GAC India has celebrated 30 years of operation in the country with an event held at the Trident, Bandra Kurla Complex.
GAC Shipping (India) Pvt. Ltd. was the first GAC office to open in the Indian Subcontinent. Operations began in 1985 with the first agency appointment for a vessel calling at Mangalore. From just two staff working from an office in Cochin back then, GAC India has now grown into a company with close to 400 employees nationwide.
Fredrik Nyström, Group Vice President, Asia Pacific, GAC Group, commented on the milestone: “With approximately 95% of the country’s trade by volume being handled through sea, there is no doubt shipping plays a vital role in India’s economy. Since setting up our office in the country 30 years ago, the Indian maritime sector has transformed from one that catered primarily to domestic shipping requirements to the 16th largest maritime country in the world today.
“GAC India has grown with it; in addition to our head office in Cochin, we are now present in 26 locations throughout the country. We are constantly investing and developing our facilities and resources to cater to our growing and diverse customer base.”
Today, GAC India is one of the country’s leading shipping and logistics services providers, handling more than 2,500 shipping and 10,000 logistics jobs in 2014.
Paul Haegeman, Managing Director of GAC India, said: “We provide services at all ports and anchorages in India, and our services span diverse sectors including Oil & Gas. One of the sectors witnessing great growth lately is project cargo, as ongoing construction and infrastructure developments in India call for specialised shipments using out-of-gauge gear.
“We have to constantly evolve to keep up with our customers’ changing demands. Being part of a global network gives us a competitive advantage and enables us to offer much more to our clients. GAC India is one of the few agents in the country to have our own information gathering service that delivers quality intelligence to our clients on a regular basis.”
GAC India’s 30th Anniversary reception was attended by customers, partners and colleagues from across the GAC Group, including Group Co-Chairman, Capt. Lars Säfverström, Andrew Leach, Group Vice-President, Legal and Compliance, and Group Vice-President, Asia Pacific, Fredrik Nyström. At the event, the company also introduced the “Mamta Trust” school for children living in slums, a charity that it has been actively supporting for many years.
