August 20, 2007

Transworld sees huge growth in Logistics business
Lloyds List Publication - By Marcus Hand in Singapore

A ‘lifelong affair with the sea’, turned out to be the most trusted name in the shipping business the world over.

Launched in 1977, Transworld Group was founded by the late R. Sivaswamy, a daring, young man, hailing from a small town of Kerala, who had dreamed mastering the shipping business.

Now, 30 years later, Transworld has expanded its business under the management of R.S. Ramakrishnan. The company provides feeder, vessel owning, freight forwarding, ship agency, logistics/NVOCC, and vessel management services, covering countries including India, Singapore, Mauritius, Colombo, Dubai, Kuwait, Oman, Bangladesh, Malaysia and some parts of the United Kingdom and the US.

“When my father passed away in 1989, I took over and continued with what he had so brilliantly established in the Shipping business. As a matter of progression, we ventured into the Logistics industry. Now, if you look at how our business works, it is inter-related – and we attribute this expansion mainly to customer requirement. Our business is totally customer-centric,” explained Ramakrishnan, Chairman, Transworld Group of Companies.

Answering logistics market demand
Transworld as group has been present in the Middle East for about 25 years and although its primary focus is on the ship-owning business, the Indian company also has its own NVOCC, which operates under the name Balaji Shipping. “ As a business, we are able to move cargo from the Indian subcontinent into this region. Taking the need of our customers seriously into account, who sought our support in terms of shipping, warehousing, distribution and all other requirements to make the whole transportation seamless, we decided to step into the Logistics business and launched Transworld Logistics FZE about two-and-a-half years back.

With its main office in Jebel Ali, Dubai, Transworld Logistics has a Tier Racking System that has a space for 13,300 pallets, with each pallet location having a capacity of 1.8 CBM or 1.2 tons of cargo. Expansion of Racking System is underway and, according to Ramakrishnan, there will be a capacity for over 22,500 pallets in double deep racking. The overall cargo capacity at the facility is in excess of 1620 TEU, with over 20 Loading/Unloading bays with hydraulic dock levelers,” Ramakrishnan said.

Transworld’s warehouse has a 6000 sqm external storage space, with a large staging area, approximately 2,000 sqm, for value-added activities and special cargo handling; plus refrigerated and temperature-controlled storage facilities, which is about 500 sqm.

Since its logistics park in JAFZA office is not enough, Transworld Logistics is now in the process of building a bigger facility in DLC. “Although Logistics is our newest line of business, we are confident of a bright future. So by the end of 2008 or early 2009, we’ll have another warehouse in DLC to meet our customer requirements” Ramakrishnan added.

Business should be IT-dependent
To complement its corporate vision of becoming a premier organization that offers total shipping solutions by providing high quality innovation to its clients; and to be the market leader and a trendsetter in the Indian subcontinent, Arabian Gulf and the South East Asia region, Ramakrishnan believes that business should be IT-dependent.

“Our dependence on IT as an organization basically is driven by customer requirement and so we want to provide the best service. We are actually very nimble as a business. We have to be flexible. We cannot be rigid. We have to keep moving and innovating,” he said.

Of late, Transworld Logistics implemented its web-based Exactus Software’s sophistication WMS, AWARE, which deploys hand-held scanners and the latest technology to support Intelligent Operations. “Our customers can track and trace their cargo through the internet. We use RFID and bar coding. It’s a huge amount of dependence on technology because almost every segment of our business is predominantly powered by IT. We have our very own large in-house IT team, which develops quire a number of our own software. We believe the acceptance and implementation of IT is the only way to move forward. Our investment on IT development could easily amount to Dhs1 million,” Ramakrishnan added.

Banking on good customer relations
Transworld as a group is satisfied with what its Logistics arm has achieved, but foresees that “there is still a long way to go.” However, Ramakrishnan believes that the odds are on their side. “JAFZA is a very interesting location. It gives us a very positive feeling. With our facilities flanked between the port and the forthcoming DLC, I think we are ideally placed to catch all the business coming in,” he said, adding that being a trusted Indian company it has its advantages, particularly now that trade in the said country is booming.

“I believe we have set some very clear benchmarks. In fact, in our annual reviews, we constantly examine where we are in the industry and how much we have improved in every segment of the business we are involved. I believe we are in the top 5 companies in the Middle East. When the DLC is up and running, we would be one of the key players in the industry,” Ramakrishnan claimed.

The chairman apprehended that the years to come would be tougher for the Supply Chain industry players, particularly in the UAE, which is a very demanding market. “I must say, this area has seen the arrival of huge number of multi-national big-time customers who have their own expectations, their own experience in handling these areas. Whereas, if you look at other regions in this area, other than Dubai, one can say that it is a little more primitive, but in this part of the market the expectations are very high and everyday it is a challenge for us to come up to customers expectations.”

“With more business coming in, the services are getting more cost-effective. The pressure will increase in the years to come. I believe whoever will be closer to the customer and whoever will understand the market needs better will survive in this business. I don’t think there is answer other than keeping a close coordination with your clients on a regular basis – keeping yourself updated about your clients needs and be able to deliver,” Ramakrishnan concluded.