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COMPANY PROFILE
COMPANY PROFILE: SOS EVENT LOGISTICS AS SOS GLOBAL OPENS ITS FIRST DEDICATED MIDDLE EAST OFFICE, TPMEA CATCHES UP WITH GENERAL MANAGER OF THE DUBAI BRANCH, BOB O’BRIEN TO FIND OUT WHAT THE COMPANY HAS IN STORE FOR THE REGION.
For more than 35 years, SOS Global Express has been providing customised logistics solutions for the complex and time-critical events industry. Headquartered in New Bern, North Carolina, and with international hubs in Hamburg, London, and Moscow, the company has the experience, resources, and international network to offer a true year-round, 24/7 service to its clients – wherever they are in the world. That ability strengthened even further recently with the opening of a new Dubai branch, SOS Event Logistics LLC, which will service the company’s existing long-term customers in the
ME
region as well as facilitate the expected growth in the industry throughout the Middle East. For much of the 35 years that SOS has been in existence, Bob O’Brien has operated in the live events industry, working as a Production Manager for a range of artists including Arcade Fire, Ellie Goulding, Franz Ferdinand, The Script, and The Strokes. In 2018, the PM made the leap away from touring to join SOS, with a remit to push forward the company’s entertainment logistics division. As part of that vision, O’Brien was tasked with opening the company’s first Middle East branch and, according to the new General Manager, there
was only one city in mind. “Dubai is the major hub both in terms of logistics and access to the wider Middle East region,” he began, explaining the reasons behind the company opening in the emirate. “We have a lot of clients who are based primarily in Dubai already and the city is still very much regarded as the main hub for commercial transactions and networking in the region.” While SOS has been moving gear in and out of the Middle East for many years without a permanent presence, with the numerous highprofile projects taking place in the region as well as the explosion in growth in Saudi Arabia, the
