Endeavour Magazine July 2021

JULY 2021

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HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS Managing Editor Alice Instone-Brewer editor@littlegatepublishing.com Sales Manager Emlyn Freeman emlynfreeman@littlegatepublishing.com Editorial Researchers James Lapping • Alex Hayes Dennis Morales • David Kimberley Eve Wright • James Martin Corporate Director Anthony Letchumaman anthonyl@littlegatepublishing.com Lead Designer Alina Sandu studio@littlegatepublishing.com

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Littlegate Publishing Ltd does not accept responsibility for omissions or errors. The points of view expressed in articles by attributing writers and/or in advertisements included in this magazine do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained within this magazine, no legal responsibility will be accepted by the publishers for loss arising from use of information published. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in a retrievable system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher.

n a lot of ways, the word ‘success’ has been redefined over the past year and a half. Not permanently – many events rocked the world before COVID-19 and others will undoubtedly come and go in the future, and in a few years, this period of time will just be another strange memory. Temporarily, though, there is a very different feel in the air: like in the aftermath of market crashes and wars, ‘success’ feels less like a flaunting of opulent victories, and more like watching the dust settling and saying “Phew - we got through it. How are you?”

As we spoke with our feature companies for this month’s magazine, this is exactly what we were talking about – getting through it. How did companies adapt and endure? What lasting lessons have been learnt, or useful innovations finally been put into place? Have we gotten through it? Are we still getting through it?

As many of us are all too aware, we’re not in the allclear just yet. Pandemic measures are still very much in place for much of the world, and as for when we do all fully return to work again, we’re still working out what that world will look like, both in terms of the patterns and priorities of the ‘new normal’, and in seeing just how many companies didn’t make it to the other side.

What will our economies look like world-wide? It’s uncertain, and we’re still waiting to find out. But, in the meantime, I hope we’re all finding ways to ‘get through it’, in one sphere or another.

Copyright © Littlegate Publishing Ltd 2021

Alice Instone-Brewer

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Endeavour Magazine | 3

CONTENTS

Muscat Duty Free

FEATURES

17

Keeping Afloat APM Terminals

23

Returning To The Taste Of Oman Muscat Duty Free

Making Complex Simple 33 Quintica

43

Shipping In The New Normal Tanzania Port Authority

Ready For The Next Step 57 Staatsolie APM Terminals 4 | Endeavour Magazine

67

Here To Stay National Petroleum

Tanzania Port Authority

ARTICLES

Business Headlines

6 Asia 8 Africa 10 Americas 12 Middle East 14 Europe

Amazing World

30 Rainbow Mountains of China 40 Er Wang Dong 54 Octlantis 62 An Eye On The Tiger

Automotives

50

New Tesla Model S for 2021

Staatsolie Endeavour Magazine | 5

BUSINESS HEADLINES ASIA Bangladesh lockdown: crowds flee Dhaka ahead of restrictions From July 1st, the people of Bangladesh will not be allowed to leave their homes except in an emergency for one week.

People have responded by fleeing Dhaka, the country’s capital city, to head to their homes in towns and villages.

Public transport such as buses and trains are already suspended except for emergency services. As a result, many fleeing people have hired private cars or have even resorted to walking.

The chaos has created scenes such as ferry ports being overwhelmed by thousands of people, with no social distancing between them. Some ferry services have been taking a thousand people per trip, running their services 24 hours a day, in an attempt to meet this demand.

Those fleeing are majoritively low-income workers and day laborers, or migrant workers hoping to get home. The AFP news agency estimated the total number of people fleeing as being in the tens of thousands, in not much higher. According to a Bangladesh water official, 50,000 people left by ferry on Sunday 27th alone.

The lockdown restrictions were announced in an attempt to contain the new Delta covid variant, which was first identified in India.

The crowds are moving in a state of panic in everyone’s attempt to find a way out of the city in time, and if it continues to exist at this scale and operate in this manner, then the Health Department has commented that the army could be deployed.

Children in India admitted to hospital with new post-covid condition Four unconnected children were admitted to hospital in Maharashtra, India, with symptoms of breathlessness and falling blood pressure.

According to tests, the children had all previously had Covid-19, though none had exhibited symptoms of the condition at the time.

Now, each child is suffering from multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) - a 6 | Endeavour Magazine

rare inflammatory condition that can be lifethreatening.

According to recent studies into this condition, it seems to occur in children and teenagers four to six weeks after they have recovered from Covid-19.

Two of the four children have recovered, whilst the other two are in intensive care.

Reports of this illness have been coming in throughout India, and the condition is not only occurring there – for example, the US has reported 4,000 cases and 36 deaths.

Doctors warn that as data is still being collected, the full extent of the condition is not yet known. It is believed to be caused by an extreme immune response to the virus, inflaming vital organs. The symptoms include a high and persistent fever, rash, red eyes, inflamed lymph nodes, stomach pain, low blood pressure, body ache and lethargy. It can then go on to cause severe outcomes such as septic shock and respiratory failure, as well as neurological symptoms, and can affect organs such as the heart, kidney and liver.

‘Black Fungus’ epidemic surges in India As well as facing a second wave of Covid, India has also declared a mucormycosis epidemic.

Mucormycosis is a rare fungal infection that usually affects a small number in the country per year, but is now in the tens of thousands.

Over 85% of those with the infection had Covid, though it is not known yet whether the two are linked.

The infection has led to patients having infected areas amputated in attempts to

stop the spread of the infection to the rest of the body.

Mucormycosis frequently infects the sinuses, brain or lungs. It begins as a skin infection in the air pockets behind the forehead, nose, cheekbones, and in between the eyes and teeth. It then spreads to eyes, lungs and can even spread to the brain. It leads to blackening or discoloration over the nose, blurred or double vision, chest pain, breathing difficulties and coughing.

Hong Kong trading has delayed start after ‘black rainstorm’ The Hong Kong stock exchange began trading on Monday 28th of June after a delayed start.

The morning trading session was cancelled due to a ‘black rainstorm’ warning – the city’s highest rainstorm warning. 150mm of rain was reported in Western Hong Kong, and the heavy

rain caused landslides and flooding in some parts of the city.

Australia to enter lockdown in face of Delta variant Australia has experienced a spike of Covid cases in Sydney caused by the contagious Delta variant. Smaller spikes have also occurred in Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia.

Australia has been doing well at handling the pandemic; this is the first time in several months that the country has seen cases occurring in multiple parts of the country at once. Some cities, including Sydney and Darwin, are responding to the outbreaks by entering a new, strict lockdown. For New South Wales, this lockdown will not only apply to the city of Sydney, but will cover all of Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast and Wollongong.

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AFRICA Ethiopia announces Tigray ceasefire Ethiopia declared a ceasefire in Tigray on June 28th. The announcement came after rebels claimed they had retaken the regional capital of Mekelle. The country announced that it would pause hostilities to allow the distribution of humanitarian aid. The ceasefire will also allow the farming season to go ahead uninterrupted.

The United Nations called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the situation. Mekelle fell to the federal army on November 28, but fighting continued between the pro-Tigray Peoples Liberation Front forces and the federal Ethiopian army.

The rebels launched an offensive towards the end of June, which lined up with the country’s national elections. Potentially because of this disruption, the election results have yet to be announced.

When rebels took the city, many of the locals celebrated, setting off fireworks and waying the Tigrayan flag in the street.

The past eight months had been one of conflict, with abuses towards the civilians from military personnel, and that left 350,000 people in the region facing starvation.

South Africa increases testing in Covid third wave People have been swarming to hospitals to cue for Covid tests in the wake of the pandemic’s third wave in South Africa.

Reportedly, the new cases in this third wave are largely due to the highly contagious Delta variant, which was first identified in India.

South Africa’s vaccination campaign is underway, but is being criticized for having moved too slowly. Around 2.7 million people have been immunised since February, but the efforts have recently gained momentum.

South Africa is Africa’s worst-hit country, having posted over 1.9 million cases. So far, 59,900 of these cases have been fatal. As the infection rate climbs, the country is tightening its Covid restrictions.

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Ramaphosa banned all gatherings, except for funerals where numbers will be capped at 50, and also ordered a ban on the sale of alcohol. Eateries and restaurants will not be allowed to serve sit-down meals, and will only be allowed to sell food for take-away or delivery, and schools are being shut. Businesses are attempting to continue as normal.

for stopping migrant boats from leaving its shores. Italy has pledged to commit up to 200 million Euros to finance development projects in Tunisia as part of a cooperation agreement between the two countries. The funds are meant to incentivize Tunis to keep its borders shut.

The EU is discussing a similar deal with Libya.

Sudan peace talks hits stumbling block over Khartoum Peace talks between the transitional government of Sudan and a rebel group in the south of the country have stumbled over the delegation of powers from Khartoum.

According to SPLM-North chief negotiator, many topics related to the economy, security and politics were resolved, whilst crucial issues like the delegation of powers between the central government and the regions were not.

The powers wielded by the central Tunisia intercepting migrants in part of government in Khartoum are the cause of Europe deal the conflicts that have afflicted the country Europe has made a deal with Tunisia in for more than 60 years, according to the chief which is promises the country financial aid if negotiator. the country stops migrant ships from leaving These conflicts included the war of its shores towards Europe. independence with South Sudan and the Many refugees and migrants hoping to recurrent violent episodes in the regions of reach Europe have been setting off from Libyan South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur. shores and some have needed rescuing off of The SPLM-North, established in the states Tunisia’s coast. Tunisia’s navy recently rescued of Kordofan-South and Blue Nile, is pushing for 178 migrants who were trying to cross the a decentralised political system.

Mediterranean from Libya to reach Europe.

Another crucial issue that had not been The passengers were from Egypt, Tunisia, resolved was of the integration of the country’s Syria, Ivory Coast, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Mali armed groups into the Sudanese army. and Ethiopia, and had set off from the Libyan The interim civilian-military Sudanese port of Zuwara. government was set up after the popular revolt According to IOM figures, more than 1,000 that led to the dismissal in April 2019 of former migrants hoping to reach Europe had set president Omar al-Bashir, and has made peace off from Libya and ended up in Tunisia since with the rebels its priority.

January, and the number of departures is rising.

In October 2020, it signed a historic Red Crescent official Mongi Slim warned that agreement with several rebel groups. centres set up to house migrants in southern The SPLM-North has signed a separate Tunisia were full. In late May, the European ceasefire, allowing its fighters to keep their Union’s Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva weapons “to ensure their own protection” until Johansson traveled to Tunisia to dicuss a deal the constitution is amended to guarantee a on migration with the country’s authorities. secular state.

Under the deal, Tunisia would be offered No date has yet been given for the economic assistance by Brussels in exchange resumption of talks.

Endeavour Magazine | 9

AMERICAS Miami condo building collapse On June 24, a 12-story beachfront condo collapsed, killing at least 11 people, with 150 people still missing. As of June 29th, officials and rescue services are still searching for survivors, and say that they will not give up hope.

Federal investigators are looking into the source of the collapse.

Previous reports on the building, Champlain Towers South, had highlighted construction errors and urged for their “timely” repair. These reports have been made public since the collapse. One, an engineer’s report from 2018, highlighted “a major error” in the original design of the building that prevented water draining away from its base.

The report flagged “major structural damage” to the concrete platform beneath the swimming pool deck. It also referred to “abundant cracking of columns, beams and walls” in the garage.

Meanwhile, a study published by Florida International University last year found that the building had been sinking at a rate of two millimeters per year in the 1990s.

The investigators on the scene including building science experts, structural engineers, geotechnical experts, the FBI and Army Corp of Engineers.

Under Florida law, buildings must be inspected every 40 years, and as the Champlain Towers complex has stood since 1980, inspectors were about to start its recertification process. However, there is backlash saying that the owners of the building should have acted sooner in the light of the previous reports.

US strikes Iran-backed militia facilities The US says it has carried out air strikes against Iran-backed militias near the IraqSyria border in response to drone attacks on its forces in Iraq. A Pentagon spokesman said the strikes targeted “operational and weapons storage facilities” at three locations.

A powerful Iraqi militia alliance, the Popular Mobilisation Forces, said four members of one faction were killed. It has threatened to retaliate. The PMF - a coalition of mostly Iranian-backed Shia militias that was formed in 2014 to fight IS, and was incorporated into 10 | Endeavour Magazine

the Iraqi Security Forces three years ago - said the strikes killed four fighters carrying out an officially-sanctioned mission to prevent IS militants infiltrating Iraq.

About 2,500 US troops are in Iraq as part of a global coalition supporting local security forces in their fight against the jihadist group, Islamic State. There have been at least five drone attacks against facilities used by US and coalition personnel since April, US officials say. Rockets have also been fired at them and supply convoys have been targeted by improvised explosive devices.

US government furthers UFO disclosure The US government has finally responded to rising pressure to release what information it has about UFOs. Whilst not all information has been released, a task force was set up to look into recent phenomenon, and its findings have just been released.

The unclassified report was demanded by Congress after numerous reports from the US military of vehicles seen moving erratically in the sky. The demand followed a renewed interest in UFOs from the US population and beyond.

It also came in response to increasing numbers of pilots, navy and air force personnel coming forwards with sightings, which in many cases they were originally ordered to keep quiet.

The released Unidentified Aerial Phenomena task force’s unclassified report found “no clear indications that there is any non-terrestrial explanation” for the aircrafts, but also did not rule it out.

Possible explanations included common aerial objects like birds and drones, atmospheric phenomena such as ice crystals, new

developments by US government or private entities, and technologies deployed by foreign adversaries. The report also includes a catchall ‘other’ category. Officials examined 144 incidents from the past two decades, including three videos that the Pentagon declassified last year and described as showing “unexplained aerial phenomena”.

The Pentagon established the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force last August to look into observations of unknown flying aircrafts.

The group’s job was to “detect, analyse and catalogue” these events, as well as to “gain insight” into the “nature and origins” of UFOs, the Pentagon said.

A classified version of its report was provided to lawmakers earlier this month.

Mexico legalises recreational cannabis Mexico’s Supreme Court has decriminalised the private recreational use of cannabis by adults, calling the current prohibition

unconstitutional. In an 8-3 decision, the court ruled that adults would be able to apply for permits to cultivate and consume their own cannabis. Smoking in public and in front of children is banned.

The ruling does not mention the commercialisation of cannabis. The decision came after a legalisation bill stalled in Congress.

“Today is a historic day for liberties,” Supreme Court president Arturo Zaldívar said.

The legislation would let users with a permit carry up to 28g and grow as many as eight plants at home for personal use. At present, it is illegal to carry more than five grams.

Supporters of legalisation hope it could reduce some of the violence related to illegal drugs trade, which claims the lives of thousands of people in the country every year.

However, Mexico United Against Crime, a non-governmental organisation, said the decision “does not decriminalise the activities necessary to carry out consumption” such as possession and transportation.

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MIDDLE EAST Palestinian media call for protection after police assaults Dozens of Palestinian journalists rallied outside a United Nations building in Ramallah on June 28th to following violent clashes with Palestinian security forces.

They demanded freedom of press and protection from police attacks.

The clashes with the police followed the death of Nizar Banar, an activist who died in custody shortly after police stormed his house.

The following conflict between police and protestors has left several journalists injured.

During the unrest, 12 Palestinian journalists have reportedly been assaulted by Palestinian police, almost half of whom were women.

Palestinian reporters have now submitted a letter to the UN urging the world body “to take necessary and immediate measures” to protect media freedom.

Mohammed Gharafi of the Ultra Palestine news site said he had been harassed by Palestinian security forces who threatened to

confiscate his phone if he did not stop filming the protests.

Human rights groups in Ramallah has announced the formation of a legal team to follow up on the attacks on journalists.

On Sunday, a number of journalists cut up their press cards in protest at the syndicate’s silence regarding the attacks against them.

Demolitions begin in occupied East Jerusalem’s Silwan Violence erupted after the demolition of a Palestinian business by Israeli forces began in the al-Bustan area of the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan on June 29th. Israeli forces accompanied by bulldozers entered the Palestinian neighbourhood and destroyed a butcher’s shop in Silwan.

Soldiers used tear gas and batons to push back residents and Palestinian activists as they carried out the demolition. At least four Palestinians were injured in the confrontations, according to the Palestine Red Crescent.

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Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets to disperse angry Palestinians amid calls through mosque loudspeakers for residents to gather to protect their homes, witnesses said.

On June 7, the Jerusalem municipality issued a series of demolition orders to residents of the al-Bustan area in Silwan.

The 13 families affected, consisting of some 130 people, were given 21 days to evacuate and demolish their houses themselves. Failure to do so would mean the municipality would destroy the houses and families would have to cover the demolition costs – an estimated $20,000.

Since 2005, residents of al-Bustan have received warnings to demolish nearly 90 homes under the claims of building without a permit, in favour of an Israeli settler organisation that seeks to turn the land into a national park and link it to the archaeological City of David area.

According to Grassroots Jerusalem, a Palestinian NGO, both home demolitions and court-ordered forced displacements are tactics used to expel Palestinian residents.

Sisi makes first Iraq visit by Egyptian leader in decades This is their fourth round of talks aimed at strengthening security, economic, trade and investment cooperation.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi arrived in Baghdad on Sunday, marking the first visit by

an Egyptian head of state to Iraq since Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990.

The conflict ruptured diplomatic relations between Iraq and Egypt but these have improved in recent years with many senior officials from both countries exchanging visits.

The United States has been urging Iraq to boost ties with Arab nations to counter Iran’s influence in the country and Sisi’s visit is part of a summit between Egypt, Jordan and Iraq.

This is their fourth round of talks aimed at strengthening security, economic, trade and investment cooperation. In recent years, Iraq had signed cooperation deals in the energy, health and education sectors with Jordan and Egypt.

New prehistoric human discovered in Israel Hebrew U and Tel Aviv University researchers found remains of a new type of early human who lived in the region some 130,000 years ago.

Researchers believe the new “Homo” species intermarried with Homo sapiens and was an ancestor of the Neanderthals.

The site of Nesher Ramla, a few kilometers from the modern-day city, was probably close to a water reservoir where early humans could hunt animals. Today, the dig site is filled with many animal bones, stone tools for making fire and butchering, and human bones, including skulls.

The site was discovered during a salvage excavation led

by Hebrew University archaeologist Dr. Yossi Zaidner at the Nesher cement plant. Israeli law demands that a salvage excavation be carried out alongside any new construction project.

“This is an extraordinary discovery,” said Zaidner. “We never imagined that alongside Homo sapiens, archaic Homo roamed the area so late in human history.”

The researchers believe that the newly discovered human type, which they named after the site, lived in the region hundreds of thousands of years ago and at least until 130,000 years ago.

EUROPE Portugal and mainland Spain are currently on the UK’s amber list, meaning those arriving back in the UK must take two tests and quarantine for 10 days. The Balearic Islands are on the UK’s green list, so holidaymakers do not have to quarantine on their return.

Spain, Malta and Portugal restrict non-vaccinated travelers Portugal and Malta have introduced measures to restrict UK travelers who are not fully vaccinated. The Portuguese government says travelers will have to quarantine for 14 days unless they can prove they received their second vaccine dose a fortnight before arrival.

Malta is also only allowing double-vaccinated people in from July. In Spain, UK travelers need to prove they are fully vaccinated, or provide a negative PCR test on arrival. Hong Kong is to ban all passenger flights from the UK from 1 July, after the government said it had discovered cases of “variant virus strains” had been “persistently” detected from the UK in the past few days.

The measures have been introduced for UK travelers, in particular for those not fully vaccinated, amid fears they could spread the Delta variant of coronavirus, which was first established in India. The Portuguese government added the UK to the list of countries from which travelers must quarantine “at home or a place indicated by the health authorities”.

The rules came into effect at midnight.

The new quarantine measures apply only to those travelling to mainland Portugal, not Madeira. There were 19 flights listed as departing on Monday from UK airports to Portugal’s mainland airports - Lisbon, Faro and Porto.

Brazil, South Africa, India and Nepal were already on Portugal’s quarantine list, but the exception for people who are vaccinated against Covid-19 to avoid isolating applies just to the UK. The ruling has particularly impacted UK families hoping to go on holiday, where the parents are fully vaccinated but their children have not yet had the vaccine made available to them.

14 | Endeavour Magazine

Picasso painting found in Athens years after gallery heist A painting by Pablo Picasso that was stolen nine years ago during a heist at a Greek gallery has been recovered. Police in Athens said Picasso’s Woman’s Head had been found along with a 1905 painting of a windmill by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian.

Both were taken, along with a third artwork, during an 2012 heist at the Athens National Gallery. The artworks were stripped from their frames in the early morning raid which only took minutes to carry out.

The announcement came just months after it was reported that Greek police still believed the artwork was in the country. The Picasso painting, a portrait of a woman in his signature cubist style, was given to the National Gallery by the artist himself back in 1949. He said the gift, painted a decade earlier, was in recognition of the country’s resistance to Nazi Germany.

A second Mondrian painting was left at the scene during the heist after thieves dropped it while making their escape.

EU approves data flow to UK but adds sunset clause Flows of personal data from the EU to the UK will continue, after the European Commission adopted two “data adequacy” decisions.

The decisions include a sunset clause, meaning they run out after four years. They will be renewed only if the UK ensures an adequate level of data protection, the commission said.

UK firms had been facing making costly alternative plans with EU counterparts to keep data flowing once a post-Brexit transition period expires this month.

The agreement also covers data from countries in the wider European Economic Area. Didier Reynders, Commissioner for Justice, said the adequacy agreement was,

“important for smooth trade and the effective fight against crime”. Welcoming the decision, the UK government said it “plans to promote the free flow of personal data globally and across borders”. John Foster, CBI director of policy, called the agreement a breakthrough.

The commission said in a press release that it reached its decision in part because: “The UK’s data protection system continues to be based on the same rules that were applicable when the UK was a member state of the EU.” However, it added that it would “intervene” at any point if the UK deviates from the level of protection presently in place. Some UK politicians have recently argued for changes to UK data protection law. If this went ahead, the EU would review and data flow could be lost.

India seeks EU travel approval for its main vaccine India’s Serum Institute is seeking emergency authorisation in the European Union for its Covishield jab. The move comes amid reports

that Covishield is not yet eligible for the digital green certificate, an EU-wide travel pass, set to launch on 1 July.

The certificate is currently for EU citizens only. Covishield is the Indian-made version of AstraZeneca’s Vaxzevria jab, which has been authorised in the EU. It’s manufactured in India

by Serum, the world’s largest vaccine maker.

The vaccines currently eligible for the green pass have all been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Serum’s CEO, Adar Poonawalla, said that his company hopes to “resolve this matter soon”, referring to the fact that Covishield had not yet been authorised in the EU. The European Commission has left it to individual member states to decide whether to allow travellers who have received vaccines “that have been authorised at the national level or by the World Health Organization (WHO)”.

Covishield was listed for emergency use by the WHO in February.

It’s unclear yet if the same rules will also apply to international travellers visiting the EU.

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KEEPING AFLOAT APM Terminals chevron-square-right www.apmterminals.com phone-square 31 70 304 3100

Overseeing Bahrain’s only commercial port, APM Terminals Bahrain carries a heavy responsibility; through the events of 2020 – 2021, this responsibility has been all the greater, and all the more complex. We spoke with Susan Hunter, who had the curious and challenging role of being the terminal’s Managing Director for the majority of the pandemic, having joined in 2019 and moved on in April 2021: she was able to share APM Bahrain’s response to the pandemic, as well as giving us an idea of what the future holds for Khalifa Bin Salman Port.

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PM Terminals is a global port and inland services management company owned by the A.P. Moller - Maersk Group, with headquarters based in the Netherlands.

However, APM Bahrain isn’t wholly a Netherlands enterprise: the company is 64% owned by A.P. Moller – Maersk, but is 16% is owned by Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo (Holdings) Co. W.L.L., with the remaining 20% held by the Bahrain public.

Bahrain has one commercial port – Khalifa Bin Salman Port (KBSP) - built on 110 hectares of reclaimed land, with a 1,800m quay. This port is responsible for all of the country’s sea trade and commercial sea travel, so it’s no shock that KBSP is a multi-purpose facility, taking on many port disciplines and striving to fulfil ever one of these demands with a level of excellent. These disciplines include handling domestic cargo, cruise traffic and serving as a trans-shipment hub for the growing Upper Gulf shipping market.

Given the weight that KBSP carries for Bahrain, the country has invested heavily in its port, making it one of the most modern ports in the Gulf. It is also, its people claim, one of the most efficient container handlers amongst all the ports of the world.

Endeavour Magazine | 17

APM TERMINALS

We spoke with Susan Hunter, recently the Managing Director of the company until April this year: “We manage project cargo, consumer goods, increased inflow of raw materials for key export units are the types of cargo which dominate the inbound traffic at the port while the outbound traffic predominantly features aluminium and steel. Some of the ongoing project cargos we’re currently working on are BAPCO Modernization Project, Electricity and Water Authority (EWA), Government Housing project, amongst many other ongoing projects.”

As well as catering to the local trade in Bahrain, KBSP also serves as an alternative gateway for the upper gulf – a side to its operations that it has been looking to expand.

However, as with all of us, the events of 2020 have brought complications for APM Bahrain to tackle. As Susan explained; “The industry is currently facing a number of challenges amid the COVID-19 outbreak. It has had ports across the globe grappling to keep their necessary

18 | Endeavour Magazine

services operating. With the outbreak impacting closure or restrictions of many global trade routes, the demand for critical cargo deliveries continues with rigorous biosecurity measures and companies making operational changes to remain responsive and deliver in these increasingly complex conditions.”

One of the major complications for ports has been the ever-evolving COVID-19 guidelines.

Susan listed some of the many ways these impacted operations: “The screening of vessels calling at the port has hampered some container-for-exports and import movements; cruise ships not allowed to port and placed under quarantine; temporary suspension of crew disembarkation from ships; personnel affected from the virus advised to not report to work. However, with stimulus packages being put together by the governments, we’re hoping it will enable the global economy and shipping industry to spring back and regain its momentum.”

APM Bahrain has been extremely careful with safety and guideline compliance when it comes to its own staff, which has been essential not only for their safety, but, given their positioning at an international travel and shipping hub, the far-reaching safety of others. The company has implemented these rigorously in order to safely stay open throughout the crisis: after all, whilst the world may have seemed to ‘shut down’ in many respects, one area that never rests is shipping. In fact, if anything, the demand for some cargo has only grown.

“The APM Terminals team has shown immense resilience and continued to provide services to the logistics ecosystem in Bahrain.

We have taken a collaborative approach with our customers and partners, particularly the Port and Maritime Affairs and Customs, who have collaborated to help APMT to overcome the challenges brought by the global pandemic.”

As we’ve seen with many industries and businesses, responding to the pandemic hasn’t just been a question of ‘coping’ and ‘keeping up’ - the crisis has required a response, and that created an opportunity. Moving forwards, AMP Bahrain now has a series of systems developed in order to respond to the pandemic that will

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APM TERMINALS continue to benefit it in the future, including greater visibility on its website for available appointments, new MEA1 and Safeen Feeder services, LIFT upgrades, and a new express land for full export reefers.

Amazingly,not only have these improvements taken place, but APM Bahrain actually had an incredible 2020, in terms of profits, compared to the year before. In Q1 and Q2 of 2020, it reported a 51% increase from its year-on-year profits. We asked Susan what she thought sets KBSP apart: “With its strategic location, KBSP is currently the only port in the region and one of the very few around the world which offers various value-added services such as stuffing, destuffing, consolidation, storage services.

“The biggest benefit that we bring is the backing of the biggest Transport and Logistics company in the world, the A.P. Moller -Maersk Group that we are a part of. Being part of a massive organization increases our ability to access very high levels of technical expertise

across all different aspects of operations. APM Terminals operates over 74 port terminals around the world and over 150 inland service locations, so we have a big talent pool globally that we can draw technical expertise from to make things more efficient.” As for their own local employees, 64% of APM Bahrain’s 800 employees are from Bahrain, and the company invests in developing its employees’ maritime infrastructure and social-technical skills, as well as other training opportunities.

With its success and unique position, APM Terminals Bahrain is able to give its success back to Bahrain by involving itself in a number of CSR undertakings. In particular, the company turned its profitable 2020 towards assisting Bahrain in handling the pandemic: as well as donating to the Feena Khair campaign to raise funds towards the national COVID-19 efforts, it launched the COVID-19 Critical Cargo Initiative to ensure the uninterrupted supply of critical cargo shipments through KBSP. It also distributed PPE to all port users to promote and

ONE OF BAHRAIN`S LEADING MULTIDISCIPLINED CONTRACTING ORGANISATIONS Mechanical • Electrical • Civil & Structural • Transport P.O. Box 32143, Kingdom of Bahrain mmetc@batelco.com.bh www.mmetc.com

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Main Office Transport Mechanical

Tel: 17708888 Tel: 17708889 Tel: 17700886

Fax: 17701142 Fax: 17703881 Fax: 17700411

KEEPING AFLOAT assist in everyone’s safe use of the port, and it even organised a Webinar that sought to help others in facing the pandemic. The webinar, ‘Maintaining Resilient Supply Chains Through Crisis’, allowed its supply chain partners to highlight the high levels of co-operation and best practices employed to fulfil collective responsibilities to the Kingdom and its citizens during difficult times, both in celebration of these efforts and in order to assist and inform others.

So, what lies ahead for KBSP and APM Terminals Bahrain? “I foresee three crucial roles for APM Terminals Bahrain in the development of the port,” Susan told us, “Which is designed to handle 1 million twenty feet equivalent (TEU) per annum and is presently running at almost 45 per cent of its capacity. First is to make sure the infrastructure investments are in line with the market needs; second to play an active part in creating an effective supply chain; and lastly develop the company’s vast pool of talent.”

Regarding point one in particular, for several years now, the company has been spending around $2-$3 million annually on the development of the port’s infrastructure. This is to make sure that it will remain prepared for growth, both in terms of terminal scale and in terms of its technology and the efficiency of its systems. “We have also been working closely with the Ports and Maritime Affairs to explore ways to optimise operational efficiencies within the port, and to continue satisfy the future demand and the potential for volumegrowth. This includes tailored supply-chain services for landside customers; introducing digital solutions such as online access control, e-payment solutions, and vessel traffic management systems; attracting international cruise lines, and creating a seamless supply chain for project cargo imports.” By keeping prepared like this, KBSP will continue to be able to serve Bahrain as, quite literally, its only port of call.

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RETURNING TO THE TASTE OF OMAN Muscat Duty Free chevron-square-right www.muscatdutyfree.com phone-square 968 24510725

For the past year and a half, ‘travel’ has been a loaded word. For both work and leisure, travel came to as much of a stop as it could in response to the pandemic, with people encouraged to stay at home wherever possible. After over a year of quiet skies, travel is finally starting to open back up – the change is slow, and currently it’s still important for it to be slow, but that change is still happening.

Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

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ith the easing of restrictions for some countries and this gradual liberation of our skies once more, another return that is happening is the return to airport culture, and that means the DutyFree lounge. We interviewed Rob Marriott, CEO and General Manager of Muscat Duty Free, the company that organises all of Oman’s dutyfree facilities at Muscat International Airport and beyond.

Be honest – how many people look forward to flying because it’s an excuse to hang out in a strange, timeless mall where breakfast and dinner are always available and tax-free items are on sale all around, all day? Muscat Duty Free (MDF) oversees all of the duty-free shops and activities within Muscat International Airport, the airport for Oman’s capital city. This responsibility covers not only the physical inairport stores, but also extends to the in-flight duty-free purchases possible on board. It even extends to managing other tourist resources such as the gift shops for Muscat’s Royal Opera House and National Museum.

‘Muscat Duty Free’ is a trade name of Oman Sales & Services LLC, established in 2003. The company is a 50/50 joint venture between Endeavour Magazine | 23

MUSCAT DUTY FREE

Transom and Aer Rianta International Middle East (ARIME), the latter being an arm of the Aer Rianta Group, which is believed to be the pioneer group behind the first duty free airport store, certainly in the Middle East. As Rob proudly told us, “AerRianta International (ARI) is one of the world’s longest-established and most successful travel retail companies.

ARI have had a presence in the Middle East for over three decades, having first established the duty-free shops at Dubai in 1983. Since then, ARI has become the leading international operator in the region, establishing duty free shops in Bahrain, Oman, Lebanon, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”

MDF operates 17 outlets at departures and an arrival outlet at the airport, as well as a dutyfree outlet Port Sultan Qaboos. This space is three times what it used to cover when MDF was based at Muscat’s old airport, which was replaced by Muscat International Airport in 2018. MDF moved over to the new location

Vintage International FZCO Specialists in the import and export of fine wine & spirits

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in March that year. Anyone who has traveled by air has almost certainly passed through a duty-free section of an airport before, so I’m sure most of you can easily imagine what MDF oversees. Muscat’s stores are a combination of those international classics that every duty-free requires, and a delicious range of more locally relevant products that seek to assist Oman’s economy through their sale. As Rob told us, “We offer the best in perfumery, cosmetics, jewellery, fashion & accessories, liquor, tobacco, confectionery, food, toys and electronic products. In line with our commitment to the local economy, we also have a wide assortment of Omani dates, halwa, honey, sweets, etc., sourced from local SME’s, while Amouage perfume boutique is one of the key attractions among the shopping passengers.” This commitment to supporting Oman’s economy paid off to an impressive degree: “We increased our local SME’s range by 600% in 2019.”

RETURNING TO THE TASTE OF OMAN

Pre-pandemic, Muscat International Airport was a bustling hub, serving passengers from 80+ destinations covering Indian Subcontinent, GCC, Europe, Far East, Middle East, Africa region as well as domestic destinations. Now, things are much quieter, but that doesn’t mean they’ve come to a stand-still. We asked Rob about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the company, and how MDF has responded to the calls for and challenges of safety.

“Amid the crisis, we have been working on four distinct areas: surviving through the crisis, managing the restart, winning the recovery and then pivoting to the new normal. Since we first began responding and adapting to COVID‑19 in March’20, we have let safety drive our decision‑making: safety for our colleagues, safety for our customers and safety for our communities. We’ve maintained the salaries of our colleagues, adherend to guidelines issued by local authorities and safeguarded our customers and community.”

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MUSCAT DUTY FREE

“Our business was shut down on March 20th and resumed on Oct 1st 2020, and we utilised our lockdown period in a very efficient and effective manner. We started category range reviews in which we identified the key sales driving lines and promotions and discontinued the non-performing lines in a view to optimise space allocation and sales. With this optimised space, we were able to redesigned our shops to make it convenient for our customers to shop safety.”

This organised approach allowed MDF to turn a crisis into an opportunity, and also allowed them to not only utilise the time they were given, but to get ready for re-opening in a way that was safe, responsible and set up to hit the ground running.

“Having a rational and well documented plan in place for a reopening was key. In every store, we’re focused on delivering exceptional passenger service in a safe environment. We’ve implemented various safety measures: face

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coverings required for all of our colleagues and customers, limiting occupancy and giving everybody lots of room, temperature checks, hand sanitizers and posted health & safety guidelines with the tag line ‘Your Safety is our Priority’ across our stores. Throughout the day, we’re conducting enhanced deep cleanings that place special emphasis on all surfaces, display products and highly trafficked areas.

We’ve also taken this time to consider how we can serve our customers’ needs even more effectively and trained our colleagues through virtual meetings.”

As well as getting ready to receive their customers when they return, MDF spent lockdown working out how to attract those customers back when doors re-opened. “We built and implemented a strong promotional plan in which we covered all stores, categories and brands with attractive discount and value offers. Additionally, we launched a ’50% cash back discount scheme’ on second purchases

RETURNING TO THE TASTE OF OMAN

MUSCAT DUTY FREE

linked to a minimum spend.” These promotional offers, as well as MDF’s Welcome Back campaign and safety campaign, were promoted across TV, billboards and the company’s social media, as well as being promoted by the airport itself.

“Overall, we received a positive response from customers, colleagues and all the stakeholders for the successful reopening of business.”

Times have been challenging for everyone, but fast organisation made all the difference between lost time or utilised time. However, Rob was also fast to share the credit for MDF’s successful return, nodding to the support it had during the period of lockdown: “We’ve received excellent support from the government to keep us safe, and also excellent support from our partners ‘Oman Airports’.”

2020 was only MDF’s third year in the new airport building, and thus far, business has been going great, but like any new system, there are still areas to iron out and improvements to make, and MDF is constantly pushing towards

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making them. “The new terminal is a fabulous facility and world-leading airport. We are still on our journey of delivering consistently for passenger every single day and building on a really successful first year.”

“One key area we’re working on is to promote local product from Omani SMEs. We did a good job of this from the start but there is an opportunity to maximise it further, so we are focused on that. We are supporting them to grow that category, which not only can bring business benefits but also build pride in the country through its skilled artisans. We have also introduced Management trainee programme in which we recruited 25 local Omani graduates to train them so in future they can lead the business to next level.”

Airports may be an international hub that feel a little bit like they exist out of space and time, but MDF’s level of dedication to its home country is a reminder that they are also a huge employer and generator of local business, as well

RETURNING TO THE TASTE OF OMAN

as travellers’ first taste of the country they’ve arrived in. The duty-free mall, in particular, is where this interaction can happen, if, like MDF, it chooses to celebrate local products, foods and culture. This is far more exciting than the (admittedly already fairly exciting) prospect of tax-free alcohol and sunglasses – it’s something more inspirational and impactful than that, and something meaningful to be getting back to after this time of grounded planes.

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AMAZING WORLD

THE RAINBOW MOUNTAINS OF CHINA

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here are more than a few beautiful and utterly bonkers natural marvels to be found dotted around the world, but the psychedelic Rainbow Mountains of NorthWest China are something a bit special.

You haven’t tumbled down the rabbit hole and, no, these images haven’t been doctored on Photoshop to make them look more impressive than they really are - the otherworldly splash of blues, magentas, oranges, rich reds and lemon yellows that colour the mountains within Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park are as real as you and me.

The jagged technicolour peaks of the Rainbow Mountains are something of a paint palette geological wonder of the world, surely 30 | Endeavour Magazine

at least the equal of the world-famous Grand Canyon. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Danxia mountain range is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a bucket list destination for many Chinese and international tourists, but this remarkable feat of nature has only begun to capture the world’s attention over the past decade or so. This may explain why World Heritage Site status was achieved only as recently as 2009.

So, let’s get down to brass tacks: how did the Rainbow Mountains of Danxia come to be? The geological explanation behind the unique colouration of the site is predictably fascinating. Here goes: over the space of millions upon millions of years, different types

perimeter of India – a vast rift of fractured, jutting rock thrust thousands of feet into the air by the combined pressure of the two tectonic plates over millions of years.

The Rainbow Mountains of Danxia are the product of a similar crumpling effect, as opposing plates forced the creation of vast of rock, such as red sandstone and an array of mountain ranges in what is now north China. other mineral deposits formed on top of each In the case of the Danxia mountains, the other, creating a layered effect that you will crushing force severely disrupted the layer cake find in any ordinarily cliff or mountain. Nothing of red sandstone, and its accompanying layers to see here so far. of rocks and minerals, which subsequently However, somewhere around 40-50 million led to the creation of the strange patterns years ago, geologists found that the movement and colouration that we see today. A fitting of the world’s giant tectonic plates set India – comparison might be if we you scrunched up then a large island separate from the continent a painting into a ball, and then observed the which it is part of today – on a slow-motion patterns – the principle is the same. collision course with the Eurasian landmass.

So, there you have it. The immense power For an idea of the sheer force that the impact of the Earth’s natural forces, at the right place generated when the two plates bearing India at the right time, can lead to incredible results. and the Eurasian continent collided, we need If ever you visit the Rainbow Mountains, try to look no further than the Himalayan mountain take the time to appreciate a piece of art which range which runs around the northern was more than 50 million years in the making.

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MAKING COMPLEX SIMPLE Quintica chevron-square-right https://quintica.com phone-square 971 2 815 2820

Whilst Digital continues to define our current lives, businesses are aggressively trying to close the consumerised gap in their own internal business workflows.

This transformational journey is what Quintica is passionate about.

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s businesses move to app driven ecosystems, hyper automation workflows, from a client facing and internal operational efficiency perspective, companies like Quintica are here to help.

We spoke with Delwin Bratby, COO of this digital solutions provider, about how his company can advise and support others in this shift, and what it is that makes the Quintica platform and those of its partners so efficient.

In some countries, the phrase ‘new normal’ has been thrown around as we’ve adapted to the pandemic, and digital living is a central part of it. With more people than ever before working from home, and with as many services as possible becoming remote rather than faceto-face, having a smoothly flowing, efficiently operating digital set-up is a must-have for any business. As Quintica, the digital solution and service provider, puts it: “In today’s rapidly changing digital environment, excellent customer experience is more crucial than ever. Quintica provides you with a solution that automates, integrates and manages all the digital assets that impact the customer experience, ensuring that you

Written by Alice Instone-Brewer Endeavour Magazine | 33

QUINTICA

can meet the needs of your end-users and customers anywhere, any time and through any device.”

Quintica’s motto is “Making complex simple”, and this is the aim of its digital solutions and supporting services, seeking to make things as intuitive and straight-forward as possible. Of course, that’s supposedly the aim of every piece of software, and as we’ve all experienced, some do better than others! However, something that sets Quintica apart is the company doesn’t simply sell you a solution and leave you to it – the 120-strong team remains on-hand to assist you in its implementation. The company offers consultations through which you can identify your needs and work out the best way for you to work together to “unlock your business potential”, as the company puts it. The team then remains available to assist in adapting its services to your needs, helping to resolve issues and even managing services for you.

Through a facilitated hyper-care environment,

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Quintica aims to give your business real time support, providing a seamless transition and onboarding process, whilst you continue to support and manage your direct clients.

“We deliver technology that creates great customer experiences, improves operating efficiencies and helps our customers reduce cost,” explains Delwin. “We do this by stitching together digital platforms in the cloud.”

Quintica has supported customers digitally for 19 years. As you can imagine, its services have changed drastically during that time.

The company has formed close bonds with companies that continuously assists in transforming the business’s organizational performance and its complete client experience model. These partnerships include Global leading SaaS technology companies such as ServiceNow. It is the stitching together of these company’s platforms and abilities that allows Quintica to offer its clients the very best of what’s out there, smoothly blending elements

TITLE I love the Now Platform® - it makes work simple.

My teams have been able to be much more productive and efficient. Game changer!

- Tim McDavid, ServiceNow customer

Take work to the next level www.servicenow.com

With the Now Platform, the sky’s the limit.

- Stefan Sieger, Head of Customer Experience & Digital Delivery, Group Operations

The Now Platform delivers the best work setup of any other platforms out there.

We’ve tried many organizational methods over the years, but Now goes above and beyond. I couldn’t imagine life without it.

- James O’Neil, ServiceNow customer

QUINTICA

together to produce the exact support that each company needs.

“As IT organizations transform themselves to become a broker of services to their business customers, they are facing new challenges in the effective optimization of service management capabilities. This challenge is magnified in a world of endless solution choice, the significant technology shift to cloud-based services, the need to realise cost containment initiatives such as vendor consolidation and strategic outsourcing or near-sourcing and organisational transformation objective such as business process standardisation.

Today IT organisations are often saddled with costly, complicated and labour-intensive management processes and legacy or underperforming technologies that do not lend themselves easily to this new, complex world... Running a business on multiple systems and platforms is messy and very costly... and businesses no longer have the luxury to

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perform manual, time consuming functions.

Quintica focus on optimizing and automating your organizations entire service catalogue and routine business processes.”

When hired to help transform a business, Quintica delivers its support in phrases. The ‘Assess Phase’ involves the company monitoring the company’s operations in order to identify which areas need assistance. This then leads to the development of a ‘roadmap’ that lays out what systems the company plans to implement and a timeline for when these changes are targeted to take place. This gives its customers a clear view of everything they are receiving, and assists in the gradual adaption of their operations to encompass the new changes as and when they are delivered.

The ‘Define Phase’ that follows is when Quintica creates its framework of how the different elements of the business in question tie together. Finally, once this framework is used to piece together all of the elements

MAKING COMPLEX SIMPLE

the company’s digital platform requires, the implementation phase will see the Quintica team supporting its client in moving over to this new system section by section, until its use is properly institutionalised. The team stays onhand until the new system has become familiar habit, continuing to monitor, analyse and offer consultation until the move is complete.

The best way to understand what Quintica offers is to look at some examples of the companies it has helped. An impressive example is that of an international airports company that was seeking to take over two busy airport hubs in the Middle East, one of which is one of the busiest airport hubs in the world. Quintica couldn’t share the company name with us, but they shared their story.

To prepare for this expansion, which now has he company on track to having a predicted flow of 100 million people (once the world returns to normal), this airport company turned to Quintica to streamline its digital operations.

This goal would make this hub the busiest in the world, so it is imperative that everything runs smoothly and with no room for error. As the company’s Head of Governance said: “In order for our business to achieve our goals, we need to have the right service delivery components in place to ensure the smooth running of our entire business. Business technology plays a major part in this.”

Quintica was called in to assist in the automation of the airport’s operational systems – more specifically, incident management, request management, change management, SLA management, knowledge management, asset management, cloud and datacentre automation, CMDB consolidation and event management. It is doing this using ServiceNow’s Enterprise Service Management and has been given three years in which to complete this change-over.

The impact of Quintica’s efforts and ServiceNow’s platform is already being felt. For

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QUINTICA

one, the use of self service has skyrocketed, with the amount of customer requests being managed via digital portals having risen from only 4% to 95%. That change is huge! The airport services’ SLA compliance is up from 66% to 75%, and the company’s Net Promotor Score is up by 50 points. These quantifiable results show the importance of what Quintica brings into play.

To thoroughly break down every service element that Quintica brings to the table would take far longer than we have room for, but this is the exact draw of this company.

What it offers is broad and, when it comes to digital operations, all-encompassing, drawing in complex elements from many different styles of service support and integrating them into a single platform of support. It takes care to work alongside its customers and to truly understand their needs before providing a solution, meaning the product you receive is tailored to you specifically. It sells off-the-shelf

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solutions as well, but to fully enjoy what this company has to offer, one should experience this close dialogue and process of support.

The shift to digital certainly won’t be slowing any time soon, and as we all settle into our new normal, Quintica is on hand to make the process that little bit easier, and a whole lot more efficient.

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AMAZING WORLD

ER WANG DONG

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here’s big, and then there’s ‘so big that you have your own weather system’ big.

Er Wang Dong, a colossal cave network stretching 42 kilometres under Southwest China, is a self-sustaining world that fits into the latter category. Lush green forest, rapids, waterfalls, streams, and remarkably, even layers of clouds can be found deep inside the cavernous labyrinth.

Dating back 440 to 488 million years, a period known as the Ordovician period, Er Wang Dong was by no means unknown of, but curiously it appears to have been completely unexplored until only a few years ago.

Generations of local nitrate miners have known that there was something special, not to mention huge, lying beneath China’s 195-metre-deep Niubizi tiankeng sinkhole, but it was only when a team of 15 explorers and photographers from the Hong Meigui Cave Exploration Society bravely hunkered down into its depths in 2013 that its sheer size and scale became apparent. Remarkably, not a single one of the system’s vast underground tunnels and passages revealed any signs of having been explored by man, nor of even being touched by light, before.

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During their exploration of Er Wang Dong, the 15-strong team also a made discovery that is truly mind-blowing in its vastness. Cloud Ladder Hall, a huge cathedral-like space within the cave system that measures more than 500,000 sq. ft. with a roof at least 250 meters high, is, for those familiar with their Tolkien, almost a naturally formed Moria. It may come as little surprise that this cave is one of the biggest, most impressive caverns in the world – so big, in fact, that when it was discovered, the aptly named Cloud Ladder Hall was full of thick fog-like clouds that drastically hindered visibility and gave this splendid underground hall a feel of the ethereal.

Of course, caving can be a terribly dangerous business, and it was noted by the expedition team during a number of explorations that water frequently rose to dangerous levels, especially following rain in the area. If this magnificent place is somewhere you’re thinking of adding to your bucket list, you’d do well not to go in too far unless you’re an expert with a keen understanding and thorough experience of all things caving, or have a well experienced guide helping you to traverse the potentially fatal maze.

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SHIPPING IN THE NEW NORMAL Tanzania Port Authority chevron-square-right www.ports.go.tz phone-square 255 211 7816

Shipping and ports management is a complex beast at the best of times, but in our pandemic-rocked world, the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) has had its work cut out for it like never before. With Tanzania a point of discussion for many when it comes to COVID-19 response, we took a look back at the TPA to remind ourselves of what a large task it is carrying out – now more than ever.

Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

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s its name suggests, the Tanzania Ports Authority handles all things portrelated in Tanzania: established in 2004, TPA oversees a complex system of mainland, sea and inland waterways, regulates and licenses port and marine services and facilities, manages vessel traffic and ensuring port safety and security. A government-owned body, TPA carries a vast and challenging responsibility on its shoulders, because its work affects far more than the welfare and trade of its own country. All trade and transport links are essential lifeblood for any country, and in the case of Tanzania, the country has many landlocked neighbours.

These neighbours therefore rely on Tanzania’s ports for their own sea-trade, travel and some of their overseas aid, meaning many eyes are on the TPA and many country’s prosperity relies on it. These neighbours include Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda – no small order.

Dar es Salaam, on the Indian Ocean coast, is one of Tanzania’s major cities (population: 6 million), and as Tanzania’s enter port, is a commercial hub for the country. Following this, the other major sea ports are Tanga and Mtwara, which are complimented by smaller sea ports Endeavour Magazine | 43

TANZANIA PORT AUTHORITY

Kilwa, Lindi, Mafia, Nyamisati, Kisiju, Bagamoyo, and Pangani. Then, there are the country’s lake ports: Mwanza Noth and South Ports, Nansio, Kemondo Bay, Bukoba and Musoma on Lake Victoria; Kigoma and Kasanga on Lake Tanganyika and Itungi Port, Kiwira, Manda Liuli and Mbamba Bay on Lake Nyasa.

Dar es Salaam itself grew up from a small fishing village, and an open-air museum recreates and commemorates this history for visitors. Now, it is East Africa’s largest city, and fifth largest in the whole of the continent. This vibrant hub’s origins in fishing are one of many reminders of Tanzania’s close and beneficial relationship with its coasts and waterways.

Given this relationship, TPA strives to bring world-class logistics and maritime services to Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. Its job is not only to host and facilitate existing trade but, through doing so at a high standard, encouraging further trade to take place. As Director General Deusdedit C.V Kakoko put

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it, “The Authority performs the role of both a Landlord and Operator over the ports, with the main objective of promoting effective management and operations of sea and inland waterways; provision of services in relation to loading and unloading of cargo and passenger services; developing, promoting and managing port infrastructure and superstructure, and maintaining port safety and security.”

The foremost issue that a port must tend to is the need for smooth and efficient harbour services; these involve not only the mooring and unmooring of ships, but making sure that all movement between arrival and departure happens smoothly, that every vessel is clearly guided to the correct berth, and that the necessary resources are available to them whilst they are in dock. “The safety of your ship as it enters any of our ports is one of our top priorities,” said the Director General. “We offer a number of services to all vessels that enter our ports including pilotage, tugging and mooring,

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I. MESSINA (K) LTD I. MESSINA (K) LTD KENYA HEAD OFFICE - MOMBASA

I.I.MESSINA MESSINA(T) (T)LTD LTD

I.I. MESSINA MESSINA (K) (K)LTD LTD BayView Place, Floor,Mogadishu Rd off Moi Ave. KENYA HEAD2nd OFFICE - MOMBASA

Fax Fax+255 +25522222134841 2134841 daressalaam@messinaline-tz.com daressalaam@messinaline-tz.com

BayView BayView Place, Place,2nd 2nd Floor,Mogadishu Floor,Mogadishu Rd Rdoff offMoi MoiAve. Ave. +254-41-2319643 - Mob. 0728601319/0733406144 Ph. +254-41-2319640/1/2 - +254-20-2434173/2434168 Fax: mombasa@messinaline-ke.com P.O. P.O. Box Box87641-80100 87641-80100 - Mombasa -0728601319/0733406144 Mombasa +254-41-2319643 - Mob. Ph. Ph. +254-41-2319640/1/2 +254-41-2319640/1/2- +254-20-2434173/2434168 - +254-20-2434173/2434168Fax: Fax: mombasa@messinaline-ke.com KENYA BRANCH OFFICE - NAIROBI +254-41-2319643 +254-41-2319643 - Mob. - Mob. 0728601319/0733406144 0728601319/0733406144 Capitol Hill Square,OFFICE Ground Floor,Chyulu KENYA BRANCH - NAIROBI Road, mombasa@messinaline-ke.com mombasa@messinaline-ke.com Upper Hill, P.O. Box 40578 - 00100 - Nairobi, Kenya

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UGANDA BRANCH OFFICE - KAMPALA P.O. Boxbusiness 5501 - Kampala Nakawa park , BLOCK A 2nd Floor Ph. +256 414 +256 393 265988 P.O. Box 5501231477 - Kampala Fax +256 414231477 231611 UGANDA UGANDA BRANCH BRANCH OFFICE OFFICE - KAMPALA -265988 KAMPALA Ph. +256 414 +256 393 kampala@messinaline-ug.com Nakawa Nakawa business business park park , BLOCK , BLOCKAA2nd 2ndFloor Floor Fax +256 414 231611 P.O. P.O.Box Box 5501 5501- Kampala - Kampala kampala@messinaline-ug.com

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Capitol Hill Square, Ground Floor,Chyulu Road, Ph. +254-20-2710144/2710166 Upper Hill, P.O. BoxOFFICE 40578 - 00100 - Nairobi, Kenya KENYA KENYA BRANCH BRANCH OFFICE - NAIROBI - NAIROBI Fax +254-20-2710191 Ph. +254-20-2710144/2710166 Capitol CapitolHill HillSquare, Square,Ground GroundFloor,Chyulu Floor,ChyuluRoad, Road, nairobi@messinaline-ke.com Fax +254-20-2710191 Upper Upper Hill, Hill,P.O. P.O.Box Box40578 40578- 00100 - 00100- Nairobi, - Nairobi,Kenya Kenya nairobi@messinaline-ke.com Ph. Ph. +254-20-2710144/2710166 +254-20-2710144/2710166

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TANZANIA PORT AUTHORITY

to ensure that your vessel is safely docked and allowing you to safely conduct your business at our ports.”

Port services also include the handling of various forms of cargo. “We are well equipped with an array of machinery and equipment to handle a wide range of cargo. Our teams of highly trained professionals in various fields work around the clock to ensure that cargo entering and exiting our ports is in pristine condition and on time.” TPA break cargo down into three types: dry bulk, break bulk and bulk liquid. Dry bulk cargo refers to any unpacked, homogenous product, such as grain, rice or coal.

This type of cargo is easy to drop or pour into containers, down shoots etc. Meanwhile, break bulk refers to any cargo that must be loaded individually, whether this be individual items or containers. This includes products such as vehicles, vehicle parts and agriproducts, but despite the name, also refers to hardy products such as iron, steel and other metals. Lastly, as

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is apparent from the name, bulk liquid refers to any and all liquid cargo, including LNGs and other hazardous products.

As we know, every country has had its journey to navigate with COVID, and Tanzania is no exception. Like all of us, the country has had its unique house of cards to uphold whilst responding to the pandemic, and in its case, this led the President to some different calls to those many governments have made, such as never implementing a full lockdown.

Some countries criticized Tanzania’s leaders for not implementing a lockdown within the country, but, as we are more aware of now than ever, the impact of such measures is complicated, as are the needs of each individual country. According to Tanzania’s government, its president John Magufuli opted against because implementing one would have had severe consequences for the country’s population that Tanzania would have struggled to counter, such as the economic impact on

SHIPPING IN THE NEW NORMAL

many households who would be pushed into poverty, or a strain on the already over-busy healthcare services in trying to remotely tend to a population that struggles with illnesses such as tuberculosis and HIV. Whether or not one agrees with the assessment, it is significant to note that such elements have been a strain on many countries that did opt for lockdown, and Tanzania’s leaders felt that, in their case, the country’s economy and infrastructure wasn’t fit for that task.

That said, none of this means that Tanzania was without a COVID response – good news, as a country that serves as an international port for so many. Its government followed and implemented the many WHO safety measures we are now all familiar with, invested in and boosted its abilities to produce PPE, and has also been contributing to the world’s joint vaccination and curative efforts by studying its many local medicinal plants. Again, this has been viewed by some as a counter-effort to

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TANZANIA PORT AUTHORITY

the vaccine, but Tanzania’s spokespeople have said that it is intended as a supportive effort alongside other studies, rather than an eitheror situation.

All of this brings us to another essential but less obvious aspect of TPA’s responsibilities – emergency response. When one hears ‘safety and security’ in regards to a port or similar industrial undertaking, one’s mind might go straight to security personnel and surveillance etc., and this is all a requirement too, but on top of that, TPA must be ready to respond to accidental threats such as fire or, very prominent in ours minds these days, medical emergency. TPA’s security and fire teams are both available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to respond to any emergency at the port and neighboring areas. It may seem surprising that TPA has its own fire brigade, but given the amount of fuel alone, never mind other flammable cargo that travels around a port, it is an important resource to have. As the

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TPA describes, “The fully functional and wellequipped fire brigade consists of experienced firemen and rescue professionals, armed with top-of-the-line equipment and vehicles to tackle anything from fires and explosions to chemical and biological hazards. The brigade does periodical drills to ensure the staff, visitors and other port users are well prepared for any emergency response. The drills are used to benchmark response time and further used to train the emergency responders, staff and port users in order to maintain a constant state of readiness and awareness. The brigade also participates in firefighting efforts outside port areas in collaboration with respective local authorities.”

Amongst TPA’s other emergency responders is their medical response team, who are trained to handle any medical emergencies around the port areas. This training includes the ability to respond to both physical and mental issues that port users may have. The teams work with a chief medical officer and have a dedicated health center on site that’s fully equipped with staff, a clinic and facilities capable of support life-saving surgery. On the other side of the spectrum, there is even a gym to allow staff to keep fit and healthy.

TPA’s work is never done; as well as overseeing the many operations that make up the life of busy ports, it must continually look forwards. Originally, the port authority had been planning to target 2020 as a boost for trade and travel, linked with plans to even unveil and open a new port. World-over, plans for 2020 have had to change, and yet, we are all still looking ahead, ready for a world that is reopening more and more. With Tanzania’s slower uptake on the available vaccines than some, the immediate future for its ports is currently unclear, but one thing is certain: the TPA will continue to support and expand its harbours’ efforts, for Tanzania and the countries around it, just as it has since its founding.

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AUTOMOTIVES

NEW TESLA MODEL S FOR 2021

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he iconic Tesla Model S has gotten a new look for 2021, with the saloon’s interior receiving a re-design. Even more significantly, it has also received a brand-new motor in Tesla’s new ‘Plaid’ powertrain.

The Model S is already a stand-out car from Tesla. More than ‘just’ a sedan, this is a family car with style, design and speed, with a wide bode and chassis allowing it to take corners quickly and safely.

Tesla have long established themselves as the go-to brand for electric vehicles, but as other car brands have begun to get more actively involved in the electric scene, Tesla needs to do what it can to stay amongst the top names. Cue the unveiling of the Plaid and Plaid+ powertrain, a 1,006bhp tri-motor that Tesla claims will offer its EV users a range of up to 520 miles range between charges (on the Plaid+), will get from zero-to-60 in under two seconds and will have a top speed of 200mph.

It debuted last September at the Laguna Seca 50 | Endeavour Magazine

raceway, where it ran the course in 1 minute and 36 seconds.

Range tends to be people’s biggest concern when it comes to electric vehicles – in the early days of the technology, EVs could only make short journeys between charges, and there were very few charging stations available.

Now, charging stations are ever on the rise, and companies are in competition to make the longest-lasting, most efficient motor they can. With Porsche getting ready to reveal the Porsche Taycan, the new Model S Plaid is Tesla’s bid to stay at the head of the race.

The Model S’s entry-level ‘Long Range’ model is priced

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at £83,980 and claims to have a range of 412 miles. The new Plaid model starts at £110,980 and has a maximum range of 390 miles, and the Plaid+ is priced at £130,980 and apparently has a maximum range of 520 miles.

As for the interior’s redesign, the Model S’s new feature are functional as well as aesthetic.

Functionally, the rear bench has been altered to give passengers more legroom and headroom; aesthetically, the steering wheel has been replaced with a smaller, more minimalist shape, and all of the car’s trim has acquired wood paneling.

However, this isn’t all - the majority of the changes are in the technology. The stereo has been updated, replaced with a new 22-speaker, 960-watt system with active noise cancelling.

The vehicle has also gained a huge 7-inch infotainment system, and backseat passengers have gained a screen that can be used to watch films and videos or connect with a Nintendo Switch or similar devices in order to play video games. When I was a kid, you were lucky if you had a portable DVD player with a screen strapped to the back of your parents’ chairs!

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Can this EV power all of these devices?

One would think that electricity would be too valuable a resource to spend on video games and music, but according to Tesla, the car can do all of this and even have enough spare to charge your phone and, even crazier, laptop!

Lastly, Tesla has updated the Model S by upping its autonomy game. The car can now drive itself on the motorway, like some of its fellow Tesla models, with the ability to change lanes and even overtake or avoid other road users as needed! The company has also improved the model’s auto-parking, allowing it to parallel and end-on park without any driver input. Perhaps the craziest thing of all, it also features Tesla’s ‘summon’ system, which allows you to send an instruction to the car to drive itself to you if it’s only a short distance away.

Overall, an already impressive vehicle has gotten even better. With EVs seeming to be the way of the future, Tesla is once again making sure that we can embrace this future with style.

AMAZING WORLD

OCTLANTIS

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here has been many a viral video featuring octopuses, usually starring the otherworldly creatures as they perform a feat of disturbingly intelligent problem-solving or physical resilience. Popular contenders have included these monstrous molluscs walking on land, letting themselves out of boxes, squeezing to freedom through impossibly small spaces and even unscrewing a jar from the inside.

These videos have been received with playful (or genuine?) horror as we eye up our potential replacements. However, for all that they are intelligent, agile, dexterous and persistent, we have always known that these animals lack certain key elements for filling our shoes; the so-named ‘gloomy’ octopus is a solitary creature, only looking for company once a year to mate...or that’s what we thought. Our longheld idea of the wandering, lonely octopus, lacking a purpose or plan, was challenged in 2009 and has now been firmly shattered by a discovery south of Sydney in Jervis Bay; an underwater octopus city, whimsically dubbed ‘Octlantis’.

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Octlantis is no accident; this is not a collection of octopuses (or octopodes, not octopi) simply happening to take shelter in a convenient rock formation – it is octopus-made, built out of a combination of exposed rock and beds of shells salvaged from eaten prey. Not only have these shells been used to create exterior walls to make a shelter, they also divide up separate shell-built dens within these walls. Octlantis’ residents are not huddling randomly together - they have purposefully constructed an area where they can enjoy private homes within a larger social structure. Sound familiar?

Whilst octopuses are far from the only creature to create a group living structure, they were previously thought to live separate lives, and have not demonstrated the same colony or pack mentality usually exhibited by such creatures. Yet, the residents of Octlantis act differently – observing marine biologists have seen complex social behaviour in play, including flirting and status negotiation through posturing and colour changes, and even organized den evictions.

Octlantis is not a one-off phenomenon – in 2009, a similar ‘city’ was discovered, again in Jervis Bay, by Matthew Lawrence. The complex nest, this time dubbed ‘Octopolis’, was formed around a large, man-made metal object on the ocean floor. Because of its man-man focal point, the discovery was thought to be an anomaly, but the new discovery of Octlantis has shown that this isn’t the case. It could be that in the right conditions, octopuses are learning to work together to create a mutually beneficial situation; both sites offer rocky outcroppings around an otherwise flat area, ideal for building.

Marine biologists have said that they don’t believe octopus behaviour has recently changed, so much as our ability to observe it, as we are now able to use GoPros to watch their interactions rather than intruding with human divers. Even so, the strange thing about these octo-cities is that, much like humans and other high-intelligence animals, this form of living is not the only choice octopuses are capable of making. Professor David Scheel, who led the research, described the behaviour in Octlantis

as “remarkably similar to vertebrate complex social behaviour.” Peter Godfrey-Smith, author of Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life and diver at 2009’s Octopolis, further believes that these city structures could escalate the development of octopus intelligence and social behaviour, much as they did in early human development.

Could these cities be the start of Planet of the Octs, or are they simply evidence that there is still much we don’t understand about life on our ocean floors? Either way, their discovery is allowing zoologists rare opportunities to study these mysterious creatures in a new context, and potentially even watch as flies on the wall as their social structure develops in complexity. Whether these are the only two octo-cities in the world, or whether they are as widespread as our own, is still anybody’s guess, but one thing is for certain; the more we learn about the world, the more we realise we didn’t know.

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READY FOR THE NEXT STEP Staatsolie chevron-square-right www.staatsolie.com phone-square 597 499649

Founded in 1980, Staatsolie saw its 40-year anniversary come and go during an unusual year for everyone, and like many companies, its 2020 Strategy for Success came to a head in unexpected circumstances.

Written by Alice Instone-Brewer

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he company culture was founded on a spirit of pioneering and courage in the face of uncertainty, all of which is exactly the kind of attitude companies have needed for the past year and a half. Last time we spoke to Staatsolie, its Managing Director Rudolf Elias told us what it had planned for 2020; we looked back at its strategy from a 2021 perspective to discuss what’s happened since, what might happen next, and whether or not the company is living up to its slogan to be ‘ready for the next step’.

Staatsolie is the state-owned oil company of Suriname, tasked with overseeing the entire sector for the country, involved in oil exploration, drilling, production, refining, marketing, sales, and transportation. It has a grand standing within its country, but it has smaller and less certain origins: as the company says of itself, “Staatsolie set up to pave a way into the unknown, without knowing exactly what we would achieve... ‘Confidence in one’s own ability’ is the common thread in our entire existence - a trust that starts in 1980 and has never been shamed.”

These passionate words refer to the fact that, when Staatsolie was first founded, it was a small operation without the required Endeavour Magazine | 57

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knowledge or resources to tackle its task, but it learnt and grew, and did so determinedly. Oil was first found in Suriname in 1920, but it wasn’t until 1960 that any oil was actually drilled and recovered. Even then, Suriname was unable to attract international interest in its oil deposits, and so, in May 1980, not wanting to waste the resource available to it any longer, the government created a petroleum commission.

As a part of this commission, Staatsolie Maatschappij Suriname N.V was formed, and instructed not only to reach out to international bodies, but in the meantime, to get on with doing the exploration work itself. Suriname wasn’t going to sit and wait for another country to come in and allow it to tap its resources – it decided that it was time to develop a means to do this for itself, and put geologist Eddy Jharap at the helm of the operation.

In the company’s own words about its history: “The vision of Eddy, as Managing Director, was to prove that even without

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foreign knowledge and expertise, results can be achieved in former colonies. He wanted to show the world that Suriname could build and maintain a modern industry with its own resources, and on its own, while there was little belief in the viability of the company. In order to achieve this, Eddy surrounded himself with like-minded people with high values who were true to the mission.”

It’s an inspiring story, and 40 years later, the company was called on to exercise this same spirit in the face of an all-new challenge. It has, at least, been doing so from a position that is now firmly established and extremely successful – Eddy Jharap would be proud. Today, Staatsolie works closely with the big names of the global oil and gas sector, organising what is currently one of the two biggest earning industries for Suriname, the other being gold. It even has a finger in that pie, with a 25% partnership in a goldmine with Newmont. However, it is oil that is its purpose and focus, and in 2015, it went back to the drawing board of how best to utilise and pursue this resource for its country.

This 2016-2020 Strategy for Success was clear. Its main focus was the decision to pour the majority of its efforts into the upstream.

Whilst some attention would be given to making its downstream operations more efficient and cost effective, these efforts would no longer involve a noteworthy capital investment. This was partially due to the fact that over the past ten years, the company had already spent a great deal on investing in this side of their operations, including a new $1 billion oil refinery, which expanded Staatsolie’s electricity capacity from 30 MW to 90MW. The creation of this refinery had been a vision for Staatsolie from as early as 1982, and in December 2015 it finally became reality. From here, then, the company was ready to refocus its development efforts, and future investments were focused on the upstream. This focus on upstream activities fell into three categories: oil production, offshore joint ventures, and of course, exploration.

Staatsolie became involved in exploration on three different fronts: near shore, shallow offshore and deep offshore, with deep offshore

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STAATSOLIE

defined as anything beyond 70 meters of water depth. These three categories were all tackled differently; deep offshore exploration was left in the hands of Staatsolie’s IOC partners, whilst in the near shore and shallow offshore areas, they conducted the exploration themselves, with the intention of finding partners to help them tap the resources once they were discovered.

‘Once they were discovered’ is the important term here. The company has always prepared for its successes before it achieves them. Early in its existence, its board realised that, in order to process large amounts of oil, funds would be required, and this is why it held and stil holds investments in other industries. Today, Staatsolie holds investments in both gold mines and electricity generation, which has helped it through a period of low oil prices and has certainly helped to support it during life’s more recent complications. As Managing Director Rudolf Elias put it, ““We must remember that

PIPELINE PROJECT https://mwsnv.com Email: tleter@mwsnv.com Phone: +(597) 472644

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we have to keep moving constantly. With every investment you have to take into account that the oil pricing behavior will be one of high peaks and deep valleys. We have had to deal with a pandemic and we can see the impact on the oil price, and there could be something this drastic again. Therefore, we must make sure to invest wisely to keep Staatsolie viable for the next one hundred years.” He concluded with the company’s time-old slogan; “Let’s be ready for the next step!”

“Staatsolie has a very healthy balance between assets, equity and debt,” Rudolf continues. “In this respect, our ratios are one of the best among oil companies and we are far ahead of the competition. This is also confirmed by our banks. And yet it is time for Staatsolie to go to the next level. We won’t reach our destination for another two or three years. But what is important is that we keep moving and keep developing, as we have been doing for the past forty years. That’s why we’re

STEEL STRUCTURE

INTERIOR DESIGN Dinastraat #8 Paramaribo, Suriname South-America

READY FOR THE NEXT STEP

so successful today. It is time that we take the next step towards the international capital market so that the world gets to know us.”

Looking to this future, Rudolf hopes to see a good portion of Staatsolie’s revenues going towards welfare funds, following Norway’s example. It may be surprising to learn that the company is also looking towards green energy – whilst it is staying true to the task it was given 40 years ago, it is aware that the world has changed since its commission began, and thus work has begun to investigate adding green sources to its energy portfolio. In particular, this research is focusing on the possibilities of a hydro energy project.

The world isn’t what Staatsolie expected it to be 40 years ago, but the company’s careful preparations and long-term view has gotten it to where it planned to be, and has built it a firm foundation upon which to survive the current storm. Not only that, but it seems to be doing so with the same spirit that first saw the people of

Suriname rolling up their sleeves and preparing to tackle a new industry. As the company wrote whilst celebrating its anniversary: “We never stand still. We keep moving, full of enthusiasm, with the vision for the future and with the same passion that ignited in 1980.”

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AMAZING WORLD

AN EYE ON THE TIGER

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he tiger reigns supreme as the largest big cat on Earth. Weighing in at an average of 204kg (450lb), they are a creature to be admired. One of the tiger’s six subspecies, the Siberian (Amur) Tiger, can even weigh up to 300kg and grow up to 4m (13ft) in length.

The other five subspecies are the South China Tiger, the Malayan Tiger, the Indochinese Tiger, the Sumatran Tiger, and the Bengal Tiger. The most numerous subspecies, isit is believed that 2,000 Bengals populate the wild, which is 50% of the wild population of tigers in total. It is concerning to know that there are under 4000 tigers left in the wild now, because at the start of the 20th Century, the global population was roughly 100,000, and a 96% decrease has been witnessed. Tigers were once known to range across the regions of Western, Central, and South Eastern Asia, but are now mainly found within Indian and Siberian regions.

In the animal kingdom, tigers are known as a charismatic megafauna; a large animal found historically in mythology, folklore, religion, 62 | Endeavour Magazine

by James Lapping films and literature, with a strong symbolic value. Tigers are still seen as deities in religions such as Hinduism, and are prized as symbols of national pride in the various countries that they roam. Although this admiration of the tiger is clearly apparent, the creature has been, and still is, threatened by continued poaching and illegal trade of its body parts, even though the trade of tigers for commercial use was banned in 1987. The illicit industry is worth $19 billion dollars.

This unsettling demise of the wild tiger population can be linked to various factors.

Traditional Chinese medicines use various body parts of the tiger for a variety of ailments.

The meat is also served as a rare delicacy, and it is even possible to purchase wine that is created from tiger bones (which is believed by some to pass the strength of the tiger on to the consumer). Tigers are also poached for their furs and kept as pets. Tiger farms have been on the rise in China recently, and these supply the demand for tigers and their body parts, even

though they are participating in an illegal trade.

8,000 tigers are believed to be kept captive in tiger farms, double that of the global wild population. A similar number of tigers are kept as pets in the USA. Approximately 7,000 tigers are kept in houses, apartments, and other unsuitable environments for an animal that belongs in a vast wild habitat.

It is not all woe for tigers, however. Staunch conservation and global cultural shifts beckon a positive future. CITES, the treaty that regulates the international trade of wildlife, now demands that countries with captive tigers report on the welfare of these creatures, and that tiger farms such as the ones in China make sure that they’re not entering into the illegal trade. The use of traditional medicines in China is now waning, and as we travel deeper into the 21st Century, the use of scientific medicines has become much more dominant in Chinese culture. Experts who aim to increase tiger numbers in the wild also believe that there

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is still enough habitat across Asia to home up to 20,000 tigers, in areas away from human settlements. It is paramount that the animals that currently live in captivity are eventually released into the wild. On average a tiger will roam up to 1,500 miles - it is clear that living in a tiger farm in China or an apartment in the United States will cause the tiger undeserved stress, which inevitably leads to attacks.

There has been friction between humans and big cats for some time, but it is more than possible for each to live side by side, albeit not in the same apartment. In the Western Ghats of India, an indigenous group called the Soliga are doing exactly this. In their Hindu religion, the tiger is a deity and is believed to be an animal transport for the goddess, Durga. This culturally engrained respect for the tiger, and their vegetarian diet (also stemming from Hinduism) has allowed the Soliga to successfully live in the same habitats as the tiger. There hasn’t been a single recorded incident in their community, and this could be due to the fact that there is no livestock for the tigers to attack, and no competition over hunting prey in the area. The Soliga also believe that the tiger benefits the community, as it protects their crops from other animals, and stops any raiders coming into close contact with the Soliga. The story has added intrigue, as other non- indigenous groups in the region have in fact had numerous incidents with tigers. This clearly suggests that there is something to learn from the environmentally harmonious lives of the Soliga people.

It is also very promising to hear that initiatives are in place to return tigers into the wild where they once roamed. In 2017, it was announced that tigers were planned to be reintroduced into Kazakhstan. The animals were wiped out there in the 1940s, due to hunting and the loss of habitat. They will be reintroduced into a nature reserve with enough space to roam, where they will be kept safe from poachers and will have enough food to live on. The project will commence in the Ili-Balkhash region, an area the big cats used to inhabit. If all goes well, then the tigers are scheduled to be introduced back into Ili-Balkhash by 2025. Askar Myrzakhmetov, the Minister of Agriculture in Kazakhstan, said: 64 | Endeavour Magazine

“Kazakhstan is moving along the path of green development. We are honoured to be the first country in central Asia to implement such an important and large-scale project, that not only will bring wild tigers back to their ancestral home but also protect the unique ecosystem of the Ili-Balkhash region.”

There is also a success story on the other side of the tiger’s historical range, far east in the wilderness of Siberia. Successful conservation by the WWF and assistance from the Russian Kremlin have seen their numbers rise from 330 in 1995 to 540 in 2015. Putin himself is a big fan of the Amur Tiger, believing it is a powerful symbol synonymous with national pride, and has seen to it that logging in their natural habitat is banned, as well as increasing the fines for those involved in illegally commercialising the animal. In the 1930s, there was a population as low as 20-30 Siberian Tigers, showing how far they have come since then.

A similar story can be heard in Nepal. Through rigorous conservation and assistance from the government in protecting endangered species, the country that had 121 tigers in 2009 almost doubled the population to 235 in 2018.

The main conservation group working with wildlife experts across the tiger’s range in Asia is the WWF. Their aim is to increase the number of wild tigers to more than 6,000 in 2022. This year is particularly symbolic, as it is the ‘Year of the tiger’ in China. The initiative is one that is already showing quantitative successes. The number of wild tigers has risen from 3,200 in 2010 to 3,900 by 2016. If this upward trajectory continues through habitat protection and antipoaching patrols, then there is no doubt that the WWF will be able to reach their target to stabilise the community of beautiful tigers living wild and free. Let’s hope that 2022 really will be the year of the tiger!

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HERE TO STAY National Petroleum chevron-square-right www.np.co.tt phone-square (868)625-1364-8

If we hear Trinidad and Tobago in the Endeavour offices, our first thought is petroleum. Love it or loathe it, it drives the twin islands’ industry, and the National Petroleum Marketing Company is tasked with making sure that continues to be the case. Whilst the world is moving forwards on energy and the company is moving with it, its wellestablished foundations mean this movement is gradual, maintaining the core of its status quo in an industry that, in a fastchanging world, remains a determined constant.

I

ncorporated back in 1972, the Trinidad and Tobago National Petroleum Marketing Company (NP) was formed by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago back when the face of heavy industries was very different.

Created using assets bought from what was then BP Caribbean Ltd, the incorporation was the beginning of a program of serious investment and development, and after buying 50% of the inland assets of ESSO and enveloping them in 1973, growth really started to happen.

“In 1976, NP became the sole distributor of petroleum fuels in T&T, having acquired the marketing assets of Trinidad and Tobago Oil Company (formerly Shell Trinidad Ltd), and the following year the local marketing assets of Texaco Trinidad Ltd,” the company, which is fully owned by the Trinidadian government, told us.

NP was and is snapping up as many assets as possible, but in a display of respect for the brands being incorporated, blanket marketing hasn’t been adopted. For example, under license, NP continued to produce a range of lubricants after acquiring Shell Trinidad Ltd, right up to the point where the National

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NATIONAL PETROLEUM

Petroleum Brand of lubricants was launched in 1981. Even so, the word ‘monopoly’ springs to mind.

The question is, how have all of these asset acquisitions impacted on the range of products available to consumers? “NP continues to improve its product rating, keeping abreast of every significant technological advancement in the lubricants industry. Today, thanks to our rigorous pursuit of quality standards such as the service classification of American Petroleum Institute (API), the Trinidad and Tobago and Caribbean markets are among the most advanced regions of the world.”

So, monopoly of the market was never the driving force; it was a case of learning, improving and being able to diversify, safe in the knowledge that no standards were being negated in the pursuit of commercial success.

This leads us neatly on to exactly what NP offers consumers on a day-to-day basis. Before we look at the array of products on offer from

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NP, we need to reiterate the fact that it is the most diversified petroleum company within the English-speaking Caribbean, as it is such a key USP. After all, any company with enough investment could look to sell petroleum fuels, but it takes a deeper level of industry expertise to expand into other arenas: “NP markets petroleum fuels, lubricating oils and greases, liquefied petroleum gas, compressed natural gas and automotive specialty products. NP possesses the largest service station network in Trinidad and Tobago.

From our blending plants come lubricating oils, greases, brake fluid and radiator coolants. We also deliver marine bunkering and aviation refueling at our facilities in both Trinidad and Tobago and in Dominica.”

NP really is a one-stop consumer satisfaction shop. Not only are the products developed and created to a staggering standard, there is also an extensive distribution network in place, ready to fulfil the needs of local people and

HERE TO STAY

businesses. This ties in beautifully with the company mission and vision statements: “Our mission is to provide a safe and reliable supply of quality petroleum products to customers in domestic and regional markets.

Our vision is to be the preferred petroleum marketing company, leading in customer service, innovation, efficiency and profitability; emerging from domestic leader to competitive regional player.”

Note the continual lack of global aspirations here. This is a local operation, run with the region, residents and quality in mind. Yes, if an opportunity to diversify into more international interests presented itself, NP would be ready and able to rise to the challenge, but there is no sense that the team is looking past the people that have made the company what it is today. It feels like a very natural and symbiotic arrangement; people need petroleum products, NP provides them, and everyone enjoys the

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relationship – but there’s more to NP than simple supply and demand.

Even the most simplistic of operations can identify what consumers want and need, but it takes a more innovative company to look for ways to meet commercial demand, whilst never compromising on the original core values. After all, trust, integrity and passion will never go out of style and can be the values that set companies apart, making the difference between a disappointment or a successful tender. Something else that certainly helps NP to stand out from competitors is the commitment to social responsibility: “Over the years, NP has had an on-going commitment to the development of the people and culture of this country. However, among the many endeavours in which the company has been involved, we are particularly proud of the NP Music Literacy Programme, the goal of which is to provide an avenue where the youth in the Port of Spain area could focus on music

70 | Endeavour Magazine

literacy and personal development. We have been able to achieve these goals through the introduction of Level 1 music exams and formal life skills training by an external facilitator for these students.”

With solid industry expertise and product understanding forming the foundation of the whole company, coupled with the extensive distribution channels in place, NP is certainly in an enviable position. Whatever your view on the industry, it seems unlikely that NP is going to veer from its core activities too far in the near future, given the leading position they have established for it.

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