Entries Tagged 'Issue 4 February 2008' ↓

RFID or Radio Frequency IDentification promises a revolution in the way retail outlets are going to deal with the multitudes that pass through their doors each day. The unprecedented technological breakthrough also has the potential to transform life in general as we know it today.

The RFID tag like the one held by Mohammed Thameem, Senior Engineer, RCG, can be sealed into a package at the point of manufacture. This point of sale system was demonstrated by RCG at the recent Intersec Exhibition in Dubai. The antenna on the right can read information from RFID tags placed near it and the information appears on the screen, similar to a barcode system.

For most people, the part least liked about shopping is going through the checkout. Queues of shoppers behave like Sheikh Zayed Road drivers on Saturday night as they jostle their trolleys for advantage, despairing at queue jumpers, the shopper who forgot to have his produce weighed or another whose card doesn’t work.

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David Christmas, regional director, Middle East, DHL Exel

Although he hasn’t measured himself since he was 22, David Christmas says he stands at around 6 feet 4 inches. “I like being tall,” he says. “It gives you a bit of confidence.”

When asked if he believes the theory that tall people are more likely to be successful, he says he’s inclined to agree. “I think it’s probably true. I think confidence is important and I do think the way you look, the way you stand, the way you talk, helps.”

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Our photographer Manuel and I traveled to Oman to visit Sohar Port on one of the windiest days of the year. On the way back, on the two-lane highway to Dubai, we waited to pass a large truck, which was taking up most of the road. The lorry was carrying large green cabbages, stacked nearly to the top of the fenced-in bed, which was open at the top.

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Shipping companies are increasingly using forward freight agreements (FFAs) to manage their spot exposure. Freight derivatives provide a means of hedging exposure to freight market risk

Today, products and services are sourced from where they are available suitably and cheaply; and sold where they fetch the best possible price. Even in this day and age, the primary channel of international trade has changed little with more than 90 per cent of total trade transported by sea. The increased complexities of modern trade have led to a larger amount of risks (and profits) both for ship-owners and their clients.

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Business Process Reengineering, or BPR, is changing the way companies conduct their core businesses by ‘revising’ the business process using Information Technology as a key enabler.

By and large, many business organisations today tend to assign individual employees focused tasks. The summation of such tasks is then taken into consideration by the management team to determine the resultant impact on business performance.

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Three factors that will shape the cool chain industry

This issue of LOG.Middle East focuses on what’s cool in the logistics industry, from trends, such as RFID and FFASs, to Sohar Port, the hottest new shipping hub. We also bring you some pretty cool industry players such as David Christmas, Regional Managing Director, Middle East, DHL Exel, and Albert Tan, Logistics Professor with the University of Wollongong Dubai.

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Taking advantage of their country’s strategic location at the crossroads of continents and cultures, two Turkish entrepreneurs are helping put the country back firmly at the heart of global trade corridors.

Throughout ages past, merchant caravans laden with silk, spices and precious gems travelled from China through Turkey to Europe along the famed Silk Road. Thousands of years later, modern day Turkey’s enviable position at the crossroads of Asia, Europe and the Middle East still makes the country a key hub in the transportation of goods around the globe.

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When it comes to transportation standards, Turkey is ahead of most of the Middle East. But the EU candidate still needs to catch up with Europe.

The Turkish logistics industry is one of the strongest in the Middle East. The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) ranks Turkey second in the region, below only the UAE (see page 33). Located at the centre of the Western- Eastern trade routes, Turkey’s location is perhaps as good, or even better than, Dubai’s.

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International megastar IKEA and UAE-based Home Centre both want to fill UAE homes with furniture, but they’re going about it in very different ways.

Home Center warehouse

While some may see the massive construction of apartments and villas in the UAE as a nuisance, furniture retailers no doubt see a huge opportunity. Every room in every house, after all, is waiting to be furnished.

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The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index found the UAE, Turkey and Bahrain to be the most logistics friendly in the Middle East. Syria, Algeria and Afghanistan came out on the bottom.

The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) is based on a survey of operators on the ground worldwide (global freight forwarders and express carriers), providing feedback on the logistics “friendliness” of the countries in which they operate and those with which they trade.

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