( Gulf Transport )
General Manager
The business interests of a mild mannered but extremely wealthy individual had moved into the sea freight business but it hadn't reached its potential for a number of reasons. The most significant reason being a total lack of internal transport facilties forcing transport planners to outsource 100% of the work. At this time in the United Arab Emirates the logistics industry was booming. Relying entirely on service providers that were not bound by contract was eating away at profit margins.
I was here to develop a transport fleet to support the freight business and to develop a fleet of hundreds to provide a FTL / LTL road network between other GCC countries. There are two or three major international competitors already out there along with many smaller competitors. Collecting market information including competitor's rates was my first stop. While this was underway I had to find a suitable fleet that wouldn't break the bank. Banking was the origins of the company owner and it was commonly believed that raising finance to launcha fleet wasn't a problem but set up costs were still important.
Several versions of the business plan were repeatedly analised until we thought we had a workable plan that would spread the costs over a number years as the business grew. The plan excluded new trucks not because of cost but beacuse at that time demad was at a high and the delivery time for new trucks was 12 months or longer for some of the more popular models. New trucks would be phased in during year two of the plan. I was launching the business on good quality used current model trucks I'd agreed to buy from suppliers in Europe. I'd been to inspect the trucks and trailers, I arranged independent inspection reports to satisfy the banks and everything was on target to bring the fleet into UAE as I was advertisng for drivers. Suppliershad gone to extremes to meet my requirements for specification and cost andwere frustrated as the trucks and trailers stood idle waiting for payment that never arrived. The unlimted borrowing capacity simply wasn't there.
It was long after I'd moved on that trailers arrived at Jebel Ali port and stood idle waiting for duty and demurrage to be paid that a friend in a competitor's business bought them at a government auction.