Logistics Outlook 2017: Gefco Middle East
Stefano Pollotti
Managing director, Gefco Middle East
“Its not going to come as a shock to anyone that the past year has been something of a challenge. And I think challenge is the right term for it. 2016 has not been a disastrous year, it has been a time for potential client building, re-establishing relationships and making the most of the time to foster new partnerships. For many organisations, whether in logistics, manufacturing, heavy industry or services, this should have been a time to consolidate and keep heads above water but it should not have been a deal-breaker, as long as you channelled your business in the right directions. For us, we placed a much heavier emphasis on our far East operations, where we actually beat our sales targets by 40%. It was a record-breaking year for that market despite the difficulties elsewhere.
“Probably the greatest challenge for us this year could have been the low oil prices, which led to a drop in trade volumes. As I said, we adapted a good strategy in turning our focus in the right directions. GEFCO also has a very flexible cost structure, once again the key word is adaptability and we have the resources and experience to put the theory into practice.
“As for the new year, GEFCO has just been awarded an 8bn contract to optimise PSA Groups global supply chain. This means designing and implementing the global logistics and transport solutions for the three PSA Group brands, Peugeot, Citroën and DS. There can be no better start to the year than that.
“There will be some massive changes ahead in terms of political implications on trade but we can only speculate at the moment what those will be. Iraq and Iran are obviously huge factors in how the logistics industry in the Middle East will fare over the next twelve months and beyond. Egypt is another decisive market which is constantly growing and is still, to some extent, an untapped opportunity. It is going to be a defining year in so many ways for so many industries, and logistics is going to play a significant role in all outcomes.
“For GEFCO in the Middle East, we are fairly confident that the challenges of 2016 are behind us. Saudi Arabia looks as though it will open several new channels for us and Qatar will once again be back on track. We have a big focus on Qatar GEFCO is a major player in bringing together the metros, stadia, and infrastructure.”
