From the climate conference to the mountains, Sharjah and Arabplast
Although the weekend beckons, I’ve decided that I want to get as much done as possible before the holidays. In addition to gathering information and writing reports from my meetings, there is still an out-of-town appointment on the programme for Sunday 10 December. I had registered for a visit to the COP28 currently taking place at the Expo 2020 site south of Dubai in order to be inspired by climate protection ideas and solutions on the one hand and to take part in one or two presentations on the other. I leave the Editourmobil in the garage today and take the metro.
After an hour, I arrive at the Expo site and am impressed by how huge it all is here. Without shuttle buses and golf carts, you’d be seriously lost. After my first coffee, I take a look at a few exhibits and installations that deal with topics such as environmental protection, resource utilisation and mindfulness. In the Energy Transition section of the fair, I end up sitting in the “Towards 100% Water Circularity” panel discussion, which focuses on methods for the energy-efficient recycling of water.
After the discussion, I speak briefly with one of the panellists, the Veolia CEO for the Middle East, Mr Thierry Froment, as I had already seen the company’s wastewater treatment equipment at one of my appointments the other day.
Today, Tuesday (yesterday, contrary to expectations, I had a pure writing day as an appointment was cancelled), I’m travelling to Fujairah on the east coast. The small village of Masafi, beautifully situated on the edge of the Hajar Mountains, is home to the Masafi water bottling company.
After about an hour and a half’s drive, I am finally sitting in the office of Plant Manager Fraz Younas and discussing with him and his colleague Mohammed Youssef, Engineering & Project Head, the success story of the well-known water brand, which shares the market in terms of size with equally well-known brands such as Al Ain and Mai Dubai, but produces deep mineral water from its own wells, while the competition mostly uses desalinated seawater. The bottler also favours vertical integration and produces its own preforms.
By early afternoon, I’m already on my way to my next appointment, also with a water bottler. I’m going to Zulal Water in the Hamda region, a company that belongs to the government of the Emirate of Sharjah. Once there, I talk to Plant Manager Mr Niranjan, who in his 37-year career has not only worked for various beverage and food brands, but also for years in sales for Krones.
In production, there is modern equipment from Sidel, but also more exotic manufacturers, such as a filling system from Bosch. Here, too, deep water is used exclusively.
Back at home, I decide to go to a nearby pizza parlour, where I eat what I can hardly believe is probably the best pizza of my life. I have no idea how they manage it, but the flavour is absolutely outstanding.
Today, Wednesday, is the start of Arabplast here in Dubai. PETplanet is one of the media partners and for me it is the first Arabplast that I have attended. The event is taking place at the International Convention and Exhibition Centre, around 20 minutes from my apartment. After a brief meeting with our contact person Ms Geo, I am already on my way to meet our readers and editorial contacts and spend the day in interesting conversations with many old acquaintances, but also meet some companies that I didn’t know myself, but who of course know PETplanet. In addition to many European companies, there is an immense presence of Chinese exhibitors. I won’t be able to see everything today, but I have planned another visit for next Friday. Tomorrow I will be in Sharjah at the bottle and container manufacturer TPAC, which has a plant there.
It’s Thursday and I’m once again in a free trade zone, this time near Sharjah Airport. Sun Packaging Systems, a division of the Thai TPAC Group, has a plant here. My interview is with Mr Nimit Bhatia, the CEO, who gives me a comprehensive overview of the group’s activities and the site itself in particular. I had already visited another TPAC site in Mumbai as part of the India Road Show. So it was exciting to see what activities are going on here. The company had come up with a real highlight for my visit: I was allowed to officially inaugurate a new Nissei ASB-12M machine that had just been installed. I cut a ribbon to the applause of the employees and joined the team in a pooja ceremony, something I had experienced countless times in India but had never proactively participated in. After a delicious lunch, an intensive and really long conversation plus a culinary gift from the company, which I was presented with at the end (thank you very much!), it’s time to head back for today.
The week is coming to an end and, as planned, I’m going back to Arabplast to look around for new, interesting companies, also for the tour. However, as I had already done most of the work last Wednesday, I’m back at my desk in the early afternoon, working on articles. I had requested two more potential appointments for the afternoon, but they probably won’t happen. Worse, I seem to have caught some kind of nasty stomach bug and now have to wait and see what happens. Fingers crossed, next week is the final spurt for the last leg here in the UAE!
Yours,
Kay Barton
