lighthouse - May 2010

CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

T. S. Kaladharan

Our 15th anniversary celebrations were a tribute to everyone who contributed to our success. The achievements of CSS have been brought about by the cooperation of our staff, agents and associates. I am confident that if we build on this spirit of cooperation, we all felt during the celebrations, we will move onto higher and even more rewarding times.


Nobody, in this world, has ever succeeded without a belief and team effort. These two attributes provide an ethos for success. It goes beyond just shaking hands and embracing, because when combined with a belief and a motivated team the results go much further. Everyone knows that we are there for each other.


Gone are the days when people used to say “business has no ethics”. I honestly believe that without ethics no business will survive. This is why CSS is committed to upholding our ethics – “our word is our bond” and this is the foundation on which we will continue to build, moving forward to greater accomplishments. As we venture into new projects and diversify, using our established talents, the rewards they will bring will be spurred by values which keep CSS vibrant.It was the confidence in our people, and the confidence in our beliefs that has brought us to where we are today, now with our experience and spirited hearts we will sail onwards with an uplifted sense of purpose.
Happy reading….

LUDHIANA OPERATIONS GEARING UP

CSS Ludhiana headed by Amit Kapatia and Yash Pal Sharma has successfully sent the first direct console box to Istanbul from ICD DDL, Ludhiana which is regarded as a rare achievement in this region. Console Shipping Services India Pvt.Ltd, a division of CSS Group is one of the fastest growing NVOCC in the Indian Sub-continent. CSS Group, with its headquarters in Dubai has got full fledged operations from its 11 offices in India.


The office at Ludhiana mainly aims at improving the service levels and brings in personalization to all operations in this region, which is the primary motive of CSS Group. CSS is present in all the gateway ports of India and has got a prominent place among the freight forwarding and logistics fraternity in Middle East. The offices in Dubai, Jebel Ali, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia well places its Middle East operations which directly support the India offices to offer the best of services and rates in the entire market.


The India offices and its exemplary team are capable of handling all types of Sea and Air freight for both import and export. The well trained and experienced Projects team of CSS Group can be regarded as one of the best in the Middle East and the Sub-continent.

CSS UAE OPEN BADMINTON TOURNAMENT

CSS has always been proactive in promoting the public interest by encouraging community growth and development of its people and the Keralite society in the UAE. Recently, CSS sponsored a Badminton Tournament for the Kalikkalam family club as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility. The Kalikkalam family club was initiated by a group of Badminton enthusiasts with the objective of playing badminton and to identify and develop sports and cultural talents of its members and community. From its humble beginning with 24 families today the club has got a membership of over 100 families.

The club has got two indoor courts which can be converted as an auditorium to seat up to 1500 guests apart from the Conference hall, Gymnasium, Library, kids play area and meeting rooms. The Kalikkalam CSS UAE Open Badminton Tournament was held from 18th March, 2010 to 3rd April, 2010. It witnessed all the top class badminton players from around the UAE and there were a total of 35 teams for Men’s Singles, 61 teams for Men’s doubles, Veterans Singles had 13 teams and 10 teams for Veterans Doubles and Mixed Doubles. Some of the top players who have participated include Shibil, Rohit, Vivek, James, Vishnu, Lal mani, Kamaludhin, Xavier.

THE INTER-SHIPPING CRICKET TOURNAMENT

CSS emerged winners in the recently concluded Inter-Shipping Cricket Tournament Corporate Cup 2010 organized by Schenker L.L.C. at the Zabeel Stadium in Dubai, UAE. Team CSS, led by Captain Fida Asghar won 3 out of 4 matches and entered the semi- finals where they managed victory against RHS to qualify for the finals.


CSS won the final toss and elected to bat first with a mission to claim victory over Logwin. CSS bowlers put up an impressive  show to defend its modest total of 87 in the 10 over game and clinched a thrilling 7 run victory over Logwin in the final clash. Atiq from CSS was awarded man of the match as he achieved a hatrick in the last over and kept Logwin from hitting the winning streak. Mohammad Rowmahs was awarded the prolific player of the tournament trophy for his terrific innings through-out the tournament.

CSS GROUP PORTAL

CSS Portal has got two major sections, one is the general data management area and the other one is the secured data management area. In this section we are discussing briefly about the non-login part of the portal.


Eservices: Here you can find online tracking to track the shipments by providing the house bill of lading (HBL) number, online sailing schedule to take a glance of the sailing schedules and online booking to book cargo. The rate request module is to get a special rate from the service provider, the rates generated by the company’s pricing department will be emailed to the customers who have requested the same. Transport request in this page takes you to the transport department, who will further take care of the bookings.

Careers: link in this page tells about the open positions within the company.


Services: This link deals with the different services offered by CSS, namely NVOCC, CFS, SCM etc


Group Directory: In the group directory: In the group directory area you can find worldwide officer of CSS.

Knowledge Base: KB is the area where the general shipping or freight forwarding information is found. This area is regularly updated.

Shipping Glossary: Names and terms related to the industry can be viewed and understood at Shipping Glossary.

Image Gallery: Photos and other images pertaining to the company operations and activities are stored here. This can be accessed for viewing & downloading.


Employee Login: Company staff will have the access to login and use the facilities in it.

OPTIMUM UTILIZATION OF HUMAN RESOURCES

Those who understand the importance of training absolutely know this to be a fact, it’s not a belief or an opinion or a preference. It’s certainly not an attitude it’s a cold hard fact: training is important. Many people know that training is important because, at one time or another we’ve all been valuably trained in something or trained someone else to do something useful yet this basic work area. Its clear importance is not fully understood and therefore not fully exploited to make life easier and more profitable.


In today’s world everyone is a skilled worker, from the receptionist with minimum requirement of high school education to the CFO with an MBA or PHD, the entire workforce has become a skilled landscape and that means that there is arguably no position that isn’t in need of continuous training.


It bears that repeating training can no longer be viewed as a support system liked a good benefit program. Susanth, HR Manager for CSS states that in the skilled workforce of the 21st century, training is essential as it is the core engine of a company because it supports the entire skilled workforce. Frankly, there is no other way whatsoever for a company to comply with this paradigm shift than to understand that training is important. Or rather, that it’s essential.


In a matter of six months, CSS has already conducted the following training programs to ensure continuous growth and development of its employees and will continually organize training programs for its staff to polish their skills and surface their untapped potential as this not only helps the employee to achieve the organizational goals but also fulfill their individual goals.


TRAINING PROGRAMS – 2009

  • Developing effective interpersonal and Communications skill
  • Planning & Organizing Skills
  • Customer Service Skills



TRAINING PROGRAMS – 2010

  • Selling Techniques
  • Negotiation Skills
  • Effective Communication (Oral & Written)

CSS GROUP AT GPLN

The 7th Annual Meeting of the Global Project Logistics Network (GPLN) was held in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. The conference was attended by various industry professionals from different countries in the project logistics business.Consolidated Shipping Services L.L.C., Dubai has been a member of this network since June 2009, this was the first time CSS participated in the GPLN conference and it proved to be a great platform to meet professionals, operators,operators,and vendors from the Project & Heavy Lift Logistics sector. CSS group was represented by Raj George (Senior VP – Ocean Freight) and Narayan R. T. (General Manager – CSS Bahrain).

INTERMODEL SOUTH AMERICA 2010 WINNERS

The 16th Annual Intermodal South America was held from April 6th – 8th, 2010 in the business capital of Brazil; Sao Paulo. It had over 490 exhibitors, more than 45,000 visitors and an exhibition area of 28,000m² i.e. a staggering 301389 ft². CSS Group participated in the exhibition along with our agents in Brazil,WORLD FREIGHT AGENCIAMENTOS & TRANSPORTES LTDA. Siby Kurian,Dy. General Manager – Sales & Marketing represented CSS Group at this exhibition.


The Intermodal trade fair has always been a success as it aims at not only establishing loyalty among exhibitors and visitors but also to continue to attract new companies and professionals from varied industries across the globe. The key reasons for Intermodal’s success is that it’s a perfect platform for developing new business, networking and an environment for exchange of ideas through the conference program, which brings together some of the greatest experts in Multimodal Transportation and Logistics.


And the winner is . . .


With our continuous view to uphold the freight-forwarding/ logistics fraternity, CSS’ Thank-you incentive scheme towards our fellow-forwarders and customers, conceived two years back,wherein one lucky name out of the scores of business cards that were dropped into the bowls that are placed at the D/O counter at the Corporate office and CSLC-1, was to be picked up and rewarded with a gift, has been nothing short of successful.


The winner picked out and rewarded for the months of January-February 2010 was Binu C. K. from Carriers Mercantile & Marine L.L.C. Dubai, UAE who walked away with Gift vouchers sponsored by Lulu, presented by Neyha Nurie, Marketing Coordinator, CSS Middle East.

CSS AT CARGO SHOP MUMBAI

CSS recently participated in India’s premiere cargo, break bulk, heavy lift and project forwarders exhibition, Cargo Shop South Asia 2010, held at the world trade centre in Mumbai.The stall attracted more than 2000 attendees at the conference. The event was a perfect networking platform for the huge CSS delegation that was present.


Major industry players from logistics to heavy lift manufacturers and rig operators, participated in the conference from 25th to the 27th of March 2010.CSS team included Jairam K R, Arup Ray (Directors- CSS India) Rakesh Menon (Sr. General Manager- Business Dev.) Rahat Talreja (Dy.General Manager- CSS Mumbai) and the sales team from Mumbai office.The response received at Mumbai was overwhelming and encouraging for CSS Group.

CELEBRATING 15 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE

CSS Group is proud to have completed 15 years of success and excellence; this auspicious occasion was shared with all our worldwide agents, associates and partners by having a 3 day event to commemorate 15 years of CSS Groups Excellence. The event took place on the 16th, 17th & 18th of April, 2010 and comprised of conferences highlighting services offered by the CSS Group, open discussion which offered agents the opportunity to speak about their association with the Group and breakout sessions, where the agents had a choice to interact with various departments at CSS. After the conference, it was the time for Gala Dinner and recognition and appreciation of dedicated CSS staff who completed 10 and 15 years of service with the company. This was followed by live fusion music entertainment by renowned percussionist Anandan Sivamani, sitar maestro Ravi Chary and pianist Steefan Devassia.


A tour of DP World and newly renovated CSS office and facilities at Jebel Ali Free Zone (CSLC1) was organized for the 18th morning, followed by an Arabian themed dinner and evening entertainments like Belly Dancing, Falcon Show, Animal Show and Camel Riding at the Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa.


CSS 15th Anniversary celebration was a memorable experience and a great opportunity for us to cherish our association with the esteemed guests. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our associates and partners who stood with us for the past 15 years, and thank them shown in us. We would also like to extend our gratitude to our staff for their dedication, hard work and the team efforts and our customers for their whole hearted support, which ensures that the CSS Group enjoys an exceptional reputation amongst the freight forwarding and logistics community.