On the first of February this year, ARA Group Limited (ARA) acquired all the outstanding shares of OceanLink Marine Services Pty Ltd (OceanLink). This is a strategic acquisition for ARA. During the past year, ARA has built a formidable ocean and off-shore service business as a result of other strategic acquisitions.
In May 2021, ARA acquired Wiltrading STACE, based in Henderson, WA. Wiltrading STACE has a long history of service and inspection of life safety systems for the marine and off-shore, industrial and Defence vessels and facilities.
Marine and off-shore inspection
ARA has marine and off-shore inspection, service, repair, and equipment goods in the ports of Henderson
Wiltrading STACE has many equipment accreditations and regulatory approvals. In November 2021, ARA acquired Port Curtis Sea Services, located in Gladstone, QLD. Port Curtis Sea Services offers a wide range of maritime safety services, including inspection, repair, and life safety equipment.
As a result of these acquisitions, ARA now has marine and off-shore inspection, service, repair, and equipment capabilities in the ports of Henderson, WA, Karatha, WA, Darwin, NT, Cairns, QLD, Gladstone, QLD, Brisbane, QLD, Newcastle, NSW, Sydney, NSW, Port Kembla, NSW and Melbourne, VIC. ARA has become a leading service provider of marine and off-shore services and equipment in Australia.
Wiltrading STACE and ARA Fire
OceanLink is in the unique market of servicing the large international commercial vessels that arrive continuously in the Australian ports on a daily basis. All this work is on an ad-hoc basis and the successful provider of these services in this market has to respond immediately to requests by the agents of the large container ships.
Much of the success of OceanLink is its ability to respond to the ships and their agents within 24 hours of the first contact across 11 different Australian ports. OceanLink can utilise the services of Wiltrading STACE and ARA Fire to supplement their own workforce to provide the timely service that is required when a ship is in port for only 24 hours.
Life-saving appliances
Other services offered by OceanLink are steel structural repairs and electrical trouble-shooting
OceanLink is a one stop solution for Class, Flag and Port State compliant services. OceanLink is a class-approved service supplier for life-saving appliances, including lifeboats and davits, fire-fighting equipment, and breathing apparatus. Other services offered by OceanLink are steel structural repairs and electrical trouble-shooting.
The driving force of OceanLink is the founders, Managing Director Khalifa Ahmed and Chief Operating Officer Sahbaj Kawkab. Khalifa and Sahbaj both have a Bachelor of Maritime Science with a major in Marine Engineering. In addition, they have both worked for seven years each as engineers and deck officers in the marine industry.
New members of the ARA team
After this education and experience, they founded OceanLink and quickly found a niche in the marine service industry. Their respective education, experience and success in building the OceanLink business profitably, make them both valuable new members of the ARA team and a driving force in the creation of ARA’s focus on servicing the marine industry.
The strategy of building a marine service business is in conjunction with ARA Fire Protection’s overall strategy of focusing on specialty life safety service work. ARA has also grown a vehicle suppression business to service mines in Western Australia and Queensland simultaneously with the growth of the marine service business. These service businesses are highly specialized and are truly ARA-styled businesses whereby our highly qualified staff add value to our customers.