The FINANCIAL — Wilhelmsen Ships Service Georgia, a leading company in the South Caucasus region, has plans to expand by investing in new logistics facilities in Georgia. The company management is currently working on the development of the new vehicles logistics business. WSS Georgia controls a significant share of the South Caucasus logistics market and continues to maintain a strong position in the industry.
“Since its establishment in the region our company has been constantly investing,” Joseb Gorgiladze, General Manager of WSS Georgia, told The FINANCIAL. “We are expanding our container terminal in Poti and planning to build new ones in other places. We are also working on a new vehicles logistics project. New vehicles logistics is not very well developed in Georgia and we are working hard for it to get to the same level of internationally accepted standards as there is in developed countries. Currently, all new vehicles are trucked from Turkish ports to the South Caucasus region. Normally vehicle manufacturers, especially luxury car manufacturers, choose to take less risk during transportation, which means that they would prefer to transport the vehicles by sea as far as possible. So, our aim is to create proper facilities near Georgian ports to enable this,” he added.
“Our local company is a leader in several segments of the industry. These are dry bulk handling, container terminal services, ships agency and port operation. WSS Georgia represented MSC between 1997 and 2009 and it was and still remains the number one shipping line in the region. WSS Georgia also represents NYK in Georgia. It is all of these factors that make WSS Georgia a leader in the industry,” Gorgiladze said.
WSS Georgia is part of the global Wilhelmsen Ships Service, Wilh. Wilhelmsen Group Company. The vision of the company is “Shaping the maritime industry”, expressing the aspiration to lead the way in maritime solutions to improve the way shipping works. The company will through highly recognised brands, consideration for the environment and an unparalleled global network, deliver products and services, which significantly improve customers’ operational efficiency. By combining competence in terms of people, processes and innovation, the company will shape the dynamics of the maritime service industry to the benefit of customers. The values are customer centred, empowerment, learning and innovation, stewardship, and teaming and collaboration.
Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s slogan reads “Optimising performance”, reflecting true ambition to make a difference in the maritime industry; one workforce, partnering together with customers to increase operational efficiency and find the best solutions for individual customers and the industry as a whole.
Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s headquarters are at Lysaker, outside Oslo, Norway.
The company is divided into four main regions; Europe, Asia Pacific, the Americas and Africa, the Middle East and Black Sea, with regional headquarters in Lysaker, Singapore, Houston and Dubai. There are 4,500 specialised marine professionals worldwide – ready and mobilised to meet customers’ ever-changing needs. The company services 2,200 ports in 125 countries, making the company the world’s largest maritime network. Last year the company made product deliveries to 24,000 vessels and handled 67,000 port calls. On average the company delivers a marine product every 2nd minute.
“Wilhelmsen Ships Service started business activity in Georgia in 1996. The first shipments were from the American humanitarian aid which was sent to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The company’s global existence allowed it to seize the business opportunities in Georgia and accordingly established a strong team to serve the first US humanitarian cargo in those early years. Again, the company’s global character resulted in WSS bringing the second largest shipping line in the world, MSC, to Georgia,” said Gorgiladze.
“The company first became known in the region as Barwil Georgia. Currently, WSS is a partner in 3 different legal entities. These are Barwil Georgia ltd – terminal services, Wilhelmsen Ships Service Georgia ltd – logistics and ships agency services, and B&P – port operation. All of these companies are leaders in their activities, this once again shows WSS’s success in the region,” he added.
“One of the challenges for logistics companies is the lack of well-developed specialized facilities and infrastructure. By this I mean that ports, railway as well as logistics and terminal service providers have to improve their capabilities, such as faster and more efficient operation, modern and specialized equipment etc. we have seen a significant growth of the market since our arrival in the region. As the market grows, every year we witness the appearance of new logistics companies as well as the entrance of shipping lines that are well-known worldwide. Respectively, we have seen a lot of developments since the ‘90s and I believe that there will be further developments in this growing market. The industry growth is the result of a better economy, and the future success of WSS, and not only WSS, is of course strongly reliant on this. As mentioned earlier, our company is constantly investing which means we are constantly growing and developing,” concluded Gorgiladze.
Discussion about this post