Project logistics often requires quick thinking and resolving issues on the move, or as Sudesh Chaturvedi, projects and energy manager at GAC Dubai, puts it, putting out fires. It is often all in a day’s work, together with answering emails, and supporting GAC operations team on critical matters. 

In his position, Chaturvedi is responsible for managing the delivery of special cargoes, including high and heavy, breakbulk RoRo, military, energy and other complex cargoes, as well as related services for ocean and land transportation.

Speaking to Project Cargo Journal, Chaturvedi said that he never planned to work in the industry. “It just happened,” he said, adding that he has over 30 years of hands-on experience in all aspects of shipping and logistics supply chain infrastructure.

Time in the industry meant he has been there to witness technological advancements and digitalisation bringing an evolution in shipping and logistics. “In the earlier days, we used to prepare documents manually and tell customers that we could get back to them the next day. Today, everything including quotations is digitalised and cargoes are tracked and traced, which in turn reduces the turnaround time needed to assist with customers’ needs. It is becoming more integrated, transparent and connected with every passing day,” he said.

Going ahead, Chaturvedi noted that more transparency is settling in, as well as the standardisation of the various service offerings, making the shipping and logistics industries more predictable and technology driven. “This is needed to sustain the steep globalisation that technology has brought about, touching almost all facets of our day-to-day lives. There is no turning back, and it’s only a matter of time for our industry to become fully tech/algorithm based,” he said.

Personally, Chaturvedi would like to see shipping and logistics employees recognised as frontline workers. “These sectors kept going and delivered medicines, food, emergency equipment and more during the peak of COVID-19. We are the source and lifeline that drives and sustains the global economy,” he stressed.

As for GAC Dubai, CHaturvedi likens it to a “shipping and logistics chain supermarket where one can find all that is required to move cargoes from courier envelopes, pharmaceutical products to time-critical, bulky and heavy project shipments delivered in a sustainable mode.

What makes him like the job is the ability to deliver and make things happen and by moving things around to where they need to go.

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