Having received contracts to supply equipment from source to site for some of Saudi Arabia’s most crucial projects, Namma Cargo could easily be considered as one of the most favoured companies of its kind in the kingdom.

Namma is currently organising the transport of 20,000 tonnes of equipment all the way from Europe, the US and the Far East for the Shaybah PGP project in Shaybah which has been launched for the Saudi Aramco power plant. The project will be completed in December of this year and until that time Namma will also be providing in-kingdom customs clearance after the goods have arrived.
Namma is providing similar services for other contracts it began this year.
In one of them, it is shipping equipment from East and West required for the ethylene oxide and ethylene glycol project for CTCI in Jubail. The project belongs to the Saudi Kayan Petrochemical Company and work is expected to be completed in December 2008. Saudi Kayan is an affiliate of Sabic and the volume of project cargo that Namma will be handling is 75,000 tonnes.
Namma has also been entrusted with bringing project cargo for the polypropylene -3 and OCT projects for Samsung. Some 150,000 freight tonnes will be brought in for the projects which will be completed in Jubail in October 2008. Ibn Zahr is a more widely used name for Saudi European Petrochemical Company, an affiliate of Sabic.
The freight company is also bringing requisite cargo for Saudi Aramco’s Quarayyah seawater plant project which Snamprogetti is working on. As much as 30,000 tonnes of cargo will be required for the desalination plant whose completion time is June 2008.
Namma has provided total logistics services including international freight forwarding customs clearance and transportation to several companies of the Sabic Group including Ibn Al Baytar, Safco, Samad, Kemya and Hadeed.
Over the years, it has transported equipment for a host of projects and expansions. Well after the new plants have been set up or the expansions completed, its contracts require it to respond to cargo needs the companies may have such as the import of spare parts or more voluminous equipment.
Among companies to whose facilities Namma has ongoing contracts to deliver and forward material are  Ar-Razi, Sharq, Saudi Aramco, Yansab, PetroRabigh,  Huawei Tech, Motorola, Sipchem, Ericsson, Saudi Chevron and Nokia.
“The company’s entire infrastructure – its systems, services, facilities and personnel – has developed largely in direct response to the transportation needs of Saudi industrial, commercial and public sectors,” says a company spokesman.
“Although project shipping has over the years been Namma’s principal focus, the company also proudly services many large and small Saudi commercial exporters and importers. Its strong traffic expertise, advanced IT capabilities and rigid attention to documentation details make the company attractive to commercial as well as project shippers.”
The company has developed the purchase order logistics and expediting programme (Polep), a computerised tracking information system. The company has also acquired the Sita network enabling access to all international airlines and worldwide partners for data interchange.
Namma has eight offices in Saudi Arabia and a staff close to 500. The company enumerates its services as general cargo inbound and outbound, project forwarding, customs clearance, delivery of household goods, warehousing and distribution, delivery of exhibition cargo, air and sea chartering.
It has acquired a warehouse facility at Dammam’s bonded and re-export zone under which shipments are cleared and stored without the payment of customs duties. The facility enables customers to keep their stock to satisfy their urgent requirements.
Most shares in Namma are held by Nesma Holding (60 per cent) with Rawabi Holding (20 per cent) and Sheikh Abdulrazaq Ali Aklturki and Abdulhade El-Saif  (10 per cent each) making up the remainder.