Business View Caribbean - November 2016 75
BSI Trinidad is primarily a pressure vessel manufactur-
ing and servicing facility, but also provides turnaround
support services, piping, structural steel fabrication,
and general construction and contracting, “but our
niche is with ASME code work,” Kellum states. “There
are two different stamps that we hold from ASME.
One is called a U1 stamp and the other is called an
S stamp. The U1 stamp licenses us to build unfired
pressure vessels, and the S stamp allows us to build
fired pressure vessels. A few years ago, we finished a
power plant here in Le Brea, Trinidad – the TGU Power
Plant – and they have fired pressure vessels in their
steam boilers. We’re the only contractor on the island
that has an S stamp for manufacturing fired pressure
vessels.”
Interestingly, BSI started out 30 years ago in the U.S.
as a safety company, and, today, it still provides safety
services, equipment rental, confined space and high
angle rescue teams, and an extensive training suite for
safety training through OSHA (Occupational Safety and
Health Administration) in Trinidad and Tobago. “We di-
versified into the turnaround business in the mid-‘80s,
with the last bust that we had in the oil business,” Kel-
lum explains. “We were strictly in the oil field safety
side working the drilling operations. So, we diversified
there, and in Trinidad, we diversified in the services
and full construction side.”
Being nimble enough to diversify is what allows a com-
pany such as BSI to survive the booms and busts en-
demic to the oil industry. And now, Kellum says that it
is trying to wait out yet another bust. “This is the third
time we’ve been through this,” he avers. “Our parent
company has been in business since the late ‘70s and
this is the third time this has happened in the history
of the company. It’ll eventually turn around; it takes
time and a lot of patience. You have to diversify; you
have to have a niche to fit into and then diversify the
services you’re providing.”
“In Trinidad, when we first came down here, there was
an industrial explosion. We worked on straight con-
struction projects until 2013,” he continues. “That’s
when the Recession started hitting hard. Companies
are not spending as much money on capital projects
as they were prior to the Recession; they really pulled
in their spending. A couple of years ago, we were work-
ing anywhere from 50 to 100 projects a year. That’s
been cut in half. This year, our project count is around
30 for the year. A couple of years ago, the projects
were valued between $2-5 million; now we’re doing
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
BSI Services (Trinidad) Limited
WHAT:
A construction and project management
company
WHERE:
La Brea, Trinidad & Tobago
WEBSITE
:
