Having worked for TotalEnergies for the past 20 years in Dubai, Mantha Sri Krishna Sarma (who likes to be known as Sarma) has taken up a new role as South East Asia Marine Director based in Singapore.
Here he talks about the opportunities and challenges ahead in one of the World’s largest shipping hubs.
Can you tell us a little about your background before taking up your role in Singapore?
I have worked in the oil industry for 39 years since graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering.
One of my first roles was in 1984 with the Indian State Oil Company which was a partner with Lubmarine.
In 1993 when Elf started trading in India as Elf India, I joined them. It was a risk at the time moving from the public sector to a new company (which was then unknown in India).
I was at Elf when the takeover by Total took place in 2000, then the opportunity came to me in 2002 to take up a role in Dubai with Lubmarine and I took it, ending up working there for the past 20 years.
It was a challenging assignment in Dubai. I had to develop the business from scratch and obviously there were ups and downs but we grew the business significantly.
This sector is often in challenge mode so it is always exciting.
When the Singapore opportunity came along I wanted to take it to have another challenge in my life. I could have remained comfortable in Dubai but wanted the challenge and to see what I could do in Singapore to make a difference.
Can you Tell Us About Your New Role?
My role is to strengthen and grow our business in Singapore not only when it comes to selling marine lubricants but also pushing our new services forward.
Here in Singapore, you have customers with all types of vessels, containers, bulkers, tankers, ro-ros’ & gas carriers. The customers could be ship owners, ship managers & traders - so quite a diverse market.
Of course, price is key for all ship owners and representatives but for us the relationships we have with our customers are massively important.
I have a team of highly experienced sales managers with me – who have really good relationships with their customers.
Dubai’s experience of working in a cosmopolitan setting again helps me in getting adjusted and accepted in Singapore as it is also a very diverse and cosmopolitan country.
What are Some of the Key Opportunities and Challenges You and Your Team Face?
Our business in Singapore is significant, representing the largest regional volume of Lubmarine business globally.
It is the world’s largest bunker location with 10,000 vessel calls per month and some 5,000 maritime businesses based here, so it is a significant global shipping hub.
This means that the competition is also very high as a result. We have all the existing players and all the new players also seem to set up here too!
One of the growth opportunities for us is in the development of our technical support services approach as this is a real differentiator for us, so it is really exciting that we will be launching a brand-new range of services later this year.
Having our blending plant here in Singapore is also an advantage for us no doubt. Such a modern plant helps in terms of production quality, efficiency and speed and provides additional confidence in our brand from a market perspective.
The plant is based at the pier in Singapore with facilities to receive both base oil and bulk additives directly into our tanks. This gives us high flexibility for us to blend and produce required marine lubricants even at shorter notice.
Complete with the blending plant in Tuas, the Singapore facility is TotalEnergies’ largest site with a production capacity of 310,000 metric tons annually.
This gives us an advantage over our competitors. We are looking to take more of our key customers to the blending plant in the post Covid time. Once our customers tour our state-of-the-art plant, confidence is even further enhanced as a result.
Explaining the blending process – seeing the lab, showing the manufacturing processes and the approach to quality, how we are testing – this offers a real insight and point of difference.
What Are Some of the Key Issues Customers Are Talking About at the Moment?
The big ship owners are talking more about IMO emissions reductions, new targets and related future fuel solutions, and how that is going to impact their lubrication strategies moving forward.
Again because we have a strong LNG and BioLNG approach through the fact our Marine Fuels business is based here in Singapore, we are being seen as a leader in the future fuels market. Over time, we will be able to add growing levels of value to our customers through enhanced lubrication strategy support as these fuels become more commercially available and diverse.
What do you do when you are not working?
Away from work – I have been married to Satya for the last 34 years and have two daughters both married – one in Dubai and one in the USA. I also have a grandson and granddaughter in Dubai and a granddaughter in the USA.
I am part of a big spiritual organization of India which has branches across the World. We are involved in weekly spiritual & prayer sessions and are part of social work, like organizing Blood Donation camps, free medical check-ups and providing food packs for the needy.
Being Indian I watch a lot of movies which again is a cultural aspect to Indian life.
Myself and my wife want to travel more and meet more people but obviously the last couple of years have been difficult, but this year we have started traveling with the first trip to the USA.
In short, I have to say that I am proud to be part of TotalEnergies Lubmarine and being connected with it for the last 35 years out of 70 years of its journey.