Damco's BR programme supports Lebanon team
Damco’s Beirut-based team, working with the forwarder’s business resilience (BR) programme, had operations in Lebanon back up and running within 24 hours of this month’s devastating explosion at the port of Beirut.
Staff at the freight forwarder’s headquarters in The Hague (the Netherlands) were able to rapidly assess the safety and welfare of the Lebanon team thanks to communication channels put in place as part of the programme. Supported by the global Damco team working with the BR programme, the Beirut team relocated all office functions to its warehouse facility in Dekwaneh, a suburb of the city, keeping supply chains moving.
“The immediate concern was ‘what is the status of the team members? Are you safe?’,” said Zera Zheng, head of Damco business resilience and security. “Our office was badly damaged in the blast, but fortunately there were only a few minor injuries across the team, and we were able to work on getting our processes operational as swiftly as possible. Business resilience is only effective with a strong, connected team and we are very fortunate to have that with our colleagues around the world." (mw)