Q&A with Mauricio Mendonça Godoy, CEO of Estaleiros do Brasil (EBR)
Q&A With Mauricio Mendonça Godoy
Tell us about EBR
EBR is a Brazilian shipyard located in the South of Brazil (São José do Norte – RS) whose core business is the offshore industry for FPSOs (Floating Production Storage and offloading), mainly engineering, procurement, module fabrication and integration.
Recently, EBR completed the full EPCI (engineering, procurement, construction and integration) of the FPSO P-74, owned by Petrobras, whose oil production is 150,000 bopd (barrels of oil per day).
This huge project was delivered by EBR 60 days ahead of schedule and oil production started 80 days before the contractual date.
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What was the idea for the business and how it started?
The idea behind the decision to build a new shipyard was based on the huge discoveries of the pre-sal fields and massive plan of Petrobras to built new FPSOs to explore and produce in these new fields.
This decision was taken in 2011 and the company started to look for adequate locations. São José do Norte was finally selected due to the price of the land, viability of the environmental license, government support and availability of skilled professionals considering that in the nearby location there are two other big shipyards.
The construction of the shipyard started in 2013 to develop the construction of P-74.
What is your favorite thing about your job?
The opportunity to create new jobs, train the new employees to acquire new skills and to grow up on their careers is very challenging.
During the P-74 project EBR contracted more than 7,000 employees and several persons had on EBR their first job in an industry. During the execution of the project we could promote hundreds of employees as high qualified professionals, foremen, coordinators and supervisors.
What are the keys to make yourself productive?
The challenge! Developing a yard from sketch to one of the most reliable offshore yards in Brazil requires you to dedicate all your physical and mental efforts to make it happen.
As a result of this challenge, EBR was selected by Petrobras the best supplier of 2018 for engineering and construction works due to our performance of P-74.
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What is your vision or long-term goal.
My vision is to make EBR as competitive as the best yards in the world.
To achieve this challenge, we are investing on new technologies, improvement of Health and Safety conditions and massive training of our team, but also some governmental actions shall be implemented to reduce the gaps of infrastructure, regulations and costs, comparing with yards in China and South Korea.
What’s the most valuable lesson you have learned through the course of your career?
To ask the right questions. I think that anyone has a good chance to take a right decision if you make important questions before deciding. The replies will show you the truth behind the facts and will allow you to reflect and take a more conscious decision.
Another lesson is the importance of having a good management system, like the one that was developed by us and was recent recognized with an award from AVEVA.
What advice would you give to others aspiring to succeed in your field.
Hard work, confidence and study!
Success does not come easily, so you have to dedicate your time, effort and mind to achieve success.
Be confident on you and on your capability, otherwise you will be afraid to succeed and will fail.
Keep studying. In a fast changing world you have to be updated because what was successful yesterday not necessarily will bring success tomorrow.
What are your favorite things to do outside the work?
I love drinking wine with my family and friends and every time I travel abroad I take the opportunity to taste new wines and I also bring some bottles back home to share the new discoveries with my friends.
Name a few influential books you’ve read and/or websites you keep up with that you’d recommend to readers.
I like the book “The Speed of Trust” of Stephen Covey, but I also like to read books of history and wars, that have a lot of teaching behind real stories.
