ne of the world's leading privately owned moving companies, The Crown Group, has consolidated its operations in the UAE and is spreading its wings in Qatar, Kuwait and Oman. The group also has a presence in Bahrain and is operating in other Middle Eastern countries through service partners.

The Crown Group's UAE operations, whose origins go back to the 1970s, have expanded to include some of the most prominent clients in the region. Crown Worldwide Movers UAE, a limited liability company, has offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Located in an industrial area, 15 minutes from downtown, the Dubai facility is in a prime location, close to air and seaports. The combined office and warehouse capacity is 30,000 sq f, the space being used for records management as well as household goods and commercial cargo.

The warehouse is air-conditioned so that high temperatures and humidity will not jeopardise the personal effects of the company's corporate, who number over 600, and private accounts. The facility also includes 24-hour security surveillance, a sprinkler system and loading ramps for trailers and containers.

"In the UAE, Crown is listed among the top three international relocation/removal companies. It is extremely important to note that we are the only one to offer complete relocations services, not to mention records management services," a Crown spokesman said.

Since the late 1990s, Crown has worked in the UAE with local partner Suhail Majid Al Marri. Crown's global package includes services such as international and local door-to-door household goods (HHG) movement by air, sea and land; records management; freight forwarding and distribution by air, sea and land; storage of household goods and commercial cargo; customs clearance; orientation tours; home search; handyman's services; furniture search and immigration and visa procurement services.

Crown's origins in the UAE stretch back to the 1970s when a company providing moving services known as Scotpack, an arm of P & O, became well established in the country. Crown chairman Jim Thompson purchased Scotpack in late 1990, and Scotpack's operations in the UAE subsequently became known as Crown. The next significant development was in 1999 when Crown Worldwide Movers UAE became a limited liability company.

The company is known internationally as The Crown Group and comprises Crown Relocations and Crown Records Management.

The UAE operations started in Dubai with three office staff and two to three packers. Crown UAE's Dubai establishment now has 25 staff and more than 30 packing workers. The Abu Dhabi facility has four office staff and six packing crew. Crown's vehicle park has more than 10 three-tonne closed removal vans.

The spokesman named some of Crown UAE's customers as BAT, Chicago Bride & Iron, Cisco, ABN Amro, HSBC, Unilever and Schlumberger.

Outside the UAE, Crown's Gulf offices are in Bahrain and Qatar. The Bahrain office boasts five office staff and 10 packing crew with the vehicle park containing three three-tonne covered removal vans. The office in Qatar was set up on April 1. By the end of the year, offices will be opened in Kuwait and Muscat. Other Middle Eastern countries are covered by Crown service partners.

The company grew out of the vision of founder Thomson who, while working for a small moving company in Yokohama, Japan, in 1965 as a young man just out of college, realised there was a need for a reputable international relocation business. He invested a grand total of $1,000 and the initial investment turned into $100,000 revenue in a year's time. Crown was fully profitable in less than two years.

Today, the Crown Group spans six continents, employs over 3,000 people and takes in yearly revenues approaching $300 million. Crown has close to 100 offices in more than 30 countries and is now one of the world's leading international moving companies.

"Our steady but deliberate grown has been in direct proportion to our ability to provide the high level of service we're known for," says Thompson.

As a leader in the field of management and storage of business records, it manages approximately three million cartons of business documents for more than 2,500 clients worldwide.

"Crown's expansion has been a blend of creating strategic partnerships, contracting local agents with market expertise and building new offices from the ground up," says the company spokesman.

Crown is the recognised leader in East Asia. "From atop headquarters in Hong Kong, if you look down at the city, you can see the trademark bright-red Crown trucks dotting the traffic," says Jennifer Harvey, Crown's New York-based Group marketing manager.

One of Crown's strengths has been its innovative nature with technology being a driving force behind Crown's expansion. "While most of the moving industry was slow to react, Crown from early on put into place a company wide intranet using the Lotus Notes platform. This network links Crown's offices worldwide, facilitating the exchange of information. This same system also permits immediate and easy worldwide tracking of gooks in transit.