Ramesh Shivakumaran Gulftainer Commented on ZPMC and Gulftainer's Expansions

Gulftainer has placed an order for four Super Post Panamax Ship to Shore Gantry Cranes and twelve Rubber Tyred Gantry Cranes for container terminal operations at its Khorfakkan Container Terminal. The contract, backed up by ZPMC's export credit arrangement, was signed at the company's Shanghai Head Office by their Senior Vice President and Gulftainer's Group Director of Business Services, Ramesh Shivakumaran.

In March 2013, a high level delegation from ZPMC led by its President Dr. Liu Jianzhong visited Gulftainer's facilities in Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT) and were impressed with the volumes and high productivity achieved by the Terminal.

Group Director Ramesh Shivakumaran commented, "KCT is one of the world's fastest container terminals in terms of productivity and the terminal's volume increased by over 25% in 2012. ZPMC cranes are not only expected to maintain, but also increase the speed and efficiency of operations for vessels calling at the terminal. ZPMC's gantry cranes are expected to be delivered during the second half of 2014."

ZPMC said it was delighted to be part of Gulftainer's growth and expansion in Khorfakkan Port and looks forward to increasing its presence in the region and to be a preferred choice in the future for all port crane requirements for Gulftainer's facilities in the UAE and overseas locations.

Ramesh Shivakumaran is a Chartered Accountant (FCA) with a Graduate degree in Commerce from India, a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) from USA, an Associate Member of the Information Systems, Audit and Control Association (ISACA), USA an Associate member of Certified Fraud Examiners, USA and certified in Logistics Management from North West Kent College, UK.

Ramesh Shivakumaran joined Gulftainer Co. Ltd. in April 1993 and has held various positions in the Financial and Accounting department of the Company. Ramesh is also a Director and Board Member in various affiliate companies of the Group.

Ramesh Shivakumaran has been previously employed with Ernst & Young, Dubai, UAE from 1988 to 1993 and Price Waterhouse, New Delhi, India from 1984 to 1988.

As a member of the Senior Management, Ramesh Shivakumaran has extensive experience and active involvement in planning, directing and overseeing all key aspects of financial affairs, financial reporting, treasury management, business planning, internal control compliance, corporate governance, risk management, business strategy, organizational development associated with information systems, IT infrastructure, Human resources, Administration, Compensation Management and Integrated quality management system for the company's UAE and international operations.

The company's primary role is to manage and operate the container terminals in Port Khalid and Khorfakkan on behalf of Sharjah Port Authority. Major Shipping Lines calling at these ports include United Arab Shipping Company (UASC), CMA-CGM, CSAV, Hanjin, Sea Consortium, China Shipping, Hapag Lloyd, American President Lines (APL), MAG Container Lines, Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Ethiopian Shipping Line.

Gulftainer and Sap Leverage Technology To Boost UAE's Logistics-Based Economy

UAE Aims to be Top 10 in the World in Logistics Performance by 2021

Gulftainer, a privately owned, independent terminal operating and logistics company, today announced SAP as its strategic technology partner to drive the UAE’s booming logistics-based economy.

Under the terms of the agreement, which was signed at Gulftainer’s headquarters in Sharjah, with a delegation led by Ramesh Shivakumaran, Group Director Business Services, Gulftainer, and Sam Alkharrat, President SAP MENA and Tayfun Topkoc, Managing Director of SAP UAE; Gulftainer will deploy a range of SAP Solutions running on the SAP HANA platform, across fields such as enterprise resource planning, finance and payroll, and business planning and consolidation.

Ramesh Shivakumaran, Group Director Business Services, Gulftainer, said: “A flexible and efficient IT platform is critical to supply chain and logistics. At Gulftainer, we are committed to provide the highest standards of operational efficiency and partnership with SAP will enable a more efficient, cost-effective movement of international business through our terminals, providing actionable data necessary to increase productivity and reduce costs. Through continuous improvement of our business processes, we believe we can deliver better services and, as a result, gain competitive advantage.”

The Middle East’s transportation and logistics market is expected to grow to USD 27 billion by 2015 with automation, ordering management and real-time tracking supporting rapid growth. The UAE’s Vision 2021, aims for the country to rise from No. 27 to the top 10 in the world in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index.

“Port operators worldwide face increased congestion and regulations, along with an increased drive towards sustainability. Our technology solutions will enable Gulftainer and the UAE to become leaders in using technology to innovate operations, support a mobile workforce and operate more safely,” said Tayfun Topkoc, Managing Director, SAP UAE.

Vinay Sharma, Group IT Manager, Gulftainer said: “Increasing automation has a significant impact on the supply chain and logistics sector and need to integrate all our stakeholders including customers, supplier, employee to have extended enterprise. We needed our data analysis solutions to provide real-time insights of our business operations to have better decision making system, which we achieve through SAP-HANA partnership. By building a strong IT infrastructure to strengthen our operational efficiency, we are contributing to the fast evolution of the UAE as one of the world’s most advanced logistics hubs.”

Additionally, Gulftainer will be partnering with CMC, a leading Systems Engineering and Integration company and part of the Tata group. CMC brings extensive expertise in business solutions for sea-ports and will provide a solid SAP deployment framework, based on best practices, for Gulftainer’s core functions of Engineering, Asset Management, Human Capital Management, Payroll, Materials Management and Finance.

“CMC feels proud and privileged to be selected by Gulftainer as the preferred IT partner for a state of the art ERP Implementation in partnership with SAP. CMC's domain knowledge, technology expertise and thought leadership in Transportation, Ports and Shipping management and SAP implementations worldwide will be leveraged in this prestigious project to the benefit of Gulftainer and their customers”, said Mr. R. Ramanan, MD & CEO, CMC Limited.

With a global total throughput of over 6 million TEUs in ports in the UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq, Brazil and the USA, Gulftainer aims to become one the world’s top six container terminal operators by 2020.

Gulftainer Company Limited eyes second US port after Canaveral

Gulftainer announced last week that it will operate Port Canaveral in Florida

Dubai: Gulftainer, the Sharjah-based shipping container terminal operator, expects to add a second terminal in the United States to its portfolio in the first quarter next year, Managing Director Peter Richards said on Tuesday.

Gulftainer, which operates terminals in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon and Brazil, announced last week that it has signed a 35 year lease for Port Canaveral, Florida, its first US terminal. It will start operations at the port, which it estimates has an annual capacity of 200,000 TEUs, or the equivalent of 200,000 20-foot-long shipping containers, from July 1.

In 2006, DP World sold terminal operations in six US ports after political and public pressure over security concerns of an Arab-state based company operating the ports.

Gulftainer’s entry in the US market has seen it be approached by “three or four entities” looking for a partnership to operate other ports in the country. Richards said by phone that some of the entities have proposed joint ventures and equity investments.

He said the next US port is likely to come in the first quarter next year along with a terminal in Africa. He declined to state specifically where. By 2020, Richards said Gulftainer could be operating as many as five terminals in the US and a string of others in South America in countries like Argentina, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico.

Richards expects Port Canaveral will handle 50,000 TEUs in the first year, 100,000 TEUs in the second year and 150,000 TEUs in the third. Gulftainer believes that with $100 million (Dh367 million) of investment the port can handle 750,000 TEUS, despite the proximity of ports in Miami, Jacksonville and Tampa Bay.

“We will be as big as Miami and as big as Jacksonville in years to come,” Richards said.

Last year, Port Miami handled 876,708 TEUs and Jacksonville processed 936,973 TEUs.

“I’m vey bullish on cargo volumes,” Richards said.

Gulftainer is hopeful that a proposed rail link to Port Canaveral will be backed by the local community, which has voiced its concerns of the environmental impact of the construction.

“For us, it’s whether Canaveral wants to stay purely a regional port with the rail link or a countrywide port with the rail link,” Richards said.

“It’s very important for the port,” he also said.

Gulftainer has a clause in its contract to exit Canaveral if the rail link is not built; however, Richards said the company “is not looking at utilizing it.” Richards said the rail link could be built by 2017 or 2018.