Interview with our Member: Davide Santi, Fagioli S.p.a. (IT)

Today our interviews with high-level executives from project logistics industry continue withour Italian member Fagioli S.p.a.

OOG Network had the pleasure of connecting with Davide Santi – the Head of Project Forwarding of Fagioli S.p.a. – the 4th world’s largest specialized transport companies according to The IC Transport 50 (T50), with a fleet capacity of 112,620 tonnes, the company that completed the installation of the new Genova San Giorgio bridge in Genoa (IT) and our Exclusive Member.

It’s an honor to have you here, Davide. Thank you for making yourself available, so many people in our industry are interested and engaged about Fagioli. How is being the Head of Project Forwarding of a worlwide well-know company?

It’s a big pleasure for me to be here and share some thoughts about our business. Things have been changing so fast in the last years that it’s very tough , trying to be safe whilst “surfing on a huge and challenging wave” as the Project Forwarding world is now. Each project has its own story, not just for the material and items you have to handle but of course due to the different countries you have to deal with, considering the rules and regulations of each nation, internal political issues, client’s requirements and tight schedule time and costs to face.

Tell us about your career path. What brought you to Fagioli Spa?

I spent 20 years in the project division at Kuehne & Nagel Italy, then i mooved to Fagioli in 2004, starting fron the Project sales divison.

What are the core values that drive your current business?

Fagioli bases its conduct and global development on a solid and long-lasting reputation which is built on strong values in terms of ethics, behaviour and sustainability; these values are shared with every employee and every employee within the Group adheres to the values with a proactive and value carrier attitude.

What do you love about your job?

I do think that each day is completely different from the day before and what the future holds for me. All the negative and also positive aspects of each single project, raise the bar of my job, every single day, which means, for myself a continuous growth in terms of experience and Know-how. Moreover, working on a world-wide basis gets me in contact with so many different perspectives which is kind of a fascinating aspect of this job.

What are some of the company’s projects you’re most proud of?

I do think the Bapco project in Bahrain (700,000 f.t.) for Technip , the Suriname project for Saipem/ Staatsolie, The Anwerup project for Foster Wheeler and recently a huge project in Mozambique… Just to name a few.

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome?

Main challenges are the services required by our client, which are becoming more and more demanding: a continuous cut in costs; complex project requiring supply of project logistics services on a world-wide basis; advanced engineering studies; strict time schedule; as well as heavy transport and lifting activity.

What is the impact of Covid-19 on market conditions in the sector? How Fagioli is dealing with it?

Pandemic issue was of course a big unknown point to be discovered but Fagioli managed to scout in the market and to be involved in several contracts as the incredible turnover reached in 2020 can certify. Fagioli is extremely active in several sectors, from Oil & Gas, to Civil, Power and Renewables, Heavy Industry… which means that we were lucky, and I’d say also far-sighted to move where the market was still active and prosperous, considering also that the pandemic situation struck the world in different period of time and in some sites we kept on safely working with all the restrictions generated by the Covid19.

Fagioli has won three oil and gas industry contracts worth a total of US$97 Millions. What’s next?

I do think I’ve already answered above: where the market, no matter in which industry, needs Project logistics and HHL activity we will be there to provide our top-class services.

Fagioli is regularly awarded for excellent job (to name a few 2020ESTA,2020, SC&RA2016ESTA, 2016SC&RA). What do you think are the secrets to the success of Fagioli?

We do think that being one of the few companies in the world to provide at the same time Project logistics, Heavy tranport and lifting and engineering services (Fagioli is also certified as an engineering company) gave us the opportunity to show our experience and know-how for the completion of incredible projects. Do not forget that we are an Italian company, which means that innovation and “creativity” is in our blood!

We really appreciate your inspiring contribution and thank you for you time.

We are looking forward to meet you at the Annual Global Meeting next fall.