OMNI spotlight on… Freeline Movers
11th February 2021

Freeline Movers – Leading the way in Pakistan

Freeline Movers is OMNI’s new Probationer in Pakistan. Here, Steve Jordan talks to the owner, Alamgir Shah, about Business development, since he started it in 1988.

It was April 10 1988, a memorable day in Pakistan’s history. Just before 10am, an army ammunition depot located in a densely-populated area between twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, exploded. For over an hour the cities were showered by rockets, artillery, mortar shells and grenades. A report in The New York Times following the day claimed that 75 people had lost their lives and a further 850 had been wounded. In practice, the casualty count was likely to have been much higher.

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OMNI Spotlight on— Vinelli & Scotto
3rd February 2021

Vinelli & Scotto in Italy joined OMNI as a Probationer in 2019.  Here, Steve Jordan talks to joint owner Renata Busettini about the company run by herself and her sister Laura, and it’s somewhat unusual history.

Vinelli & Scotto is an old company.  It was started in 1890 by Francesco Vinelli who soon joined forces with his cousin Scotto and the dynasty was begun.  But although successful, Vinelli & Scotto was not a dynastic organisation.  In fact, with each passing generation, the company was bought by a new owner who passed the company on through the female line.  In this way, Laura and Renata inherited the company from their father, Ottavio Busettini, who bought the company in 1984 having previously worked with Franzosini.  Ironically, as neither Renata nor Laura have children lined up to inherit the business, history is destined to repeat at some time in the future. The company has two locations: Milan and Turin.

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Bobby Bartle Promoted to the Role of General Counsel with Aires
2nd February 2021

Aires is pleased to announce the promotion of Bobby Bartle to the role of General Counsel. In this new role, he will lead the legal function at Aires by providing legal advice to the entire organization as well as key stakeholders and executives. Among other responsibilities, the position will focus on contract drafting and negotiation with outside parties, ensuring compliance with employment laws for staff, protecting Aires’ intellectual property interests, managing any potential litigation matters that arise, and monitoring government affairs and compliance issues impacting the company or the services it provides. 

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OMNI spotlight on… Kings International
28th January 2021

Kings International is the new Probationer member of OMNI in South Africa.  Steve Jordan interviewed Rolf Lamers, the company’s Managing Director in Cape Town, to find out a little more about the company’s past and present.

Kings Transport was originally formed in Cape Town in 1923 by ‘Old Man’ King, as Rolf affectionately refers to him.  At the time the company had a horse and cart and was mainly involved in the moving of sand and commercial cargo in the local area.  He subsequently left the business to his son, Juno, who many in the industry will remember well today.

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OMNI COVID-19 BULLETIN – The Philippines & Indonesia
17th December 2020

Gerry Lane looks at the ways in which COVID-19 has affected his businesses and, perhaps, offers a little inspiration as the world changes.

It is the beginning of November 2020 and Virginia and I are spending some time in Sydney, Australia.  The fact is that the Philippines, where we live most of the time, has severe restrictions on movement and, were we there, we would probably be confined to the house.  I think we’ll stay here for a while enjoying the legendary Australian hospitality.

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OMNI COVID-19 BULLETIN – USA
10th December 2020

Joleen Lauffer, Executive Vice President at Aires in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, looks at the ways in which COVID-19 has affected her business and lessons for the future.

We have around 600 people working at Aires, so when many of them started working from home early this year we had to work really hard to make sure they still felt connected to the organisation. We did this through regular video communications from our leadership team that allowed us to talk to everyone about what was happening in the company and how our work was impacted.  I think these regular touchpoints really helped get us through the transition phase.

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OMNI COVID-19 BULLETIN – South Africa
19th November 2020

 

Rolf Lamers of Kings International in Cape Town looks at the ways in which Covid-19 has affected his business and lessons for the future.

It’s amazing how quickly us humans re-invent ourselves.  Only a few months ago we had never heard of Zoom, now most of us spend most of our days talking to people all over the world using the technology.  Good job we do, we would all have been very lonely this year without it.

We have also all got used to the idea of working from home.  I would never have expected that.  But here I am, in my home office, looking at the ocean and carrying on my business just as well as if I were in the office.  We have a timetable that we follow so everyone takes it in turns to go to the office once or twice a week to do the things we can’t do remotely, but somehow we have all worked out how to function more effectively from home.

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GERSON RELOCATION ANNOUNCE THE ACQUISITION OF DIJKSHOORN IN THE NETHERLANDS
12th November 2020

Gerson Relocation Ltd is pleased to announce that it has acquired the business and assets of Dijkshoorn Euromovers B.V., a leading moving services provider based in the Netherlands.
The acquisition of the Dijkshoorn business will expand Gerson Relocation’s European service and support capabilities, consistent with the company’s strategy to meet the needs of their clients and allow the company to be prepared for the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union.

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