A leading global provider of shipping, logistics and marine services, GAC has over 8,000 people working in over 300 offices worldwide and speaking more than 100 languages. Headquartered in Dubai, the Group believes in being local in action and global in attitude. Since its establishment by Swedish transport interests in Kuwait in 1956, the Gulf Agency Company has expanded its geographical coverage and range of operations to serve customers around the world. “GAC managers and staff emphasise human dignity as a core value in our operating philosophy,”
says Ivo Verheyen, managing director of GAC Singapore. He is responsible for driving the growth of the shipping and logistics business as well as leading over 130 staff. “We value long-term relationships with business partners, customers and suppliers and seek win-win solutions to the challenges of modern business,” he reiterates as he shares his company’s perspectives and plans with Radhika Rani G. Excerpts from the interview.

GAC is a formidable player in global maritime services. How did it weather the recession?
The Group has been financially stable through the recession and GAC Singapore is actually doing very well with 14 per cent growth in 2009, way beyond our budget, thanks to the diversity and integration of our services portfolio.

We serve a diverse range of vessel types from tankers to dry bulk and cruise. We also provide one-stop solutions and cross-sell our services to our customers. In the past two years we have launched a number of products under GAC Solutions, such as Fire, Rescue & Safety (FRS) and Weather Solutions services. The latter offers customised products and meteorological expertise to help principals navigate with the most efficient route under any weather conditions. This helps to reduce bunker costs for the principals. Further, its latest Web-based application Fleetweb 3.0 allows shipping operators to easily monitor and control fleet performance 24/7 to achieve greater operational and cost-efficiency.

These new products have helped us acquire new customers by offering them such services that add value to the normal agency services we used to provide them in the past.

On top of that, our GAC Marine Logistics (GML) product has also been our key product as it combines our logistics experience with ship agency services. GML provides fast, dependable and efficient delivery of marine spare parts, enabling us to achieve more efficient supply chain, which leads to shorter turnaround time for the vessel at port.

How are ship agencies reorienting themselves to stay put?
For companies in shipping as well as other industry today, success is driven by the ability to attain and retain customers. It is essential to keep them satisfied, and as such, maintaining a consistent level of services is of primary priority despite the need for exercising caution and diligent cost management.
In fact, now is the opportune time for agents to explore new solutions to help the shipping industry.

How is Singapore shipping industry working its way out of dull times?
From my point of view, I don’t think the whole industry has been in dull times. It is true that a lot of players have been suffering, but it depends on which part of the supply chain you are working in. Container lines have been badly affected and tankers have felt the pressure as well. Newbuildings will be delivered and there is shortage of cargo to be moved. These factors will continue to contribute to the dull time in the years ahead. However, I expect many companies will go through the difficult times in the next three years.

GAC has grown into diverse maritime operations. What are the innovations being planned to sustain as a strong regional player.

As mentioned, GAC has developed innovative services such as Fire, Rescue & Safety (FRS) and Weather Solutions services. They not only save costs, but time, lives and cargo as well.

In addition, GAC also offers Ship Lay-Up Solutions, which helps owners / operators avoid non-profitable journeys, and reduce wear and tear, fuel consumption and insurance premiums during periods of low demand. However, Singapore regulation does not allow vessels to be laid up around the country, so they all have to go to Malaysian or Indonesian waters, out of Singapore port limits. Despite this situation, we keep providing as much support as we can from Singapore; but our offices in neighbouring countries are more favourable for this service as it becomes much more economical that way.

With such innovations, we are confident to sustain our position as a strong global provider by offering cost-effective solutions to our customers, in order to help them weather the storms of the global economic slump.

What is your vision for GAC? What gives you the utmost satisfaction being at the helm of affairs?
In 2008, we have launched a new growth strategy “Vision Y – Global Values” to take the entire group forward to 2012. This new five-year plan both builds on the growth momentum created over past five years and adds important values component. VYGV puts renewed emphasis on our operating culture, which is unique in the business world. Our guiding values reach beyond cultural and geographical differences and add a strong human element to all that we do.

My utmost satisfaction would be being able to work in a professional environment and to be able to provide solutions to our customers.

And finally a word on the performance
GAC Singapore has not been adversely affected by the global downturn. In fact, we have achieved a record number of 341 port calls in May this year. Our second highest performance was 277 port calls in May 2008.