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Changing Dynamics of Pakistan’s Logistics Industry

Changing Dynamics of Pakistan's Logistics Industry

An Interview with Mr. Jawaid A. Malik, Branch Manager, deugro Pakistan

Profile:

Jawaid A. Malik is a performance-oriented industrial project logistics management professional having diversified experience in industrial project logistics as well as complex supply chain management. He holds an MBA degree as part of his education and a collection of professional development certifications and diplomas from various renowned international and national institutions. He is currently serving as Branch Manager with deugro, which is a German multi-national industrial project logistics firm. His previous employments have been with Toyota Pakistan and Kantar Pakistan, having a plethora of experience with multi-national organizations. Speaking of feats, Jawaid Ali Malik is Chartered Member of the renowned Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (CILT), United Kingdom, a globally recognized professional regulatory body representing the transport and logistics industries worldwide. In Pakistan, he also holds a Professional Membership with the Pakistan Safety Council (PSC) and is an award-winning Applied Exploratory Research Author.


PAGE: Tell us something about your organization and your experience so far.

Jawaid A. Malik: First of all, thank you for having me onboard for this interview. It’s an absolute pleasure to be part of this session. To initiate further, I would like to take this opportunity to share a bit about my organization, deugro, which is a German multi-national project logistics company. Being a global leader in project logistics, deugro operates via more than 70 offices worldwide, covering almost every major industrial hub. deugro itself is specialized in project logistics management associated with wide-scale multi-faceted industrial projects which involve complex turnkey project logistics solutions and serves as a beacon for the global power, energy, renewables as well as oil & and gas industries. deugro in Pakistan has been operating since the year 1997 and has served almost 60 projects in Pakistan and Afghanistan. It has been a tremendous gratification for me to be associated with deugro. This is my 7th year with the company, and I am pleased to have this wonderful experience in regards to engagement towards some of the high-end projects in both Pakistan as well as abroad. Back in the day when I joined deugro, I started my career as Project Coordinator and worked my way through multiple performances through my tenure. During the year 2019, the company’s top management decided to extend me the opportunity to take up a management role as Branch Manager & Assistant to Country Management for deugro Pakistan. This was challenging terrain at the time; however, the challenge was well received, and the rest is history.

PAGE: What is your most recent milestone or achievement with deugro

Jawaid A. Malik: If we speak of most present endeavours, deugro successfully completed the project logistics management of the CASA-1000 Project during 2020 to 2023, which is one of the biggest projects of South Asia so far. The Central Asia-South Asia 1000 Project, normally known by its acronym CASA-1000, is a $2 billion mega-scale multi-country-based transmission infrastructure and grid distribution project involving countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. This project will allow surplus countries such as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to supply electricity to electricity deprived countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan in the form of 1,000 megawatts. deugro Pakistan, in collaboration with deugro Scandinavia as its lead PMO and other deugro global offices as support, participated in engagement towards providing an end-to-end project logistics and supply chain management service to support construction of Pakistan’s portion of the CASA-1000 Project. Being part of such as exuberant project was definitely an astounding experience for both me personally as well as the team of deugro Pakistan. Despite the number of strenuous challenges, we faced in the form of COVID-19, economic disruption etc, deugro in the end not only rendered some serious performance orientation but also made sure the project was completed as per the client’s desired project completion timeframe, with 100% optimized performance as well as results and having our track record of zero incidents or accidents.

PAGE: Please tell us a bit more about services offered by deugro in Pakistan.

Jawaid A. Malik: In Pakistan, deugro offers a wide range of services, where our forte or the core business remains the same, which is industrial project logistics. However, the portfolio over the years has evolved and expanded with respect to the conceptualization of industrial demand and supply. deugro Pakistan offers oil and gas logistics and rig movement solutions via its global rig move specialists. We offer multi-tier engineering services with respect to transport engineering, marine engineering etc, via our sister company dteq. deugro Pakistan, being part of deugro, also has the edge of having its own specialized heavy lift assets which can be rotated globally as per needed via its other sister company dhaulage. Speaking of local dynamics, deugro in Pakistan, being a country-wide licensed customs clearance and shipping agent, offers customs brokerage and shipping solutions, with the addition of both port and airport operations management. As an international company, deugro is also a global freight forwarder offering tons of services with a focus on end-to-end supply chain management. These are some of the few things to share, the paradigm of services is extensive, rendering the flexibility of a one stop shop solution.

PAGE: What is your perspective of Pakistan’s shipping and logistics industry

Jawaid A. Malik: Candidly speaking, Pakistan’s shipping and logistics industry is still in an inception phase, whereas in comparison to the international prefix, the world is currently in a revolutionary phase of industrial developments when it comes to the shipping and logistics segment. They have already progressed through both growth and evolution phases, whereas they are now revolutionizing the game by changing the strategic overlay as well as the concept of best practices, which are both sustainable and results oriented. In Pakistan, despite the presence of a National Freight and Logistics Policy, the adherence and compliance factor remain scarce. Although with reflection of past dynamics, Pakistan has seen an improvement towards growth of its logistics sector, which was observed as a result of external implicative factors. It is a fact that we have seen lots of changes and developments in the logistics sector due to demand and supply gaps created because of the Pakistan-China bilateral trade volume as well as the developments due to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which significantly boosted developments from 2008 onwards. However still, the concept of infrastructural challenges remains one of the biggest challenges, right next to the second most important element which is the adoption of and compliance with global logistics strategies, along with health, safety and environmental management, which is restricting the logistics sector of Pakistan to properly evolve, grow and step into a proper modern frame.

PAGE: What is your take on the present economic dynamics of Pakistan and their impact on the energy industry

Jawaid A. Malik: This is somewhat of a contemporary question, however nonetheless being a student of economics myself, I can only provide a small overview. I will only address a few descriptive factors rather than commenting on any political or sociological elements. I can freely state that being a small country of a huge population, under-utilization of human capital, lack of literacy and the realized presence of long-term, sustainable policies are some of the biggest concerns of Pakistan, which are having adverse effects on the economy both directly and indirectly. From a certain point of view, I think Pakistan has been under distress due to implications of both short and mid-term policies. Many economists would agree that since the foundation, the economy of Pakistan has never had a formal period of sustainable inclusive growth. Statistically, this can easily be reviewed via studying past standings of economic indicators. Speaking of the energy industry, although this itself is a broad topic, I can only say that the present energy mix of Pakistan is still dependent on fossil fuel and other robust sources of energy such as coal, gas etc, whereas the focus on renewable energy such as hydro, wind and solar is still at bay, which can be capitalized on for a clean future. Speaking of economic repercussions, what we certainly need now is a formalized 20- to 30-year-old, long-term sustainable strategy with a focus on offering ease of business flexibility as well as broader business opportunities to enhance this particular industry. This will not only attract foreign investments but will also create a growth element within the local industry, which is much needed at the moment.

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