SINGAPORE : With an initial fleet of just 300 standard-sized containers to its current inventory fleet of 18,000 TEU's, BLPL Singapore has certainly come a long way since it started out five years ago.
A subsidiary of Transworld Group Singapore, the Singapore-headquartered BLPL was recently awarded the prestigious Enterprise 50 (E50) Award. Established in 1950, the Enterprise 50 Awards recognises privately-held companies who have contributed to economic development in Singapore and abroad. It is jointly organised by The Business Times and KPMG and supported by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, International Enterprise Singapore, Singapore Business Federation and SPRING Singapore.
Mr Mahesh Sivaswamy, Chairman and CEO of Transworld Group Singapore, received the award from Ms Josephine Teo, Singapore's Minister of State for Transport.
When BLPL first started in 2007, it only paved the routes on its sister company OEL's feeder ships in Bangladesh. But within the year was out, 2,000 more twenty-foot containers were added to its fleet. And despite the Lehman crisis which broke the year after, BLPL kept its head above waters to see its revenue for the financial year ending March 2008 doubled to US$13.2 million (S$16.1m) from the previous year's US$6.3m. In due course, BLPL added another 3,000-4,000 containers to its fleet through operational leases. For FY2009 and FY2010, the company recorded turnovers of US$15.4 million and US$27.4 million respectively. Its fleet now stands at 18,000 teu's with a mix of general and special purpose containers including reefer.
Productivity & Efficiency To achieve its aim of expanding beyond South-East Asia, BLPL knew that it needed to have an efficient software system that keeps track of its containers as they ply their routes daily.
Mr Anand Sitaraman, Vice-President at BLPL Singapore, explained, “"Our containers are our assets but they are constantly on the move. To control and manage our costs, and maximizing revenue in the process, we knew an efficient software system is needed."
BLPL hence set up a team in Mumbai to man a Web-based, real-time software system that records every step that the containers make and which employees in various locations, include the management team in Singapore, can access information 24/7. More than $250,000 was invested in the software which is constantly updated to cater to BLPL's needs and market conditions.
“That BLPL achieved its dream of expanding beyond South-East Asia, to the India sub-continent, the Middle East and East Africa in just five years, is all thanks to our capable software system. Not to mention cultivating good ties with our container line partners which is equally important,” said Mr Mahesh Sivaswamy Chairman of Transworld Group Singapore
BLPL recently commenced two container vessel services which starts from Singapore to Myanmar and Singapore to the East Coast of India. The next step for the 2012 Enterprise 50 winner is to focus and grow their liner business further.
As far as BLPL are concerned, the sea's the limit.
BLPL SINGAPORE is represented by Transworld GLS (India) Private Limited on Pan- India basis.
