Founded in 2006, Greenways Logistics, Conqueror’s exclusive agent in Kuwait, may seem to some a mere infant in this industry. However, in just a few short years this company has cemented itself firmly as the ‘go-to’ forwarder in Kuwait for the oil industry and the military.
Founder Abdul Kadar recently dropped by and told us a little about his career, country and his thoughts on Conqueror.
Q. How and when did you get into the freight forwarding industry?
A. My career began over 10 years before Greenways was conceived in 1996 when I got a job as a clearing and forwarding agent representing various lines such as SCI, WAN HAI, CSCL, RCL, BAY Line and ARC.
Q. On your company website it says Greenways is a ’people driven company.’ Can you tell us what you mean by this and how your staff implements this on a daily basis?
A. ’People driven company’ means that our professional staff are in a class of their own in terms of expertise in this industry as well as in their knowledge of both the local and international markets. It also means that we ensure our clients get up-to-date information and solutions for all their enquiries in a timely manner.
Q. The world has been in an economic crisis since 2008, what has been the effect on freight forwarding in Kuwait?
A. Kuwait is a 99% import oriented country, we need to import everything from pins to aeroplanes; consequently, the economic crisis has not been felt much. Greenways in particular has mostly vendors in the oil sector and so we have, thank God, not felt the crisis really at all. Although Greenways has not been affected directly, we have chosen to closely follow-up with our clients and to reassure them at this difficult time and this seems to have been very much appreciated.
Q. Does Greenways specialise in any particular type of shipment?
A. Greenways is definitely an ‘all-rounder,’ that being said we do handle vast volumes of army shipments for Kuwait and Iraq as well as Afghanistan. As I said previously, a lot of our business is in the oil industry and there is not very much that they use which is not OOG so our team has become pretty adept at moving such cargo.
Q. How important is it for Greenways to be part of a global network?
A. For a while, we had been looking for long term business relationships with good agents globally and in reality only a network can give us this.
Q. What attracted you to Conqueror?
A. What initially drew us to Conqueror was its commitment to protecting its members. Now we are in the network, other positives include the close follow up of the head office team with their members. We are also continually updated with what’s happening with our fellow members through day to day emails, updates and news, like this one! We are sure that with the support of CQR and the members, we will one day be one of the leading freight forwarders in Kuwait.