DUBAI Customs officials have vowed to conduct another session to train supply chain and logistics professionals on the use of Mirsal 2, an e-clearance system it developed which saves time and money for both government and clients.

Abdulla Al Tamimi, a senior officer for client relations development at Dubai Customs, announced this in a recent networking session with members of the Supply Chain and Logistics Group (SCLG).

“We’re preparing a re-training session for logistics companies,” he said. “I don’t think human error will be high in Mirsal 2 because [most users] have already used Mirsal 1 before.”

He was also reacting to concerns put across by logistics professionals on the efficiency of the system, and to the complaints and queries that Dubai Customs has received online.

Complaints concerning the services of Dubai Customs will be acted upon in seven working days, he said, while those that need the attention of other government agencies will be forwarded to the offices concerned.

Omar Al Qarawi, an officer for client relations development at Dubai Customs, said his office’s client service charter is available in many other languages to suit client needs.

Mirsal 2, which in April Dubai Customs said was being used for 25% of customs services, reduces the time needed for each transaction to about five minutes. Before December 2007, customers had to wait for 48 hours for customs clearance.

The Mirsal e-clearance system has been one of various projects being pushed and adopted by the Dubai government for an easier movement of cargoes, and to attract more investments.

AL Tayer Group will open two Crate & Barrel stores in Dubai early next year, the first outlets of the popular name for home furnishing outside North America. The franchise outlets will be located at the Mall of the Emirates and at City Centre Mirdif.

“Dubai represents an excellent growth opportunity and launching pad to extend our brand internationally,” said Barbara Turf, chief executive of Crate & Barrel. “It is a robust retail market with many similarities to the US retail [environment] – state-of-the-art shopping malls, high-profile global brands and a diverse and sophisticated customer base.”

Analysts say the credit crisis makes many people stay at home, and spend on new furniture and appliances on money saved from lower rents.

“We are pleased to bring the Crate & Barrel franchise to the region, and are confident that the brand’s unique product-mix, coupled with our regional retail expertise, will create a successful value proposition for customers,” said Khalid Al Tayer, chief operating officer of Al Tayer Group.

Founded in 1962, Crate & Barrel now operates 177 stores across North America. It is known for its exclusive furniture and innovative kitchenware and tabletops and home accessories.

MOMENTUM Logistics, a subsidiary of international port management company, Gulftainer, has completed building its new container wash-and-repair depot in Sharjah, bringing to three the number of its fully-equipped facilities in that UAE emirate.

The new facility at the Sharjah Inland Container Depot (SICD) offers a full-range of services, including container inspections, CSC plate renewals, structural repairs of all types of containers and a full set of services for reefer containers.

“This … will enable us to continue to offer the highest quality of service to our customers, as we strive to take the standard of service and communication to the highest possible levels,” said Matthew Derrick, general manager of Momentum.

He stressed that Momentum, a third-party logistics provider, is “delighted” to have launched the new facility, to join its two operating depots at the Khorfakkan Container Terminal and at Port Khalid.

The container repair division of Momentum operates a 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week repair service for steel, aluminium, open-top containers, flat racks and reefers transiting Sharjah and Khorfakkan terminals and, now, SICD. It combines competitive rates with rapid turnaround time.

Other services include refurbishment, steam cleaning, washing and pre-trip inspections of reefer. The division also maintains and re-supplies ships’ reefer kits.

EHRHARDT + Partners Solutions (EPS) has begun offering individual logistics consulting and warehouse planning for the pharmaceutical industry in the Middle East.

The growing demand for individual logistics and warehouse solutions within the pharmaceutical industry is being analysed by an EPS team, which will soon publish its findings.

Besides relevant market data, the study will show methods and techniques on how to improve the overview of each product in a warehouse. EPS said this would end the “era” of medicines expiring even before their distribution.

Another area being considered by the EPS team is how to implement technological advances into a huge market having outdated systems and old practices.

“That is a big challenge, but I believe we can do it,” said Ramon Thoms, regional manager of EPS, referring mainly to family-owned businesses. “We can help them in keeping their knowledge gained through the years, and assimilate it with existing and future technologies.”

He said EPS wants to change the logistics model scenario in the Middle East, in order to capture financial assumptions for its pharmaceutical customers. An important step in warehouse planning, he stressed, is to decide on the zones into which a warehouse should be divided. Consider, for instance, the zones for different product groups and temperature regions, among other things.

As a logistics solutions specialist, EPS provides customised warehouse design and planning; consultancy knowledge based on the subject of hardware and software, warehouse equipment, material flow and process design and warehouse restructuring.

It also offers an accountable IT and warehouse technical integration and detailed location analysis, in order to determine and select optimal warehouse sites.

FOR the European aircraft manufacturing giant Airbus, strong economies in the Middle East are equivalent to less order cancellations and stronger finance facilities, even during this global economic downturn.

“We expect to finish the year hopefully above 50,” said Habib Fekih, president of Airbus Middle East, in a Gulf News article.

Airbus has around 27 firm commitments for this year, and letters of intent that should take sales to at least 40. Last year, it sold 230 commercial jets in the Middle East.

“If by the end of this year we achieve what we have planned, I think we will be more than happy because the situation was so difficult – the banks were really in trouble,” he said.

But the airline industry in the Middle East has enjoyed good backing for new purchases, owing to its success shown through passenger-traffic growth.

“The airlines in the region are bankable,” Fekih said. “They are trusted by the financial system. Banks can bet on them, can take the risk to finance them, and this is very good for business.”

He cited, for instance, the Sharjah-based budget carrier Air Arabia, which, he said, has “become the reference. And everybody is now running to finance Air Arabia.”

The Middle East accounts for almost a third of the Airbus’ global order book. While the region represents only up to five per cent of Airbus’ world fleet, it represents 30% of the aircraft manufacturer’s overall sales.

“You can see the importance of this market in our business,” Fekih stressed, adding that 30% of orders for A380 comes from the Middle East. He said Airbus gets almost 65% of the Middle East market for commercial jet.

PIRATE attacks on the east coast of Africa are seen to escalate following the end of southwestern monsoons, which occurred from June through September.

The warning was issued by an international shipping expert to vessel operators, who had in the past suffered significant losses due to the rash of piracy off the coast of Somalia.

“When weather conditions improve, we expect an increase in activity over and above what we have witnessed in the recent past,” said William Tobin, an underwriter at the Shipowners’ Protection Ltd, a London-based not-for-profit mutual organisation.

Tobin, who spoke at Middle East Workboats exhibition and conference early this month, stressed that the lawlessness in Somalia, a country located in the Horn of Africa, is deteriorating.

“The first priority of insurers is always the safety of the crew,” he said. “The vessel and any on board, whilst of economic importance, will take second priority but, usually, release negotiations combine both crew and the vessel and its cargo.”

He added that ship owners must have adequate marine insurance cover, particularly on hull and machinery, war and protection and indemnity.

The demand for insurance covering kidnap-for-ransom has risen dramatically, he said. He explained that cover is generally bought on a voyage basis, with a single sum insured and a fixed in full premium. Insurers work with “response consultants”, he stressed, who in turn will work with the ship owner in negotiating with the pirates.

“The use of private armed guards is also a contentious issue, and we have seen the demand for private security increase significantly this year, particularly for vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden,” he said. There is also an increase of pirate activity on the Gulf of Guinea.

The traditional areas for piracy like the Straits of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia, as pointed out by regional security experts, remain active but not as bad as those on the east and west coasts of Africa.

Somali pirates have carried out more than 130 times attacks this year, seizing 28 ships, although more than 30 naval vessels from 16 countries operate off the Somali coast to deter piracy.

This made the cost of kidnap and ransom insurance for the Gulf of Aden to rise tenfold since the start of last year, said Seatrade, a London-based shipping organisation specialising in publication, events and management training.

The area is a chokepoint for the 25,000 ships that carry 20% of global trade through the Suez Canal every year.

A BOEING official has told bankers in the Middle East of good opportunities in the region for investors interested in aircraft financing, as it stressed that global resources would be adequate to support 2009 deliveries.

John Matthews, managing director for the Middle East and Africa at Boeing Capital Corporation, noted that the air travel market in the region is stronger compared with that of any other region across the globe.

“(T)he region was the only part of the world to see passenger traffic growth during the current downturn,” he told Boeing’s fifth annual Financiers and Investors Conference, held in Dubai this month. “This is clearly a positive sign at a time when the industry is generally contracting.”

Matthews said market conditions have remained manageable, as the predicted financing gap of tens of billions of dollars, to be filled by manufacturers, did not materialise.

Boeing said it would need to provide only $1 billion in customer financing this year, and it currently expects to be below that figure.

“There are great opportunities available for people with capital who are willing to invest,” he said. “Financiers willing to take advantage of the short-term market dislocations, with a view toward creating a long-term aircraft portfolio, should find themselves generously rewarded, as aircraft remain a great asset.”

The US aircraft manufacturer’s 2009 outlook valued the Middle East market at $300 billion for 1,710 commercial jets over the next 20 years.

Airlines in the Middle East, meanwhile, have benefited from the export credit resources of the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank in the US. The bank has financed significant amount of US exports to the Middle East and Africa, including many Boeing deliveries.

“We are pleased to see the continued growth in these regions, and happy to assist Boeing in its efforts to expand the markets for aircraft financing,” said Robert Morin, vice-president of Transportation Division at Ex-Im Bank.

Boeing Capital, the customer financing unit of Boeing, promotes the Middle East as an increasingly important source for aircraft financing, through its annual financiers’ conference and ongoing regional financiers’ roundtable meetings.

Matthews said that aircraft are ideal for Shariah-compliant financing, as this investment has to be asset-based. He added that the company is looking into whether aircraft financing can be included in the sukuk (Islamic bond) market.

Boeing Capital creates financing solutions for customers purchasing the company’s commercial airplane and defence products. Managing a $6.3-billion portfolio of about 330 aircraft, it works closely with third-party financing resources that provide almost all of the financing needed by Boeing customers.

AL-FUTTAIM Motors has been awarded for its outstanding performance as the exclusive distributor of HINO commercial vehicles in the UAE, beating six other distributors in the Middle East.

“We are extremely proud of this award, which acknowledges our strong teamwork across the departments and delivery of the best after-sales service for HINO customers in the Middle East,” said Paul Henning, general manager of Al-Futtaim Motors-HINO.

Candidates for the award were monitored based on reports outlining parts sales, inventory levels and service rates on a monthly basis between September 2008 and March 2009.

This culminated at the awarding ceremony during the recent HINO Middle East Parts and Service Manager Conference, held in Sharjah. HINO said Al-Futtaim Motors garnered a service rate of 97%, way above the regional average of 90.6%.

“Customers rely on our quick and efficient service tominimise disruptions to their business, and we are prepared to do what we can to ensure their trucks run smoothly 24/7,” said Calvyn Hamman, senior general manager for after-sales at Al-Futtaim Motors.

A member of UAE-based conglomerate Al-Futtaim, Al-Futtaim Motors operates the Toyota, Lexus and Hino franchises through a network of sales showrooms, service and parts facilities.

British firm eyes more investment in Indian ports

NOTING that India’s freight traffic exceeds capacity, 3i Group, a London-based private-equity investor has expressed interests in making a third investment in a port in the world’s second-most populous nation.

“India is amazingly short on port capacity,” said Anil Ahuja, managing director of 3i India and co-head of 3i Asia, both under the 3i Group, which has a $1.2-billion infrastructure fund for India. He did not identify the potential targets.

Speaking to Bloomberg, he stressed: “The growth is quite steady and is almost predictable. We’ve done two ports, and our experience in both has been very good.”

Freight traffic in India could almost double to one billion tonnes by March 2012. The country’s Planning Commission said about 95% of its global trade is routed by sea, and its ports require $20 billion in investments over the next five years.

India, the third-biggest economy in Asia, also plans to spend $500 billion by 2012 to build roads, ports and power supply.

3i has placed a combined $211 million in Krishnapatnam Port Company, on India’s east coast, and in Mundra Port & Special Economic Zone, in the west, to tap capacity. It invested $50 million in Mundra before it sold its shares to the public in November 2007.

Bloomberg said Mundra, the biggest non-state-run cargo terminal in India, posted a revenue growth of 46% in the year to March 31 and a profit margin of 36%.

“The potential of huge returns is what is attracting investments in the port and infrastructure sector,” said DH Pai Panandiker, president of New Delhi-based economic policy group, RPG Foundation. “Investors are looking for opportunities that will gain from the expected turnaround in the trade next year with the global economic recovery.”

The Indian Ports Association said India has 12 major ports, which handled 530.4 million tonnes in the year ended March 31, or two per cent higher from a year earlier.