Zircon Marine shows resilience, innovation, success in 2022

Reviewing a company’s progress at the end of a period and setting goals for the next period is an integral part of time management and growth.

When the stakeholders of Zircon Marine Limited sat down to review their progress at the end of 2022, they no doubt were grateful for an incredibly successful year.

With over a decade in the marine industry, Zircon Marine is an indigenous Nigerian company with a proven track record of excellence and success.

Year 2022 was one of resilience, innovation, and success for Zircon Marine Limited. The company not only navigated the uncertainty brought about by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic but also emerged as a leading player in the liquids transfer and ACE services in the marine industry.

With its focus on quality, efficiency, sustainability and corporate social responsibility, Zircon Marine is firmly focused on excellence in the industry, setting the tone for future growth and success and on the upward trajectory for 2023.

Being the first full year following the gradual relaxation of restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, only a few people and organisations, if any, held any certainty about the trajectory of the year. Yet, for Zircon Marine, the company thrived and went above and beyond, accomplishing set targets and breaking new frontiers.

Zircon’s experience in 2022 was largely supported by its participation in Columbia Business School’s first programme for established businesses in Africa, the Entrepreneurship Competitiveness Programme for Africa (E-CA).

For ten months, starting in November 2021 and culminating with a week at the Gaizen Institute in New York, Columbia provided Zircon Marine with faculty, MBA students and experienced business people to help the company focus and solve its most salient business objectives.

Two members of staff and the CEO were immersed in high-level class work, consulting, surveys, strategy meetings, targeted campaigns and more. At the same time, they systematically involved the broader organisation in different aspects of their learning. The results were clarity in service delivery, focus on the company’s areas of strength, and positioning for growth. The management confirmed the impact of the training was a 2.5x increase in Zircon Marine’s revenue over 2021.

“Specifically, we solidified our position as the primary and only ship-to-ship service provider for one of the Nigerian operations of one of the world’s largest r International Oil Companies,” said Oluseyi Ajibola, CEO at Zircon Marine.

“This was a result of an 18-month-long audit, followed by an exceptional performance from the rank and file of our organisation and “a significant step in the company’s plan to become the number one indigenous company for liquids transfer in the country, “ Ajibola added.

“As a company, we are immensely proud of everything we achieved in 2022. We have three new Columbia Business School alumni in our organisation, and as a result, it has been a truly exceptional performance in challenging circumstances,” Ajibola further added.

According to him, the firm’s achievements are a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Zircon team, who have gone above and beyond to deliver world-class service to its clients.

In addition to this achievement, Zircon Marine also made significant strides in other areas.

The company took a significant engagement for the alternative evacuation (marine transportation) of crude oil for one of the most progressive Nigerian Independent Oil and Gas companies. It constructed and installed mooring pins and provided low-draft marine assets, including storage, shuttle barges, tankers, and offshore/inland security escort vessels.

Toyosi Belgore, the company’s head of strategy and business development, shared that they were incredibly proud of this engagement because the company intrinsically shares a similar working ethos and values with Zircon.

“We are confident of continuous service to this organisation into the future and have subsequently picked up more work, “ Belgore added. Although she did not go into details, she alluded to the fact that the company is currently in many conversations about Alternative Crude Evacuation (ACE) and is firmly the leading company where ACE is concerned,” she added.

Quality and efficiency were also key priorities for Zircon Marine in 2022. The company renewed its ISO 9001 certificate thanks to developing and implementing a quality management system approved by ISO 9001-2005 standard.

Another significant achievement was the sheer volume of its ship-to-ship (STS) operations. At almost 150 operations, the company about doubled its target for 2021.

Furthermore, the company recorded zero lost-time incidents and a near-perfect safety record, a remarkable achievement considering the volatility of its operations. It also achieved over 96% customer satisfaction in its lightering operations.

In addition to its operational successes, Zircon Marine actively supported and shaped the broader industry. For example, they organised the second Alternative Crude Evacuation Workshop in partnership with WoodMackenzie, the world’s leader in Oil and Gas research and data.

The workshop, which was at capacity, highlighted the alternative crude evacuation workshop blueprint from inception to execution and further established the company as a respected voice in the industry.

Post covid, the company reinforced its sustainability drive and got back listed with the UN Global Compact, which it has been signatories to since 2014.

Zircon planned and achieved principles 6 and 8 – eliminating discrimination in the workplace and greater environmental responsibility. On the environmental front, the company set out and achieved plastic neutrality for its workforce as its contribution to reducing plastic waste in the Nigerian waterways.

In addition, Zircon Marine partnered with Recyclan, Nigeria’s leading recycling organisation, to collect the waste and provide them with auditable reports.

“Our discrimination objectives were set around women empowerment in our workforce (where more than 70percent of management are women) and externally via grants and targeted sponsorships,” added Ajibola, who served as one of the judges at the Total Start-up programme for budding entrepreneurs.

The programme extended a Zircon-sponsored grant to Rebecca Adeosun, who emerged as the best female entrepreneur of 2022. Rebecca is the team lead at oCycle, a start-up focused on using digital and biotechnology to create value-added products from biowaste. This grant not only supported the development of the local economic environment but also encouraged the growth of a young woman-led company that otherwise did not have easy access to capital.

The company also awarded scholarships to two female students of the Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology to boost their learning experience and to also improve the number of women in the maritime industry. In addition, Zircon Marine sponsored the financial National Diploma (ND) cash award to the winner of an essay writing competition on the topic Overcoming Female Inclusion/Equality in Maritime Education, while another cash award went to the best-returning student.

Zircon Marine also provided sponsorship for the seventh edition of the renowned international art fair Art X Lagos, as well as Linda Dounia’s colourful dystopian flowerscape, Once Upon a Garden, in support of its women’s advancement and sustainability initiatives.

Looking to the future, Ajibola said: “I am confident that we will continue to go from strength to strength in the years ahead as we consistently provide first-class marine services to our clients around the world”.