Source: Port of Virginia Blog
http://blog.portofvirginia.com/my-blog/2010/06/index.html
06/25/2010
Food for Troops in the Middle East to Move Across the Port of Virginia
Reston -- Thousands of containers of food to support the US and coalition troops in Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan will move across The Port of Virginia as a result of a decision of made by Unitrans International Inc., of Reston.
The Northern Virginia-based firm selected the port following an evaluation of all ports on the U.S. East Coast. Unitrans officials said they found Virginia to "be ideally suited for this important project." Standard containers and refrigerated containers will be shipped to their Middle East destinations via Virginia.
According to a Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) spokesman, this contract could be worth between $2 billion and $6 billion over the next six years. Much of the food will be consolidated at a warehouse and a refrigerated facility in Norfolk.
Unitrans is the transportation and logistics arm of the Anham Group. The Anham Group is a subsidiary of Anham FZCO, LLC, a Dubai-based firm that is a DLA "prime vendor." Firms carrying the prime vendor designation enter into long-term sustainment contracts with various suppliers to provide materials needed to support the maintenance, repair and operation of DLA facilities.
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So people, what this means is that the movement of food through the PV contract formerly held by Agility and now held by Anham will bypass Kuwait (to an extent). Has Kuwait lost business lately? Um, Hell yes. Time to wake up and smell the chai 7alib.
Several big American companies have also moved their employees out of Kuwait, so we hear, to countries like the UAE and Qatar.
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5 comments:
Excuze me but i tink there is a miss onderstandink heir , let me esplaint it to yoo deer :
The Port Of Virginia is in the United States and the troops are in Kuwait or nearby So the Stuff has to come from America to Kuwait . I fail to cee yoor koncern ,
Tank yoo 4 ondurstandink
DG, R U having a 'blond moment'?
In your last job, did you not read the 100+ page PV solicitation even though it was way out of the league of your last employer?
To move that amount of product (both quantity and number of different lines [from ketchup, salt and pepper to veal cutlets and can of beans]) several distributors in the US were required. Product then needed to be consolidated at a port (eat coast or west coast depending on the distributors the PV contractor used) and shipped by sea to Kuwait. Some bidders used the west coast , some used the east coast. The solication, I believe, did not specifically state the product needed to be imported to Kuwait (as opposed to Aqaba in Jordan where UniTrans is also big) but it cannot feasibly be otherwise. Kuwait is centrally located to the areas served by the contract and has better supply chain facilities than Aqaba, Basra or ports in Turkey.
Kuwait is not losing business because Anham won the PV contract, Kuwait is losing business because the size of the contract has shrunk.
Better that some contractors are leaving Kuwait - most were f-ing 'cowboys' anyway
New Biznez - Really? Virginia is in the US? No shit.
Anonymous 1:06 -
Thanks for your stellar clarification. Gee, I guess I'm just a dumb blonde and you reeeeeeeeaaaally helped me so much to understand.
Not.
I never read the solicitation because we had no business concern in it. My former employer was definately out of their league - that's not their core business and they don't have the assets/experience/knowledge to support it. No argument there.
I was writing about the supply network of food (not distribution). There was an obvious problem with Agility's food distribution through TSC and their agreements, n'est pas? I believe the USG is seeking a more direct route in the supply of food to the troops (cut backs perhaps?).
Kuwait is the hub. Perhaps with all the corruption that has gone on here (and extremely limited resources in terms of warehouse space) it would make sense to look at multiple sources/other networks? (Since you seem to know - how long does frozen food keep in reefer containers?)
Yeah, Anham won the contract, but how long they will keep it remains extremely questionable as the military is already seeking other sources.
I never stated that THE reason Kuwait is losing business is because Anham won the PV contract...
There are MANY reasons why Kuwait is losing business these days; and "F-ing cowboys" will likely continue to leave Kuwait; and take their revenue dollars/dinars (generated in support of the local economy) with them through that type of neuveau/pervasive attitude. That's kind of cutting off your nose to spite your face, isn't it? But, that seems to be more and more the norm these days. Kuwait's business losses aren't limited to the PV contract (or DOW contract) or any other single contract (not limited to US contracts either). The losses continue because of the current business climate.
People, I think DG is on to something here..... the Kuwaiti business climate has changed.... in the past 6 months, we have friends from the Western World who have for whatever reasons been "pushed" to resign -- working conditions are no longer worth it to stay and many are considering to leave Kuwait.
Ya, I agree, if you don't like it then leave but it's it many sectors like health, retail and education.
Kuwait is not immune to the global recession and are following the trends of cost cutting.
After reading your pessimistic post about the state of the economy in Kuwait I started hummmmmmmming ole blue eyes's "the best is yet to come" however in this case its the worst and not for kuwait but for the entire region and the world as a whole....Many prominent economist are quite skeptical about the mild recovery the world has seen after the big crisis 2 years ago and many went on saying that a double dip recession is inevitable.....Watch euronews for few days and see the political unrest in europe that stemmed from tight econmic policies recently impelemnted by the major economic powers and u'd get a slight clue that we have only seen the tip of the iceberg....I would love to elaborate more on the regional economic forecast for the next 5 years but since its almost 3am i dont have the energy to do so...maybe next time me friend......ardios
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