In this cover interview, a BUSINESS LIFE reporter looks at what group dynamics are, and why they matter. He then discusses with the shrewd board members of Gezairi Group valuable information on the group’s dynamics, and thus the BUSINESS LIFE reporter outlines some tools that the young dedicated successors of Abdul Salam Bou-Azza Gezairi use in order to move forward this huge responsibility to new heights.
Marine career is one highly competitive yet rewarding field. It is not an easy one. Careers. As in many other industries, maritime career paths are often highly varied according to one’s unique circumstances. However, some general guidelines can help professionals know what to expect and plan accordingly.
On the other hand, vessel valuations have dropped and prices for scrap metal remain very low. As a result, many vessel owners have preferred to hold on to their ships in wait for a better future. Also, there are several shipping companies that are trying to exploit lower prices to purchase newer and bigger ones.
Sea Piracy affects much less than 1% of 23,000 ships that pass through the Gulf of Aden and even less in the Indian Ocean. But the real cost of piracy is reflected in the need for fleet owners to pass on the extra fuel measured in tons per day required to divert around terrorist / piracy areas.
The renowned Gezairi Group was founded by the late Abdul Salam Bou-Azza Gezairi in Beirut in 1945 as customs clearing organization. He was keen on achieving his ambitious dream that transcended the boundaries of his home country Lebanon and the Middle East region to the wide world. His quest for excellence and honesty was the basic grounds to achieve his success and the same path was followed by his successors.
With the recent introduction of the third generation into his family owned enterprise. Gezairi today is at its best, rejuvenating the founder’s vision with passionate enthusiasm and innovative mindset, as well as accumulating inspiring success stories for generations to come. The Gezairi is Freight Forwarding, Shipping, and Logistics Company based in Lebanon with many branches in most of the MENA region and Turkey.
Gezairi Group is able to keep pace with the challenges of the work requirements and with the global rapid changes by adopting a versatile system and a welcoming outlook to modernization and technology. Its strong family traditions are the ideal medium that binds its workforce together for long.
The year 2018 marks the 73rd anniversary of Gezairi Group that remains on its endless drive on the track of excellence hand in hand with its wide association of reputable partners, dedicated agents and loyal customers all over.
BL: Abdul Salam Bou-Azza Gezairi used to own vessels, why your group stopped the vessels business?
Jawad Bawarshi: The last two operating vessels that we owned were in 2007 and they were always on time charter. Thus, we only owned them and we always rented them. The first one was sunk in 2006 in the Mediterranean due to weather complications. The other vessel we sold before the 2007 crisis. After the 2007 crisis, we no longer had the appetite to enter the vessel operation because the vessel ownership became very dramatic due to an increase in prices and we did not know when to buy or when to sell and consequently we decided to retreat from this business and focus on other businesses that are more profitable.
Now, the vessels have profit but they go from a lot of profit to a lot of loss. There is no in-between. It is very difficult to focus at such a high risk.
If vessels are empty, they are very expensive. When they are full, they are profitable. So it is either you run from an area to another one trying to collect cargo to fill this vessel and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Consequently, it is better to focus on things which have ongoing profit and the lost is containable.
BL: Did you shift from the vessels business into freight forwarding business?
Jawad Bawarshi: We were always doing freight forwarding business as we do now. The only business that we stopped was the vessel operation.
We were vessel agents and we continue being vessel agents. We are vessel agents in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.
BL: Knowing that you added value to your group by establishing partnership/agreements with FedEx and TNT, what are the details?
Jawad Bawarshi: In 2012, we were nominated to be the licensees of FedEx in North Iraq and we were awarded this contract. After a while, FedEx contacted us because they were interested in changing the current licensee in Lebanon and they we were looking for a few other companies. There were other few other companies but we did our best and we did the proper presentation and it was awarded to us.
BL: How profitable is it in Lebanon?
Jawad Bawarshi: It is profitable. FedEx and TNT are among the top worldwide companies. Fedex alone is the leading company and it is one of the largest brand name in the world.
BL: How are your operations in Turkey?
Jawad Bawarshi: Very good. We are present in the entire country but we have our offices in Istanbul, Izmir and Mersin.
BL: What is the most profitable business for Gezairi?
Jawad Bawarshi: The most profitable business for us is the vessel agencies and project & Heavy lifts. We are always close to the sea.
BL: What are the challenges and complaints of vessels owners?
Jawad Bawarshi: Not all of the vessels owners are complaining. Some of them are running properly. There are two type of vessels: container vessels and Break-bulk vessel.
Break-bulk vessel carry lose cargo. They carry rice, for instance, or anything that is lose. Container vessels carry goods that fit in the container. So, this is the main difference. Most could be run by lines but mainly the containers are run and operated by lines that operate them. This business is a losing business because of the economy of scale and because of the crisis that started in 2007 and it did not get better until today and they started competing on prices so they drove the market down. This is why it was never able to recover but I do not think that vessels owners are complaining.
BL: Was your grandfather one of the first business owners who thought of putting cargo in containers?
Jawad Bawarshi: Gezairi Transport was the first container agent in Lebanon. The first vessel that came with containerized cargo, Gezairi Transportwas its agent in Lebanon. We were the agents of it in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. Its name was Merzario Line but Merzario was sold a long time ago.
BL: What are your dreams?
Jawad Bawarshi: It is not a dream as much as it is a plan. The plan is not set by me alone. We are a board and the family sits on this board. We have decided five years ago that we want to restructure the company and this plan has been approved and we started restructuring it and we are still continuing. We have finalized I think 60 % of the restructuring which involves Turkey as well and we are still ongoing with the restructuring. The group has been restructured properly today. You have a holding company that owns all of the other operating companies. We set as the directors of the holding company and we operate all of the group this way. So, our plan is to continue in the growth path which we have been grown into. Each business has its own objectives so the Freight Forwarding has its own goals; its own difficulties and its own challenges and we still try to maintain growth in this line of business.
BL: Are you into door to door delivery business?
Jawad Bawarshi: It is not door to door service. It does not go in line with LibanPost. On the contrary, anything that goes in line with LibanPost, we try to use LibanPost because LibanPost has the monopole agreement for this line of business. This is why we do not work on this kind of business. We do services. So, similar to what the group requires as services, we do the services as well, we sell this services. Since we are ready to do this services for the group, we can do this services for non-group members.
BL: What is the difference between 2017 financial statement and that of 2016? Is there an increase in profits in 2017?
Jawad Bawarshi: We tried to maintain an increase in 2017 despite all the prevailing challenges in the entire area and the wars in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
BL: What are your plans for the year 2018?
Jawad Bawarshi: We submitted our budget and our targets to the board before entering the 2018 and we are trying to live up to the forecasted budget
BL: Does your business require a lot of traveling?
Jawad Bawarshi: Because the group is located in different geographical locations, I try to visit all of the geographical locations as much as I can, as well as trying to visit our partners outside Lebanon, I try to make sure that our vision is still aligned. We are continuing in the same path we set.
And if there is anything not going in the proper direction, we would rather solve it quickly.
BL: What is toughest obstacle in this line of business?
Jawad Bawarshi: Today, competition is severe, we are all competing on the same existing business. Currently in this market, the most complicated part is that there is no new business. So, we are all going after the same existing business in the region which means that to gain this business, we have to drop our prices. To drop our prices then our profit margins have to drop.
I believe that the solution to this unhealthy competition is to explore new lines of business.
We currently serve both industries; both pharmaceutical as well as the fashion industry. In each service we have tried to expand it to its maximum potential depending on its requirements.
The shelve life of the pharmaceutical item is much shorter and the requirements of it in transit is very strict and rigid. So, we try to maintain both.
BL: What do you think of your country Lebanon?
Jawad Bawarshi: I love my country but Lebanon needs more opportunities.
We try to occupy our space as much as possible and we try to maintain the same level of service that we could regardless of the standards in the country as well as since we are here locally, we try to have our employees comfortable to the maximum because we are all in this country together. Today, our major investment is in our people.
BL: Is corporate business better than family business?
Jawad Bawarshi: I think corporate businesses are very successful businesses but you have two types of family businesses. We think; we also try our best to maintain our family business. So our business is owned by the family but it is not run by the family. So, we have teams; we have dedicated people who have leadership roles in the companies that we own and we make sure that they set a proper target which is achievable and they have the capabilities and the means to get it. So, we act as a corporate company.
BL: What is the history of Gezairi Group and what is the added value of the new generation of board of directors/Bawarshi and El-Oweini and Tawil?
Abir Bawarshi El-Oweini: Gezairi started with my grandfather Abdul salam Gezairi who started as a custom broker in a small office in Boulos Fayad building. We still own this office because it is where we started. Gezairi started in 1945 and grew into a big group with 500 employees and has several companies around the world. The group holds several companies including: El-Gezairi Transport, El-Gezairi Express, Arkas Levant , Mouna Bou Azza is a custom broker company, and various other Gezairi Shipping sister companies.
We call ourselves the supermarket of logistics and transport, because we offer from A to Z services that customers might choose for a small door to door home packing to shipping big projects like generators, power plants.
Following the death of my grandfather, my mother Mona Bawarshi who is the sole daughter of Abdul Salam Bou Azza Gezairi took over the family business. Mona Bawarshi is the President of the group, and my father Fouad Bawarshi is Vice President.
After her graduation from AUB with MBA, my mother started her career in 1970 with her father and also my father graduated from AUB with MBA.
The remaining members of the family joined the group, each one after finishing his/her studies.
My husband Ramzi El-Oweini and I were the first to join the group in November 2003, I did my masters in School of London.
BL: When did you start your career at Gezairi Group?
Heba Bawarshi Tawil: My brother Jawad and I joined the group in 2008 after our graduation from London and contributed to the restructuring and managing the company.
BL: How did you do that?
Abir Bawarshi El-Oweini: When we all joined the company, we decided to restructure the group, and move it into a modern institution . We kept the core values of Gezairi Transport Company but we changed how we conduct our business.
We founded an HR department, moving the department from a personal to an HR, in the sense that it adheres to KPIs merit training and do the proper training for putting the right people in the right place, we updated our accounting and computer systems and thus we started to view the market from a different angle. Heba did the rebranding of the company. And then we set the proper rules on how to run the business. I run the administration and HR departments, the IT and the accounting.
BL: Heba, what is your role?
Heba Bawarshi Tawil: I am the shipping director, I run all the liner agencies. We have shipping agencies in Beirut, Syria, and Iraq. We represent many shipping lines in these countries, so we run their operational and commercial business .
BL: Are you looking into expansion?
Heba Bawarshi Tawil: Yes, we are expanding in the last two years, we have moved into the courier business. We run FedEx and TNT business in Lebanon. We have expanded into the courier business to become the supermarket of logistics and transport. We have ventured also in a company called Wakelni that does your day to day delivery, it is like concierge local service. This company is targeting local moves of small packages and it is targeting mainly the e-commerce business. This is what we are focusing on, and we also got big agencies like First Line and Arkas Line.
BL: Abir, what are your comments?
Abir Bawarshi El-Oweini: We have been always considered and for more than seventy years the consultant of the transport and logistics industry in the region. So, anybody who has a very big project, we are the proper consultant. We are involved in most tenders of big projects, we compete on both regional, local and global level. We have partners around the world, one of them is Helmen. We are part of iCargo Alliance and this is due to the good name and good will of Gezairi Group. Our reputation has helped us to maintain and flourish the good business and keep the valuable partnership. El-Gezairi sustains its market share despite the prevailing wars and volatile situations in certain countries in the region.
BL: Is Gezairi Group the oldest shipping company in Lebanon?
Abir Bawarshi El-Oweini: Yes, we are the first company to use containers in Lebanon. Our visionary grandfather saw beyond his time. We were the first to use containerized ships and vessels in Lebanon. My grandfather opened branches in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Jordan and Cyprus when nobody thought to open business in these countries. He sustained the company through the war of Lebanon, the war of Syria, and the war of Iraq. We are in this area and we are resilient against regimes changes because we are neutral and function with high professionalism.
BL: What about the new Bawarshi generation?
Abir Bawarshi El-Oweini: We have expanded in the same countries, but we have expanded our services. Consequently, our operations in any country now looks exactly like the headquarters’ operations.
Heba Bawarshi Tawil: Accordingly, we do the whole things in all these countries now we run the freight forwarding part, we do the shipping liner, we do ware-housing, we do customs, we do packing and moving.
Six years ago, we opened in Erbil and it was a new risky market for us, and we are still running our business from Erbil, and in Turkey we took the company from one level to another.
Abir Bawarshi El-Oweini: Currently, Gezairi Group operates in Turkey as one of the major players and we operate as a local company.
Heba Bawarshi Tawil: We have offices in Istanbul and Mersin and we have also warehouses in Mersin. Definitely, this was the new area where we took the business in Turkey from one level to another and we also have sister companies that we changed them into more profitable companies by adding more services.
BL: Let’s talk now about the challenges of your line of business, what are your remarks?
Abir Bawarshi El-Oweini: My challenge is focusing on the human resources part in our business by providing our team with the proper training because if I invest in my team and if I listen to their needs then I will succeed in providing the necessary incentives to persuade my team to work at their top level and thus increasing my business and eventually increasing the company’s profit.
BL: How do you asset or evaluate your efforts?
Abir Bawarshi El-Oweini: Today, we are one of the few companies in Lebanon that have a good functioning HR division that is based on advancement in merit, years of seniority, packages for earlier retirement for people who want to leave early. All this turned into excellent training conducted by the best trainers in Lebanon and abroad.
BL: What are your challenges in your shipping business?
Heba Bawarshi Tawil: Currently, the shipping business is changing and many companies are undergoing new venture and mergers. There are several lines that are merged on one vessel or shared vessels, this is the challenge for us. The challenges that we face is sustaining our market share, another challenge is that we are trying to maintain our customer service level, because we represent not only Gezairi Transport company but other international shipping names. Hence, sustaining our customer services is very important. We are also interested in expanding these shipping lines, we are always interested in representing more shipping lines in Lebanon , Iraq and Syria. Another challenge is the war in Syria and the new regulations imposed in Syria. We try always to sustain our market share as much as we are allowed, because there are some regulations related to sanctions that don`t allow us to bring in some kinds of cargo and we cannot also bring in some cargo owned by names. This has been always a challenge which made us the leaders in the transport of humanitarian cargo during this period.
I believe that we can expand more in the countries that we are already located in by having more shipping lines and more names in the market.
BL: What is the next move?
Heba Bawarshi Tawil: Currently, Tripoli is a new market for us which we are interested in. We have just opened a small office in Tripoli and we are receiving cargo in Tripoli and distributing it to the north of Lebanon. This is a market which is very interesting because on the long run, when the reconstruction of Syria will start, we will be among the ones that who started earlier than other companies. We know the market well in the north and how it can be distributed into Syria. We will have two ports that we are functioning in properly, Lattakia and Tripoli.
BL: Let`s talk about Lebanon economy where your head office is located, how do you see Lebanon economy these days and what`s your vision for the coming few years?
Heba Bawarshi Tawil: Toady, Lebanon’s economy is of course affected by the regional events, but we are able to sustain, a good economy and in our kind of business we are not affected directly by the economic situation because there is always import and export in the country. So we are always functioning in the company, of course we feel depression and we feel that the volumes are different in times, but still the whole business because we are supermarket, we are backed up because we have all the other countries backing us up, we have all the services we have that are also a backup for the unstable economy in the country, we are not only a forwarding company we are not only a shipping line company we have the full service , so when we have the full service we are serving the whole logistic business therefore we are backed up even if the economy affected us .
BL: How do you see the future of Lebanon?
Abir Bawarshi El-Oweini: We always try to be positive, we`ve just finished a seminar on positive psychology and we are bringing it into the workplace and this is how we almost seventy five years in our country. We are looking always into new opportunities because Lebanon is our country and we belong here. We keep our headquarters in Lebanon as long as it is safe, we encourage people to invest in this country. We truly love this country and we have nothing but positive thinking.
BL: Heba Bawarshi, what do you think of shipping regulations?
Heba Bawarshi Tawil: Regulations vary from one area to the other, but we are very well known to be a company that abides to all regulations. Whatever the regulations that are imposed on us, we abide by it as we are very well-connected in the customs and with other shipping lines and with the syndicate and the chamber. So, we are always able to be part of the decision-making in some regulations. In Syria, some regulations are being imposed on us like on everybody else in the shipping industry and we have to abide by them. But in Lebanon, we are always able to provide the industry with new suggestions when we are asked because we are well recognized globally, locally and regionally.
I always say that shipping, logistics and warehousing are not the most attractive business for females but what wakes us up in the morning is the responsibility, we need to continue with the same ethics and values what our grandfather started long years ago. Definitely, we are responsible of a legacy and this is a very big responsibility.
The legacy of my grandfather the legacy of my mother and my father, the legacy of the name, the legacy of the business that has been running in the country and all over the area for such a long time, these are very big responsibilities that we think about it aside from the daily business responsibilities.
Heba Bawarshi Tawil: In the shipping world, we don`t have any routine so every day is a new day, and the nice thing about shipping is that you are always learning new things. When you start exploring this business, you start liking it and enjoying it.
BL: Is your business a tough one for females?
Abir Bawarshi El-Oweini: Technology has made our business easier than before, and now it is a business like any other business, we believe in equality of man and woman in the work place. So no, it is not a more tough business than any other business no more tough than surgeon, a woman can make be and a man can be too, so no technology has made it easier, equal woman rights have made it more easy, and when there is a will there is a way- it doesn`t matter if you are female.
Heba Bawarshi Tawil: Our industry used to be a man`s world , but now we have a lot of females, first there are three female members who sit on the board of directors. Additionally, in many shipping lines, there are many females who are running the show. We see that even in the customs and the governmental departments, there are also females who take part in the shipping world.
BL: How did you start your career and what are your dreams and objectives?
Ramzi El Oweini: My story with Gezairi/ Bawarshi family goes a long way back to 1994 since I was a student in the high school with Abir Fouad Bawarshi. We were classmates. That was the first time when I was introduced to Bawarshi family. I remember the first time going to their house; I was 14 years old. I had no idea at that time that I would end up to be working with the family. It is a pride for me to be working with them.
It developed throughout the years. They treated me as a son of the family during that time.
Of course, I am their son in-law but they treated me like I was part of the family. So, I traveled with them wherever they went abroad. I have a lot of memories with this family since 25 years ago. It is a long time, it is a lifetime.
I am responsible for directing and managing the freight forwarding set up amidst this tough time through which our region is passing by especially that we have some of our network offices present in these turbulent countries for example Syria and Iraq. I have to increase the infrastructure of the setup, try as much as possible to maintain the services that we offer and even grow them further. This is our outlook at least for the five coming years. After that, if things start to get better in Syria and Iraq may be we will be looking to have more expansion and investments in other markets in the region but at the moment we have a lot of potential in our current region. We are going after this potential. This is mainly our group’s outlook.
BL: How do you meet your responsibilities and what was the toughest period during the last few years?
Ramzi El Oweini: Although there are a lot of challenges that we are facing in this region, but also there are a lot of opportunities that come up. When I first started my career at Gezairi Group in 2006 mother in-law and my father in-law told me that during Lebanon’s civil war the group had its best years in terms of growth and success. The company had the fastest expansion during the war. At that time I could not understand it but now with the experience I am having in Iraq and Syria, I can feel it. For example, in Syria we recorded great revenue and our office in Syria had 280 employees before 2011. We were presenting over 12 shipping lines; a lot of projects going on; everything was going well. At the beginning when the situation started to deteriorate. The first phase is that we lost a lot of business; a lot of shipping lines stopped coming, a lot of Freight Forwarding started to comply to the sanctions and stopped sending their cargo. But we did not fall down; we kept standing and we resisted and survived.
We kept the whole Set up as it is even though our office for years was not operating but all of our employees were working and taking their salaries like in the normal years. We tried not to lose anybody. Now, we have 242 employees and the whole set up is there because we were there and we are internationally recognized by the shipping industry. We are handling thousands of trucks every month of relieve cargo. A lot of projects where the situation is getting better.
You know some shipping lines were working well. They do not want to stop the service into Syria until they are the last one. It has an advantage. You reach the time like you were loyal to Syria. So, if you are loyal to Syria, Syria will be loyal to you later on. You keep the market, actually. These shipping lines or agents had nowhere to go except us because we were still there, So we got this business. It was a new business to us which is incredible to have. The income was not that bad. We got new business as the old business is still with us. So we are going to be much stronger after this war.
As for the first part of your question, we are always planning five - ten years ahead.
We are getting the best advice. When things are in progress, you see yourself building up. You have a plan; You have a target; You have a vision. This is the most important point that Jawad, Abir and Heba have. They have a vision for Gezairi.
The vision comes from one person, I think we are lucky to have Jawad.
It is one thing to have a vision. Then, it is another thing translating it into reality. This is challenging. It is easy to dream but it is very hard to implement on the ground. There is a very skilled staff in our offices. They have the experience; they are very well connected locally in their areas. With this team and with the board, it is going well.
BL: What is freight forwarding?
Ramzi El Oweini: Freight forwarding is the one stop shop for the consumers. The consumers could be end consumers, companies, factories in the market from the different industries or they could be other freight forwarders, which can offer our service. Our freight forwarding set up is built on offering a variety of services that the industry needs. We have our own warehousing. We have our own pick up for warehousing and distribution, which is very much demanded by their party logistics. Everybody is going to run their own stock and distribution in the market because it is very costly, time consuming, and very difficult to control. So, they go to the experts to do it and slowly the government in Lebanon and also in the region are enforcing laws where you need specific requirements to meet in order to offer that service. You cannot have this warehouse under the building or without insurance. It is going to be enforced slowly. We are ready and this is due to our exposure. We, also, offer consolidation whether it is by land transport, by sea transport or by air transport. We have our own customs clearance in all our network offices offering this product. We are also experts in packaging. We handle a lot of fairs and exhibition. Whatever you need; whatever comes to your mind we are there.
The next step is to stretch it more, we are going to focus on pharmaceutical industry. It has a specific specifications for the service or the fashion industry.
BL: How do you evaluate Lebanon nowadays?
Ramzi El Oweini: As a Lebanese originated company, El-Gezairi -Lebanon is our head office. We are planning to grow horizontally or vertically in all the services that we are offering.
There good efforts for fighting corruption in our industry. I think we are handing towards a good path and the government recognizes the negative and the positive points and they recognize also that Beirut port should become and stay a leading port in the region. We are the hope of big shipping lines. All companies should become more and more automated on line. This will also help in the future to minimize corruption.
Freight Forwarder is always the weakest link in the transaction of shipping. We act as a broker. Laws should change. Legally, they have to find out ways how to change the laws in order to protect the Freight forwarder.
Also, we do not have any barriers. Anybody who want to do Freight Forwarding in Lebanon can do it. The regulations for entry are very easy. This should change also.
There are a lot of things to be done. There are also people who are getting the license but they should not be granted a license because they do not fill the requirements. We need a lot of support from the government and from the custom.
It is very bad to see Lebanon’s ratings by the rating agencies. Lebanon’s rating is close to that of the African countries and some African countries have better rating than us. I do not mean any disrespect to Africa but we are an icon in the region.
