Worldwide experience
Frankly, being a Lebanese national makes it easy to procure anywhere.
This is because Lebanon is far from being a large industrialized country with local manufactures.
Before Google, I used to send faxes to the Commercial Attaché of the embassies of the US, UK, France, Italy and Spain in Beirut, asking information about companies.
Then Google made it quite easy with a similar result however, is that obtaining a contact info from the web is almost useless.
It is still mandatory to use the phone, call the operator, ask about the name of the concerned person for the specific request, talk to him/her or send the inquiry to the email baring his/her name.
One wonders why vendors have created info@ and sales@ emails when no one answers them except rarely.
My worldwide experience has demonstrated the importance of communication skills when it comes to procurement, and this is not only due to the direct phone contact. It is about building a relation where the vendor of any nationality will trust your request, consider its importance, understands it and meets it.
Some sales representatives were so bad, that I had to put myself in their shoes and almost prepare the offer on their behalf, for my own use as a buyer!
This is when I discovered that good buyers are actually good sales people.
I had also often played the role of a mediator between Europeans, as I was discovering how heterogeneous were the Europeans, with real difficulties and language barriers that could not have been overcome without my intervention as a mentality / behavioral translator and mediator.
On a different note, it was so interesting to discover that not all people who speak English do speak the same language.
Still, the body language has to match and the different mentalities are to be accepted so everyone in a meeting understands English.
This is because Lebanon is far from being a large industrialized country with local manufactures.
Before Google, I used to send faxes to the Commercial Attaché of the embassies of the US, UK, France, Italy and Spain in Beirut, asking information about companies.
Then Google made it quite easy with a similar result however, is that obtaining a contact info from the web is almost useless.
It is still mandatory to use the phone, call the operator, ask about the name of the concerned person for the specific request, talk to him/her or send the inquiry to the email baring his/her name.
One wonders why vendors have created info@ and sales@ emails when no one answers them except rarely.
My worldwide experience has demonstrated the importance of communication skills when it comes to procurement, and this is not only due to the direct phone contact. It is about building a relation where the vendor of any nationality will trust your request, consider its importance, understands it and meets it.
Some sales representatives were so bad, that I had to put myself in their shoes and almost prepare the offer on their behalf, for my own use as a buyer!
This is when I discovered that good buyers are actually good sales people.
I had also often played the role of a mediator between Europeans, as I was discovering how heterogeneous were the Europeans, with real difficulties and language barriers that could not have been overcome without my intervention as a mentality / behavioral translator and mediator.
On a different note, it was so interesting to discover that not all people who speak English do speak the same language.
Still, the body language has to match and the different mentalities are to be accepted so everyone in a meeting understands English.
A disc type sludge dryer I procured in France for the municipal sludge incinerator of Kielce in Poland. Negotiations were carried-out and finalized in Beirut, Lebanon, 2010.
A few anecdotes from my experience at Suez:
USA:
I recall having negotiated with the CEO of a US based company tons of media used in water treatment for bacterial growth, and worth a few millions of dollars, while driving back home. That was in 2010.
We had quite an interesting conversation with the lady being so pleased to find an interlocutor within a client as important as the French giant Suez, would this interlocutor be based in Lebanon. The jobsite was in Bangladesh anyhow, and previous tentatives of this vendor to contact the Head-office in Paris suburbs had failed. The result was a rock-bottom price far below the market price.
France:
I had always faced the same reaction when negotiating with a French supplier and announcing the discount I was expecting: "Do you think I'm a thief so I can provide such discounts?" but the negotiations always ended up with the vendor granting me that discount!
USA:
I recall having negotiated with the CEO of a US based company tons of media used in water treatment for bacterial growth, and worth a few millions of dollars, while driving back home. That was in 2010.
We had quite an interesting conversation with the lady being so pleased to find an interlocutor within a client as important as the French giant Suez, would this interlocutor be based in Lebanon. The jobsite was in Bangladesh anyhow, and previous tentatives of this vendor to contact the Head-office in Paris suburbs had failed. The result was a rock-bottom price far below the market price.
France:
I had always faced the same reaction when negotiating with a French supplier and announcing the discount I was expecting: "Do you think I'm a thief so I can provide such discounts?" but the negotiations always ended up with the vendor granting me that discount!
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Germany:
I needed spare parts for the Tripoli Waste Water Treatment Plant in Lebanon during the peak of the Lybian civil unrest at sometime in 2011. The export manager of a German manufacturer of industrial spark plugs (Beru) informed me in an arrogant and impolite tone that there's an embargo on Lybia and therefore, she cannot sell me spares. My assistant and I have spent minutes with her on the phone, and sent several emails to explain that there are two Tripolis, both coming from an ancient Phoenician empire, one in Lybia and one in Lebanon to the other side of the Mediterranean, and that Lebanon is facing no embargo and has no Arab Spring anyhow...which ended up with Beru Germany blocking our calls. I simply shifted to Beru France for buying my spares. |
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Italy:
One of the most interesting countries for commerce. I always wondered how and why Italy is part of EU. Nevertheless, I discovered that Italians have some complex towards French (my Employer of that time).In 2006, Italian senior managers had visited us in the Lebanese branch of the French mother company (now Suez), with that arrogant and superior attitude, escaping from ultra elegant Italian suits. My exasperated French boss called me and gave me an after-hours mission for a revenge: with a few Lebanese colleagues, I had to take the Italian group to the best Lebanese restaurant in town and destroy their arrogance with the famous Lebanese cuisine that they had never tasted.
I obeyed like a soldier, organized the dinner and ordered absolutely every single item of the Lebanese Mezze including raw mutton liver, birds, frog legs, and sheep fries (balls...) along with Arak indeed, followed by one of the best Lebanese wines. The mood had changed and the Italians were already as soft as an overcooked pasta when it was time to clear the table for displaying the fresh fruits and Lebanese desserts.
That was when the Italian arrogance completely melted and turned liquid before evaporating. The victory was of a Napolean style, using colonial mercenaries, but the most important, is that the next day at work was normal with everybody's nose pointing either horizontally or downwards.
One of the most interesting countries for commerce. I always wondered how and why Italy is part of EU. Nevertheless, I discovered that Italians have some complex towards French (my Employer of that time).In 2006, Italian senior managers had visited us in the Lebanese branch of the French mother company (now Suez), with that arrogant and superior attitude, escaping from ultra elegant Italian suits. My exasperated French boss called me and gave me an after-hours mission for a revenge: with a few Lebanese colleagues, I had to take the Italian group to the best Lebanese restaurant in town and destroy their arrogance with the famous Lebanese cuisine that they had never tasted.
I obeyed like a soldier, organized the dinner and ordered absolutely every single item of the Lebanese Mezze including raw mutton liver, birds, frog legs, and sheep fries (balls...) along with Arak indeed, followed by one of the best Lebanese wines. The mood had changed and the Italians were already as soft as an overcooked pasta when it was time to clear the table for displaying the fresh fruits and Lebanese desserts.
That was when the Italian arrogance completely melted and turned liquid before evaporating. The victory was of a Napolean style, using colonial mercenaries, but the most important, is that the next day at work was normal with everybody's nose pointing either horizontally or downwards.
Turkey:
Indeed one of the best areas of this small world for making good deals and enjoy being a buyer.
I recall when the boss of my boss called me on one of those days of 2007 and assigned to me the mission of negotiating sand filters with an existing Turkish fabricator to the group. This is because the negotiations in Paris had failed, with the vendor holding his position and refusing to meet the target price.
My interlocutor was pleased to have me (as Lebanese) assigned to this mission since the chances of mutual understanding are much higher than what it is with the French nationals. After all, we drink the same coffee and same anise flavored alcoholic drink. He had however some conditions: that we meet in Istanbul, and negotiate at dinner.
On the next day, I was dining at one of the Bosphorus strait restaurants where your hand can almost touch the water.
I was with the GM and owner of the fabricator, and my Turkish colleague and friend as well.
After some 8 or 10 Rakis, a lot of mezze, fried fish, grilled fish and watermelon, we ended up signing on a piece of paper the agreed amount of 6MUSD (the target). The A4 sheet had olive oil stains on it, a bit of brown / yellowish spots resulting from "bathenjan" or eggplant if you prefer and others green due to Samphire, which acted like stamps on top of our signatures.
Indeed one of the best areas of this small world for making good deals and enjoy being a buyer.
I recall when the boss of my boss called me on one of those days of 2007 and assigned to me the mission of negotiating sand filters with an existing Turkish fabricator to the group. This is because the negotiations in Paris had failed, with the vendor holding his position and refusing to meet the target price.
My interlocutor was pleased to have me (as Lebanese) assigned to this mission since the chances of mutual understanding are much higher than what it is with the French nationals. After all, we drink the same coffee and same anise flavored alcoholic drink. He had however some conditions: that we meet in Istanbul, and negotiate at dinner.
On the next day, I was dining at one of the Bosphorus strait restaurants where your hand can almost touch the water.
I was with the GM and owner of the fabricator, and my Turkish colleague and friend as well.
After some 8 or 10 Rakis, a lot of mezze, fried fish, grilled fish and watermelon, we ended up signing on a piece of paper the agreed amount of 6MUSD (the target). The A4 sheet had olive oil stains on it, a bit of brown / yellowish spots resulting from "bathenjan" or eggplant if you prefer and others green due to Samphire, which acted like stamps on top of our signatures.
Turkey is one of my favorite countries for steel fabricators like these structures and puddle pipes intended for a project in Iraq back in 2010
GCC:
GCC is a multinational environment when tenths of "Englishes" are spoken.
It was back in 2004 and the fax machine was still widely used in Saudi Arabia.
I remember all the wrong spelling of my colleagues names and mine facing the "TO".
As Antoine, I had turned to Adwan, the closest common name in KSA and my colleague Wadid (Arabic, means "the one who loves and cares") mutated into Wadit, an Indian / Pakistani version in line with Ranjith and Ranjeet.
GCC is a multinational environment when tenths of "Englishes" are spoken.
It was back in 2004 and the fax machine was still widely used in Saudi Arabia.
I remember all the wrong spelling of my colleagues names and mine facing the "TO".
As Antoine, I had turned to Adwan, the closest common name in KSA and my colleague Wadid (Arabic, means "the one who loves and cares") mutated into Wadit, an Indian / Pakistani version in line with Ranjith and Ranjeet.
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Poland:
Anecdotes of my Polish experience would resemble the ones in GCC, nevertheless, the reason my name was continuously changing when spoken or written, was a matter of exactitude instead of misspelling. Names, like nouns, are simply conjugated in Polish, which explains the Antoinas and Antoinovis I was facing depending on "my" place in the sentence! But I also keep those good souvenirs of all the relationships I had with colleagues and vendors in Poland, where the language is completely different from the ones I speak, but not the body language or the mentality. Poland is Asia to me... |
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India:
This is no anecdote, rather the story of a cursed purchase back in 2008.
A known European manufacturer of cable lugs cancelled an on-going PO of 800mm² aluminum to copper lugs and put me in a difficult situation for meeting the required delivery date. None of the classic and reputed competitors would fabricate those lugs to me. This is when I remembered that stand of an Indian brand I had visited at the Middle East Electricity exhibition of 2004 in Dubai.
I had a live discussion with the sales person and therefore contacted him again reminding him of my visit to his booth and asking for help.
The Indian vendor was pleased to fabricate the lugs for me, yet these arrived with a major problem: the aluminum barrel and copper lug were simply getting separated while in their packing! The friction welding of the two metals was defective.
The vendor manufactured a new set of lugs in a week time and shipped them back to Lebanon by DHL at its own costs.
The lugs under this delivery had no defect and allowed to energize the 800mm2 aluminum conductors of the main feeders.
That was quite an epopee, with a happy ending, and a demonstration that unknown manufacturers could end up being more reliable than reputed Western brands.
Taïwan:
I had placed an order for valves from Taïwan in 2006. A high quality product, stainless steel body rated and tested at PN64 with flanges provided to match the required pressure and consequently, the number and diameter of their holes.
This order was highly regarded by my colleagues as being very "osé", a kind of exotic product that cannot be so competitive without being at the same time of low quality. The valves looked however so good and were indeed installed all over the Waste Water Treatment Plant to which they were intended.
It happened that some valves of that plant failed the pressurization test and had their body cracking at 2 bars only and I was summoned for being informed that my "Chinese" valves had failed the test.
I drove to the jobsite and asked the chief engineer in charge to direct me to the blown "Chinese" valves only to discover that these were gate valves ordered to a European manufacturer!
This is no anecdote, rather the story of a cursed purchase back in 2008.
A known European manufacturer of cable lugs cancelled an on-going PO of 800mm² aluminum to copper lugs and put me in a difficult situation for meeting the required delivery date. None of the classic and reputed competitors would fabricate those lugs to me. This is when I remembered that stand of an Indian brand I had visited at the Middle East Electricity exhibition of 2004 in Dubai.
I had a live discussion with the sales person and therefore contacted him again reminding him of my visit to his booth and asking for help.
The Indian vendor was pleased to fabricate the lugs for me, yet these arrived with a major problem: the aluminum barrel and copper lug were simply getting separated while in their packing! The friction welding of the two metals was defective.
The vendor manufactured a new set of lugs in a week time and shipped them back to Lebanon by DHL at its own costs.
The lugs under this delivery had no defect and allowed to energize the 800mm2 aluminum conductors of the main feeders.
That was quite an epopee, with a happy ending, and a demonstration that unknown manufacturers could end up being more reliable than reputed Western brands.
Taïwan:
I had placed an order for valves from Taïwan in 2006. A high quality product, stainless steel body rated and tested at PN64 with flanges provided to match the required pressure and consequently, the number and diameter of their holes.
This order was highly regarded by my colleagues as being very "osé", a kind of exotic product that cannot be so competitive without being at the same time of low quality. The valves looked however so good and were indeed installed all over the Waste Water Treatment Plant to which they were intended.
It happened that some valves of that plant failed the pressurization test and had their body cracking at 2 bars only and I was summoned for being informed that my "Chinese" valves had failed the test.
I drove to the jobsite and asked the chief engineer in charge to direct me to the blown "Chinese" valves only to discover that these were gate valves ordered to a European manufacturer!
Local sourcing
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No one trusted the odor control scrubber fabricator I found in Doha Qatar in 2007, nearby the jobsite.
I had driven my car through Doha industrial zone for 3 consecutive days and visited every factory which activity would be of interest to the project. I met the people, introduced the company, the project, myself and promised to send inquiries as soon as I get the required documents. The scrubber proposal of a GRP unit was too perfect, simply meeting the technical requirements, at a price that is not less than 40% more competitive than the second lowest bidder from Europe, where only HDPE scrubbers are found. It also allowed to save on the transport costs, the factory being at a few tenths of kilometers from the construction site. The head of engineering and the project manager had then to pay a visit to the vendor for making sure. Their assessment was positive, the PO was cleared and the OCU operated successfully. It added to my personal reputation of sourcing locally, wherever I go with consequent savings on the direct and shipping costs. I was causing the logistics department of the head-office in France to idle but this allowed me to build a reputation I did not expect: sustainable purchasing. Reducing transport and increasing the indigenous part of a procurement portfolio results in multiple sustainability measures:
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As an example, my trip to Kolkata India for sourcing local steel fabricators and pipe systems manufacturers back in 2011. That was due to the proximity of Kolkata to the Saidabad potable water plant in Bangladesh and the possibility to transport goods through road and river.
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Belt conveyors with odor control covers sourced locally in Lebanon back in 2009 for the waste water treatment plants of Jbeil and Batroun :
Contracts |
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I have negotiated all along my procurement career different contracts ranging from 1M$ to 35M$ under different laws and in several countries.
My experience in contracts negotiation is under three groups of laws:
-Lebanese / French laws for contracts negotiated in the Lebanon
-Polish / German / Swiss laws for contracts negotiated in Poland
-Law of England and Whales for contracts negotiated in GCC and worldwide
Also Saudi Law for contracts negotiated in Saudi Arabia
I have encountered many templates as follows:
Although every contract negotiation is unique, I am hereby sharing the story of two of them:
2011: Jenbacher's contract for the cogeneration plant of Saidabad Potable Water Treatment Plant:
The contract, a bespoke form following the company template (Suez) was negotiated in three rounds between Paris, Jenbach and Dubai.
A first round of negotiation occurred in Jenbach - Austria where Jenbacher is located as I was joined by the head of the legal department based in Dubai and an intern lawyer coming from France. The supply contract with Jenbacher was then made final at the Paris head-office.
A second contract with the Bangladeshi contractor who had installed the machines and supplied the locally fabricated items was negotiated in Dubai, at the regional head-office of Suez.
2012: Telvent's contract (now Schneider Electric) for the Advanced Metering Infrastructure of Lebanon:
It was a full week of negotiations with my Spanish counterparts, held at the head-office of Khatib & Alami consultants in Beirut. That was when I worked for KVA SAL, a Lebanese JV between Arabian Construction Co and Khatib & Alami, who created this private power utility company to manage the electrical distribution on behalf of the "Electricité du Liban", the governmental power utility.
The contract was a largely modified FIDIC template and was made final only after several rounds of negotiations that extended on a couple of months.
The difficulty consisted in the fact smart metering is based on new technologies, often not tested enough and that many KPIs had to be implemented under the performance guarantees. The Lebanese grid was totally new to all suppliers and that caused a major issue that extended the negotiations, the pilot project being itself part of the vendor's scope.
My experience in contracts negotiation is under three groups of laws:
-Lebanese / French laws for contracts negotiated in the Lebanon
-Polish / German / Swiss laws for contracts negotiated in Poland
-Law of England and Whales for contracts negotiated in GCC and worldwide
Also Saudi Law for contracts negotiated in Saudi Arabia
I have encountered many templates as follows:
- FIDIC in Poland
- FIDIC based but widely modified and customized in Lebanon and GCC
- Bespoke, based on company own templates, used most of the time.
Although every contract negotiation is unique, I am hereby sharing the story of two of them:
2011: Jenbacher's contract for the cogeneration plant of Saidabad Potable Water Treatment Plant:
The contract, a bespoke form following the company template (Suez) was negotiated in three rounds between Paris, Jenbach and Dubai.
A first round of negotiation occurred in Jenbach - Austria where Jenbacher is located as I was joined by the head of the legal department based in Dubai and an intern lawyer coming from France. The supply contract with Jenbacher was then made final at the Paris head-office.
A second contract with the Bangladeshi contractor who had installed the machines and supplied the locally fabricated items was negotiated in Dubai, at the regional head-office of Suez.
2012: Telvent's contract (now Schneider Electric) for the Advanced Metering Infrastructure of Lebanon:
It was a full week of negotiations with my Spanish counterparts, held at the head-office of Khatib & Alami consultants in Beirut. That was when I worked for KVA SAL, a Lebanese JV between Arabian Construction Co and Khatib & Alami, who created this private power utility company to manage the electrical distribution on behalf of the "Electricité du Liban", the governmental power utility.
The contract was a largely modified FIDIC template and was made final only after several rounds of negotiations that extended on a couple of months.
The difficulty consisted in the fact smart metering is based on new technologies, often not tested enough and that many KPIs had to be implemented under the performance guarantees. The Lebanese grid was totally new to all suppliers and that caused a major issue that extended the negotiations, the pilot project being itself part of the vendor's scope.
French Protocol |
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I worked on four Waste Water Treatment Plants in Lebanon, three of them being under "French Protocol" meaning benefiting of a special financing by the French Government.
It was the first time I hear about a "projet cofacé", the adjective used by my French colleagues when referring to the credit insurance provider Coface, covering such jobs as a mandatory requirement.
There was indeed a condition to buy French, with a small percentage left for non-French items and locally sourced material or services.
This was not limited to a "Made in France" origin, as it also included the services like transport which had to occur through a French shipper.
The challenge was indeed to find French products for up to 80% of the supplies.
I had contacted the Chamber of Commerce of Paris to make sure of the exact definition of the "Made in France" and the required contribution to the product within the French territory for obtaining such certificate of origin.
As a result, I had to implement the below in order to meet the stringent requirement:
I was also leading on the relation with the French bankers when presenting and defending the above actions and updating the related Coface insurance policies in order to make sure my company gets paid for its works.
It was the first time I hear about a "projet cofacé", the adjective used by my French colleagues when referring to the credit insurance provider Coface, covering such jobs as a mandatory requirement.
There was indeed a condition to buy French, with a small percentage left for non-French items and locally sourced material or services.
This was not limited to a "Made in France" origin, as it also included the services like transport which had to occur through a French shipper.
The challenge was indeed to find French products for up to 80% of the supplies.
I had contacted the Chamber of Commerce of Paris to make sure of the exact definition of the "Made in France" and the required contribution to the product within the French territory for obtaining such certificate of origin.
As a result, I had to implement the below in order to meet the stringent requirement:
- Favor French suppliers whenever applicable, with negotiations conducted in a manner to obtain competitive prices since the competition is limited
- Have non-French vendors who have facilities in France, carry out assembly works on the subject machine within the facility in order to declare the product as Made In France
- Observe extreme efforts to source material in France and astonishingly, find new French vendors that were unknown to the company
- Ship exclusively through the CMA CGM
I was also leading on the relation with the French bankers when presenting and defending the above actions and updating the related Coface insurance policies in order to make sure my company gets paid for its works.
Introducing New Vendors
Far from repeating orders to the same suppliers and abiding by outdated Frame Work Agreements, I remain almost specialized all along my procurement career, into opening doors to new vendors and outsiders, in a manner to boost competition and shake the existing status quo, consisting of a comfortabe and easy buyer-vendor relation that simply repeats and reiterates what's established.
Such shake up is indeed more complex to manage and the engineering team has to follow for validating material and equipment that is new to them; the commercial result, enhanced by 30 to 40% is however worth the exercise. It is also a major contribution to my reputation in the market, with vendors finding my position as the entry ticket to large companies, markets or simply an important reference or lanmark, and this created the snowball effect of a continued commercial success leading to lower purchasing prices and increasing both my personal and my employer's competitiveness.
Such shake up is indeed more complex to manage and the engineering team has to follow for validating material and equipment that is new to them; the commercial result, enhanced by 30 to 40% is however worth the exercise. It is also a major contribution to my reputation in the market, with vendors finding my position as the entry ticket to large companies, markets or simply an important reference or lanmark, and this created the snowball effect of a continued commercial success leading to lower purchasing prices and increasing both my personal and my employer's competitiveness.
Shaftless screws I procured at a newly introduced vendor (Nordic Water), met during one of the environment exhibitions in Munich, Germany - IFAT 2008.
It's All About Logistics...
Working in procurement tells you the importance of logistics.
Upon a business visit to Doha in Qatar, I receive a phone call from a truck driver telling me he crossed the border between KSA and Qatar and needs to know the location of the site. While I had to manage with the language divided between Arabic, English and a bit of anything, I realized that there was a hole in the logistics since the vendor had no local contact except me, as a buyer. Someone needs to take over after the PO is placed, and that someone was not designated. I simply indicated a place near a know highway to the driver, where he can spend the night so I can go and meet him in the morning for driving him to the site of Lusail Waste Water Treatment Plant. The team was later completed with a logistics officer who's contact details were added to all POs in order to take over and route all deliveries to site properly.
Having handled local purchases, I had to take care of the logistics that come with them, since the most common Incoterms I negotiate are CFR/CIF sea port or FOB sea port and rarely DDP site. I also had to deal with FCA forwarder or even factory whenever the vendor's way of handling transport in its home country was not convincing.
Upon a business visit to Doha in Qatar, I receive a phone call from a truck driver telling me he crossed the border between KSA and Qatar and needs to know the location of the site. While I had to manage with the language divided between Arabic, English and a bit of anything, I realized that there was a hole in the logistics since the vendor had no local contact except me, as a buyer. Someone needs to take over after the PO is placed, and that someone was not designated. I simply indicated a place near a know highway to the driver, where he can spend the night so I can go and meet him in the morning for driving him to the site of Lusail Waste Water Treatment Plant. The team was later completed with a logistics officer who's contact details were added to all POs in order to take over and route all deliveries to site properly.
Having handled local purchases, I had to take care of the logistics that come with them, since the most common Incoterms I negotiate are CFR/CIF sea port or FOB sea port and rarely DDP site. I also had to deal with FCA forwarder or even factory whenever the vendor's way of handling transport in its home country was not convincing.
The INCOTERMS 2020 chart referring to the International Chamber of Commerce - ICC rules - Photo courtesy of vivaxpresslogistics.com
The moment a PO is placed could signal the end of a buyer's job for most buyers, but this is when things were just starting for me.
Follow-up on expediting, hiring the Third Party inspector, coordinating FAT, L/C documents follow-up, pushing to avoid demurrage, entering into agreements with Customs clearance agents, organizing the in-land transport of the last trip up to site, etc. where simply one of the most interesting and challenging moments to me.
Extreme cases of exceptional convoys were not so extreme or rare during my career at SUEZ in particular since bulk oversized equipment is often ordered in the water treatment business. I had to charter a full ship to carry the furnaces I ordered from Egypt for the incinerators of Tripoli in Lebanon, also worked hard to obtain the best possible price for transporting by road sand filters from Turkey to Oman.
L/C negotiation, accepting discrepancies (or not), managing last-minute courier shipment of documents, legalizing, signing, stamping, endorsing bills of lading, where all under my direct supervision and I was often appointed as the signatory towards the Customs authorities.
Some items could only be air freighted for being small or urgent, which meant I also had to manage specific airport clearance procedures.
One would think that Customs clearance is Customs clearance, but it remains quite amazing to see how things differ between the sea port and airport authorities.
One shipment in particular was simply lost with no trace of it since the party that was supposed to clear the goods simply forgot to do so.
I decided to visit Beirut airport, investigate the issue and it happened I was "just on time" since the forgotten goods (special valves) were scheduled for auction on that day. I has then started a procedure for cancelling the auction and claiming the goods which are badly needed on site.
It is amazing to note how goods stuck at any of the ports, are simply meant to cross the border since no authority wants to be bothered with leftovers and lost items. Procedures end up going in the right direction provided the necessary proofs and documents are available.
While incidents and mishaps remain rare, no one can be assured that shipping damages only occur to others.
It happened to me a few times where I had to manage insurance claims or repairs by the vendor.
Quite a difficult task since in this case, the claimed party will not be motivated to proceed with the fix.
The follow-up is no more a follow-up, rather a continuous restless push to make things happen, and in parallel, dissuasive measures like blocking payments.
One more challenge that contributes to the nobleness of the procurement jobs and associated responsibilities. If you work in this department and whatever your position is, then you are bound to deliver!
Follow-up on expediting, hiring the Third Party inspector, coordinating FAT, L/C documents follow-up, pushing to avoid demurrage, entering into agreements with Customs clearance agents, organizing the in-land transport of the last trip up to site, etc. where simply one of the most interesting and challenging moments to me.
Extreme cases of exceptional convoys were not so extreme or rare during my career at SUEZ in particular since bulk oversized equipment is often ordered in the water treatment business. I had to charter a full ship to carry the furnaces I ordered from Egypt for the incinerators of Tripoli in Lebanon, also worked hard to obtain the best possible price for transporting by road sand filters from Turkey to Oman.
L/C negotiation, accepting discrepancies (or not), managing last-minute courier shipment of documents, legalizing, signing, stamping, endorsing bills of lading, where all under my direct supervision and I was often appointed as the signatory towards the Customs authorities.
Some items could only be air freighted for being small or urgent, which meant I also had to manage specific airport clearance procedures.
One would think that Customs clearance is Customs clearance, but it remains quite amazing to see how things differ between the sea port and airport authorities.
One shipment in particular was simply lost with no trace of it since the party that was supposed to clear the goods simply forgot to do so.
I decided to visit Beirut airport, investigate the issue and it happened I was "just on time" since the forgotten goods (special valves) were scheduled for auction on that day. I has then started a procedure for cancelling the auction and claiming the goods which are badly needed on site.
It is amazing to note how goods stuck at any of the ports, are simply meant to cross the border since no authority wants to be bothered with leftovers and lost items. Procedures end up going in the right direction provided the necessary proofs and documents are available.
While incidents and mishaps remain rare, no one can be assured that shipping damages only occur to others.
It happened to me a few times where I had to manage insurance claims or repairs by the vendor.
Quite a difficult task since in this case, the claimed party will not be motivated to proceed with the fix.
The follow-up is no more a follow-up, rather a continuous restless push to make things happen, and in parallel, dissuasive measures like blocking payments.
One more challenge that contributes to the nobleness of the procurement jobs and associated responsibilities. If you work in this department and whatever your position is, then you are bound to deliver!
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Back in 2013, I was however confronted to a new kind of challenge when working with smart meters and having to import communicating meters along with modems. This was not possible unless I obtain a license from MOT for my employer of that time, KVA SAL (Arabian Construction Co - Khatib & Alami JV).
It was no more about dealing with a port authority, rather a Ministry for obtaining a license at company level, not shipment level. A procedure to complete in parallel to the shipment itself and ahead of its arrival, not to have the goods blocked at the sea port or airport. The description of the goods themselves had lost its importance since as seen from MOT, a communicating device is an IMEI number. This is what appears on a communication infrastructure and the IMEI number had to be known prior to shipping the material, communicated to the authority and cleared for import.
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Smart meters installed in Beirut Lebanon in 2014 as part of a pilot project which I had negotiated with a reputed vendor.
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