Building upon its strong Middle East logistics capabilities, Amman, Jordan based freight and logistics provider Aramex has recently undertaken the mammoth task of shifting two onshore drilling rigs for pan-Arab oil and gas company, National Petroleum Services (NPS) from Syria and Jordan.
The company operates a hub-and-spoke network across the GCC from its Jebel Ali hub in Dubai.
Speaking exclusively with Arabianoilandgas.com about the 200 Kilometre double rig move which involved 150 vehicles, chief freight officer for Aramex Safwan Tannir explains the overall prospects for the company in the oil and gas arena.
“Over almost three decades now, we are the answer to many transportation solutions in the larger MENA area,” Tannir enthuses, “we have baskets of clients all over Arabia and from these clients we get more and more demands.”
“We listen to the client and move in the direction the client wants us to move, we don’t just come up with ideas overnight,” he adds.
The company which witnessed a double digit growth for the second consecutive quarter reaching US$152 million, a 15% rise from its Q2 2009 result of $132 million, prides itself with its local knowledge of the Middle East’s complex customs procedure.
Shipments as seemingly benign as fireworks, explains Tannir, attract a traditionally large amount of paperwork when in transit in this region. Having its origins in the Middle East, Tannir believes that Aramex is able to traverse these with certain degree of deftness.
“We know what happens on the UAE-Saudi border, we know what happens on the Saudi-Jordan border. We have people and offices in place and we put all these together and come up with solutions for oil and gas providers,” he explains.
He says that knowing the rules and regulations between border points which is very important in across the Middle East is key to making a good name for yourself as a logistics provider.
Oil and Gas
Although the company has been present in this oil-rich part of the world, it has only recently begun tapping into vast potential of this market, especially as the region is seeing a surge in oil and gas related activity with many companies heading to Iraq in search of the numerous promising hydrocarbon development and exploration projects there.
Tannir says that the company was toying with the idea of entering into this area of the logistics market for the last two years and this latest rig move for NPS represents the beginning of a long term vision for Aramex.
“The oil and gas industry is very time-sensitive and very capital-intensive and requires a lot of documentation and a lot of ISOs. We have to adapt to the demand from the oil and gas sector,” he says.
“We went along with the demand of our clients and we planned it well and we applied the Aramex ‘Can do’ attitude to it and it worked and slowly but surely we hope to snowball with this oil and gas initiative.”
Aramex’s Jordan and Turkey operations act as hubs that serve as entry points into Iraq.
“We think there is going to be more movement, the better the security in Iraq the more the business will flow, we are poised and ready in Iraq and have good teams in Jordan,” says Tannir.
Although Iraq is not a new area for Aramex – it has operated in the country almost since its founding in 1982, Tannir says it is not about shirk its commitments to the conflict-ridden country.
“Our teams were always there even during the 1988 war between Iran and Iraq so we are long in the tooth when it comes to the area, we have people from Iraq, Syria and Egypt working for us, so they know the place and they don’t just pack and run.”
“In Iraq we are doing a lot of business, on the express, air freight and a little on the oil and gas side, we are committed, we are part and parcel of the history of the region,” he adds confidently.
Motor of the region
Going forward, Tannir is optimistic about Aramex’s growth in its capabilities to deliver on more and more oil and gas logistical projects but says that the region’s outdated border and customs practices need improvement despite recent progress to streamline the systems.
“We have seen tremendous progress from 2003 until now in the GCC [customs] unification, it’s working, of course there a lot of hiccups, you have to learn to live with them for example there is the Eid holidays after Ramadan or the Hajj, borders become clogged, you have bottlenecks and delays but knowing the terrain we are ok with that and we inform and educate our clients [on this],” he says.
Tannir believes that a steady-handed approach is what is needed in order to maximise Aramex’s reach in its recent foray into serving the region’s oil and gas community.
“Oil and gas is a business that doesn’t stop, it’s the motor of the whole economy in the region and you can imagine the potential for us there, we will approach it slowly but surely.”
