Remain Open and Alert to Ideas, GPCA Supply Chain Conference

Delegates who attended Day 1 of the Third Gulf Petrochemical and Chemical Association (GPCA) Supply Chain Conference were encouraged to remain open and alert to the ideas being presented.

The keynote speaker, H. E. Rashed Saud Al Shamsi, Petrochemicals Director, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) and Chairman, Borouge Pte. focused on the key challenges and opportunities within the GCC supply chain both present and in the future and encouraged collaboration between regional industry leaders to ensure a robust supply chain.

Taking place at InterContinental Hotel, Abu Dhabi from 18-20 October 2011, the theme of this year’s event ‘Strengthening the supply chain against challenges and threats’ is designed to aid dialogue on key issues, including piracy, GCC customs regulation, staffing challenges, sustainability and responsible care, third party logistics as well as the strategies needed to mitigate the impact of long supply chains.

A welcome address by Mr. Hamad Al Terkait, Chairman – Supply Chain Committee, GPCA and President and CEO, EQUATE Petrochemical Co. preceded the keynote speech. He highlighted the diversity of this year’s participants and emphasized the importance of the supply chain being seen as a business that needs to be invested in and not just a support service.

Mr. Manuel Asali, Principal – Middle East, Nexant, provided delegates with a Middle East chemical sector overview, focusing on market developments, diversification drivers, impact on trade, new technologies and investment challenges.

“Reduced methane/ethane availability is driving Middle East investment down the value chain. As we move from primary projects to secondary projects such as olefins and aromatics for example, the opportunity for downstream investments is immense,” he said.

“A new phase of joint venture investment is being seen in the Gulf. We could be responsible for 5-10% of global capacity,” he added.

Mr. Meshal Al-Ghaith, Global Supply Chain Execution Manager Chemicals, SBU-SCM, SABIC, spoke of overcoming challenges of the long supply chains here in the region, highlighting in particular positive initiatives such as the EMDAD Supply Chain project.

More specific topics such as port infrastructure and third party logistics were addressed by Mr. Dirk Van Den Bosch, Chief Commercial Officer – UAE Region, DP World and Mr. Richard Heath, Director Business Development and Operation, Middle East/Asia, Alfred Talke Logistic Services respectively.

According to Bosch, with 34 ongoing GCC port projects worth $42.5bn, Gulf governments are moving to meet increased demand,. 2013-2015 is a critical period as port utilization will be averaging 80%.

Day 1 continued with Mr. Mohamed Al-Mazeedi, Vice President – Middle East Region, UASC (United Arab Shipping Company), providing both global and regional perspective on container shipping.

Ensuring sustainability and responsible care in the supply chain is a hot topic that was tackled by Mr. Aditya Sharma, Global Sustainable Supply Chain COO, Accenture. He shared key findings from the 2010 Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Supply Chain report to drive his point’s home. The CDP was launched in 2000 to accelerate solutions to climate change by putting relevant information at the heart of business, policy and investment decisions

“Implementations need to be pragmatic, building on existing systems & processes, governance, and reporting,” said Sharma.

Security within the supply chain was the last major topic tackled on Day 1 by Mr. Mathew Atherton, regional sales manager, Nexus and Dr. Hans-Heiner Wust, Solution Manager- IBU Chemicals, SAP.

In addition to these in-depth discussions, this year there was also a pre-conference workshop on mitigating the effects of piracy on petrochemical and chemical trade flows, as well as a site visit to the impressive Khalifa Port for delegates.

The Third GPCA Supply Chain Conference is a calendar event for the GPCA – a voluntary, non-profit association representing the interests and concerns of the petrochemicals and chemicals industry in the Gulf. The event is co-organized by ICIS, the leading provider of market intelligence for the global chemical industry.

For the latest speaker and program updates, please visit the event website at: http://www.gpcasupplychain.com.