Taking liberty

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Charged with handling the merger between Liberty Logistics and SNTTA Cargo, industry veteran David Scott is planning to create the Middle East's latest powerhouse.

When David Scott was first approached by Liberty Investment Company to head up a new integrated logistics division for the holding group, his first answer was no.

The industry veteran was working as the freight forwarding manager for Al-Futtaim Logistics at the time and had been there for less than a year. But when he saw the business plan on the table, he immediately changed his mind.

His task was to integrate two separate logistics divisions - SNTTA Cargo and Liberty Logistics LLC. The merger will create a logistics company that he says will "easily" be among the top five operators in the UAE very quickly.

"The way we envisage the business, if we aren't growing at 40% a year, I'm not doing my job properly," says the senior general manager. "But I'm quite comfortable with that. I've worked at companies before where I would have suffered a heart attack if they had ordered me to increase business by that margin."

Since he was successfully headhunted for the company six months ago, big things have happened for Liberty. The previous two companies - majority airfreight business SNTTA Cargo and 3PL operator Liberty Logistics LLC - have been merged to a degree. All previous airfreight business under SNTTA Cargo has now been moved to Liberty Logistics, thus creating a total solutions provider.

As well as being the airfreight provider for UN supplies into Africa, SNTTA Cargo has also earned a reputation as a GSA for several major airlines, including Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Sudan Airways. That portion of the business will remain under the SNTTA Cargo brand, while logistical operations will be moved to Liberty Logistics.

"SNTTA was quite a large airfreight business," says Scott. "Liberty Logistics was your traditional 3PL and sea freight transporter. All we are doing is putting it together. Once we do that we will be in the top five in the UAE quite comfortably. It's not a major move, as the separate businesses were already operating. All I have to do is to ensure that Liberty Logistics will build on its strengths for airfreight. And at SNTTA we will make sure it has the ability to do the same for sea freight," he adds.

"Clients these days don't want to deal with one company for airfreight and one company for sea freight. They want someone who is a total provider."

The senior executive says the company has been through a period of upheaval with a large-scale restructuring of the management. "Some of the people who had been here for a long time might have lost that little bit of fire in the belly," he explains. The resultant company is vibrant, streamlined and forward-looking. Scott has left around six months for the current format to bed down sufficiently before the public face of the company changes early next year.

"From a customer point of view, the only thing they will see differently is that from 1st January, their invoice will come with a new logo on top," he says. "The drivers will also wear a different shirt. But it will definitely be the same driver and the same company."

Aside from shifting things around, the company also has radical expansion plans. A new 110,000m² depot in Saja'a, the industrial zone near the Sharjah airport, is already well into its construction phase. Part of the thinking behind the facility in Sharjah was the tremendous prospects the area offers in terms of infrastructure.

"The centre of the universe isn't Jebel Ali Free Zone, and everyone else wants to put everything in there," he says, candidly.

"Jebel Ali is very expensive. In Sharjah, they are ramping up their port in Khorfakkan. The operators there are offering a guarantee of 17 hours from the time of berthing to the time you get your container. Jebel Ali now asks for an additional congestion charge of US$100 per TEU and it takes three days to get a ship into the dock. Shipping operators are looking to move over to Oman or Khorfakkan," Scott continues.

"We've got to be able to respond to that so a facility in Sharjah will bring us some advantages. Ships going into Khorfakkan don't need to go through the Strait of Hormuz, which is going to save three days. It's the natural deep water point in the UAE and it makes sense for a shipping company to go there. As a result, you are going to see a boom there in the very near future."

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