Transporting sea-borne freight has always been a tricky operation involving traders, middlemen, shipowners and port authorities.

Today, with markets booming and vessels better equipped, the entire process of gathering cargo and having it packed and sent across has gained much in sophistication, leaving only the swift and savvy among the operators to survive. 
Among a maze of parties in the freight business, a company established in 2000 is attracting interest.  Perma Container Line Ltd, registered in the UK but having its main office in Dubai, has become a conspicuous player in the Arabian Gulf, Iran, the Indian Subcontinent and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).  Now its sights are on South-east Asia and the Far East, where, already in the past few months, it has made steady progress.
At the beginning of March, Perma opened its office in Port Klang in Malaysia. Earlier it had appointed agents in that country as well as in Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia.  “The Port Klang office will be our hub on the Indian Subcontinent and Asian region and will be directly reporting to our head office in Dubai,” says Perma’s line manager Prasantha Dissanayake. Port Klang is only the third Perma office outside Dubai after two in Iran.  Elsewhere, the company is represented by agents.
Perma is now loading cargo in Singapore and Malaysia for the ports of Nhava Sheva (near Mumbai, India), Karachi (Pakistan), Bandar Abbas (Iran), Iraq, Port Rashid and Jebel Ali (both UAE), and all upper Gulf ports. The company will shortly expand into Vietnam and Indonesia, says Dissanayake.
The official has no doubt that East Asia is the hot spot for the freight business with freight rates higher than on the Indian Subcontinent.
Perma operates as a non-vessel owning common carrier (NVOCC) with a container fleet of more than 5,000 teu. It is quite strong on the Dubai-Bandar Abbas route with a large customer base that has been loyal to Perma since its inception. “We are the No 1 carriers of containerised cargo from Dubai to Iran and the volume registered in 2003 exceeded 15,000 teu, all of it originating in the UAE market,” claims Dissanayake.
The company used to lease containers, but in 2003 it purchased its own stocks from China, gaining an identity boost from the Perma name and logo printed on the containers. Container volumes climbed 150 per cent in 2003 with notable expansions.  That year, from just one port, Nava Sheva, the company’s Indian network expanded to embrace Khandla, Mumbai, New Delhi, Cochin and Tuticorin. Additionally its activities now cover almost all major inland container depots.
Last November Dissanayake traveled to Cochin to flag off the first batch of containers after the Iraq war. He also promised shippers there would be a Cochin service to Iraq on dedicated vessels. The service has materialised, though the direct vessels to be used depend on volume. “When we have a big volume our vessels call at Cochin to take the cargo. If it’s a small volume, we truck it to Tuticorin for shipping to Dubai or feeder the same to Colombo for a connection with a direct vessel,” he explains.
Also in 2003, Perma was represented by its own offices in Iran — one in Tehran and the other in Bandar Abbas. “We also got into the major Iran volumes in 2003 and even after the Gulf war we were the first NVOCC to start accepting commercial cargo for Iraq,” said Dissanayake.
The expansion fervour spilled into the New Year with Perma successfully beginning operations from Shanghai in China. It considers Iraq a potential hub, and says Dissanayake: “We are the only carrier to accept cargo for all parts of Iraq. At present the main areas from where we ship Iraq-bound cargo are Dubai, Cochin, Colombo, Mumbai, Malaysia, Muscat and Karachi. Once the situation stabilises we hope to open our own offices in Baghdad and Umm Qasr.”  The company offers to carry cargo to inland points including Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, Tikrit, Hilla, Najaf, Kirkuk, Nasriyah, Samawa and Amara. Just after the Gulf war, Perma won a major contract to transport tea to Iraq from Cochin and Colombo. Most Malaysian cargo going to Iraq is palm oil. Dubai transports mainly food items while the other ports send a combination of electrical items and general cargo.
Perma also hopes to consolidate on its CIS business, which Dissanayake says has potential for progress. “With our set up in Iran we are in a process of upgrading our services via Bandar Abbas to the CIS destinations of Almaty, Bishek and Taskent among other places. Once completed, our clients will know the exact location of their cargo through the satellite tracking of trucks.”
The company has no current plans to penetrate Europe and North America, but is contemplating serving East Africa and South Africa, though any concrete development towards that end will not occur anytime too soon.
For now it is busy with developing its existing business and is projecting a doubling of container volumes this year, the “vibrant shipping scenario” providing it that optimism.
“In the competitive container freight industry, Perma’s success story has been its strength in customer service,” observed Dissanayake.