On course for international expansion with Jef Monballieu
Since late November 2023, Jef Monballieu has been a member of the MULTI.engineering management team and Business Director for Maritime & Offshore. In the coming years, he will be working hard to further internationalise and grow our company. His expertise and network in the offshore energy and dredging industry are certainly an asset. An introduction…
Ambitions for the coming years
With a healthy dose of ambition, Jef is setting a course for national and international growth with MULTI. "On the Belgian and Dutch markets, we want to expand our customer base and provide a broader service to existing customers. For example, I see many advantages for customers in the combination of engineering and fleet support.
Internationally, we are initially focusing on the Middle East and China, and we will also tap into the enormous potential of the offshore energy and dredging markets in the US. In the field of renewable energy and dredging vessels in particular, we are aiming for a global top-5 position with our engineering services. In any case, we are well positioned to make a difference internationally thanks to our thorough knowledge of ship engineering, our team of 150 dedicated professionals and our extensive experience with the largest Belgian and Dutch maritime contractors.
In addition to offshore, dredging industry and yacht building, we also see a lot of potential in the defence market. It's a challenging sector – and also completely new to me – but that's actually just what triggers me to fully focus on it commercially."
Strong focus on strategic R&D and innovation
Jef is also closely involved in MULTI's R&D projects. For example, he is overseeing the further steps of Moray Base in China and is involved in the innovation project EcoGBF (Gravity Based Foundation), a concept that was developed by the start-up 3ST and will now be further studied together with Jan De Nul, HAEDES and Smulders. MULTI will focus on the installation options for the new wind turbine foundation.
"My intention is to think strategically at the start about how an R&D project can lead to new products or services for MULTI. This means anticipating sector developments, defining our role in them and identifying knowledge gaps. Our research into new fuels, for example, could result in consultancy services in that domain."
From Lego bridges to global maritime projects
Jef is one of the few non-shipbuilders at Maritime & Offshore. As a child, he spent hours building bridges out of Lego. So, it was pretty clear that he was destined to become a civil engineer in construction. After another master's degree in business economics from Ghent University, Jef wanted to see the world.
And so he worked for more than two years on a dozen dredging projects for Jan De Nul in South America. "You learn a great deal from such projects, technically, but I mainly learned not to get too stressed out when things go wrong or are delayed. There's always a solution, everything always turns out fine, mañana…"
After South America, Jef went to Senegal and Brisbane in Australia, where he was responsible for the activities on land for the expansion of the airport in a swamp area. "The quality regulations, among other things, made the project complex, but also a real opportunity to learn."
Business development and innovation
After a short stopover in Belgium as a Construction project manager for Jan De Nul, Jef started to miss the international and maritime context. He became business development manager for the offshore department, which experienced significant growth in the years that followed, partly due to the expanding offshore wind activities.
During that time, Jef also helped to set up The Blue Cluster, the sector federation that focuses on innovation in the North Sea, and he was directly or indirectly involved in all offshore R&D projects for his employer. One of them was SeaVolt, a project involving offshore floating solar panels. In this way, he also got to know the Belgian market very well. In his last year at JDN, Jef became commercial manager in the concession department, which invests in offshore wind farms. In this position he was also able to fully use his economics background.
Jef Monballieu brings a wealth of experience and a strong drive for innovation to MULTI.engineering. We look forward to the many successes the future holds with Jef on our team. Welcome, Jef!
Would you like to meet Jef personally or discuss your business? Feel free to contact him directly via jef.monballieu@multi.engineering
