle points in Talbot’s career. “The main reason is that it set a path for operational and safety excellence which I have carried throughout my career. Pivot projects can shape an organization and raise the bar operationally for how contracts should manage their operations.”

As his first endeavor, Pearl GLT was laden with numerous invaluable lessons. “We were part of an expanding team, myself included, performing a larger project with a permanent set-up. We did not have the latest equipment available. We performed more than 1,000 heavy-lifts using what we had available,” he said.


A Calling

Even though every day on that project personified everything that was challenging about project cargo, Talbot had found his calling.

“It was a difficult but rewarding experience,” he said. “The project was just huge from a size and scale perspective. We were building the world’s largest GTL plant. It was a learning experience in heavy-lift, breakbulk and freight forwarding. It was baptism by fire. I managed this project, and failure was not an option. Through sheer determination and commitment, we ended up doing an incredible job.”

It set the tone for the next 13 years that he would spend in the Middle East. The proverbial project bug had bitten. “I was truly taken with the project work. At the time, we had no real way of managing costs and scopes or controlling schedules, so I developed a project management framework that ALE could use and apply to our business. Subsequently, I moved over to working solely on projects. Heading up a project management and cost control team, my role ensured that our projects ran correctly, and I would take the lead on the most challenging and complex projects. I was involved and ran several large and difficult projects in the region.”

In 2014, Talbot was appointed as a general manager of ALE’s head office in the Middle East, leading a team of more than 300 people out of its regional head office in Abu Dhabi, a role he fulfilled until late 2019. “To a certain extent, my time in the region had come to a natural end, and it was time to move on.”

He moved back into the engineering and manufacturing world, working as operations director for a process design and EPC company, running two manufacturing divisions in the UK. Working on continuous improvement, establishing robust procurement and QA/QC processes, and delivering some exciting energy transition projects was an excellent opportunity and a steppingstone to learn further and develop.

However, with the world grappling with a global pandemic, his trajectory was set to shift yet again. “With traveling curbed and so much happening worldwide, I opted to set up a project management and business development consultancy primarily working with clients in the offshore renewable and subsea cabling space assisting with operational issues.”


Embracing New Horizons

Fast forward a year, and Talbot confronted another crossroads that would shape his career. “My affinity lies with projects—especially those with associated challenges requiring innovation and problem-solving to provide solution-driven engineering. I feel I am best placed to assist the U.S. market in the race to deliver the large capital projects across the oil and gas and energy transition space that are on the table.”

Transitioning to Roll Group became an inevitable step. “The allure of the project sphere, in an exciting time where we can build a highly competent team to deliver large and complex projects on land and sea, was an opportunity I could not walk away from.”

As the newly appointed managing director of Roll Group USA, he is securely back in the project seat. “We have grand plans for our business here. We see the Americas as a key driver for the success and growth of the Group as a whole.”

His first order of business is growing the U.S. office, establishing it as a solution-driven logistics provider specializing in heavy-lift and transportation projects. “Over the next period, we will increase our capacity, capability and asset base in the U.S., driving projects across the group. We are focused on creating a combined land and sea solution for our clients and servicing the localized needs.”

Talbot emphasized the advantages of engaging a single contractor from both logistical and installation standpoints, particularly in larger undertakings. “I’ve consistently upheld the value of partnerships. Nurturing connections with our clientele remains my paramount objective within the U.S. market. I actively engage with our clients; we seek to understand project challenges and obstacles and to problem-solve their requirements to foster meaningful relationships and deliver optimum solutions.”


Houston: Hotbed for Projects

Having relocated to Houston, Talbot said Roll Group USA was ideally placed to grow its footprint in the project sector. “Drawing a parallel between the scale of projects seen in other parts of the world, we see a healthy project market. Today, numerous undertakings are worth billions of dollars, spanning different stages of design, procurement, and construction across the U.S. Our aspiration revolves around active participation in a multitude of these endeavors. Few places offer more promising prospects in project development than here.”

The lessons he has learned will serve him well in the booming U.S. project space. “In the U.S., time to market is important. There is a general demand to build a lot of projects in a relatively short space of time. Delivering to these timelines will require experience and knowledge. Every project and customer is different. Being successful in this business is about knowing how to plan and organize yourself. It is about getting the right information as early as possible to mitigate the numerous risks of large-scale projects,” he said.

“Our role is to understand our customer requirements early to assist and support in the engineering phase to carry through to execution to maintain schedule and manage costs.”

According to Talbot, clients already see the value of having Roll Group on board. “Our bookings are already extending into 2025 and beyond as customers realize it will be a race to deliver the numerous planned projects. Our customers also want to understand what options are available to them and how we can offer innovative solutions. One aspect is having the right assets on the ground to meet project needs. Being available to deliver and move the cargo in the specific windows of time it must be done in is also important.”

He sees planning as one of the most crucial elements for success in the project sector. “We operate in highly charged and pressurized environments with little room for error. There are many variables with breakbulk away from the modular cargo, as every piece differs. It is extremely challenging and, therefore, critical to plan ahead. You will always need to problem solve on the ground, but if you plan properly, you can mitigate enough of the risk so that when you get on-site, you can deal with just about anything that comes your way.”

Looking at sectors, Talbot said oil and gas remain two areas they will target in the U.S, alongside projects in the renewable and offshore wind space as part of the energy transition. “It is an interesting and exciting time to be operating in the project cargo sector. There is so much happening, not only in the U.S. but around the world.”

For Talbot, there is nowhere he would rather be right now. He has come a long way since that initial move into the project sector. “I’ve been fortunate enough to contribute to projects and implement solutions that were once beyond my wildest imagination. Along this path, I’ve encountered setbacks that have yielded invaluable lessons. This is part of the allure – the opportunity to dive into projects, extract knowledge, and ascend towards more ambitious horizons. Through this incremental progression, we elevate our industry, one project at a time.”

Check out our interview with Edward Talbot at Breakbulk Americas 2023: