CSS India Visits Operinter

CSS India Director Jairam K R visited the Operinter office  in Barcelona recently. This visit was a part of the official agents visit in Europe. Jairam held meetings with the Operinter officials and discussed about various business programmes between the two companies. Operinter is one of the leading logistics companies in Spain with strong presence in all the major ports and cities of the country. CSS is having a long standing business relationship with Operinter and is expected to do even better during the coming days.

DP World Reports 10% Increase In Container Volumes In First Quarter Of 2012

DP World Limited held its Annual General Meeting for the year ended 31 December 2011 recently and World Chairman Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem made the following statement regarding trading in the first quarter of 2012.

“Across our global portfolio of marine terminals, DP World has seen a 9.5% increase in gross volumes in the first quarter of 2012 handling 13.8 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units). Excluding the contribution from new capacity, like for like growth was 7.4%.

“This growth was driven by an excellent performance in our Asia Pacific and Indian Subcontinent region which reported 14.6% growth in volumes as new capacity across the region supported strong growth across our Asia Pacific portfolio. Growth in Europe, Middle East and Africa region was 4.4% with a good performance in the Middle East and Africa mitigating the ongoing challenging operating environment in Europe. The Americas and Australia region reported growth of 8.7% driven by a very strong performance in the Americas region.

“Our portfolio of consolidated terminals reported container volumes of 6.6 million TEU. Had our five terminals in Australia not been deconsolidated from the 12 March 2011, underlying growth would have been 5.9% when compared to the same period last year.

“Jebel Ali, UAE has continued to deliver strong volume growth handling 3.2 million TEU in the first three months of the year, 8.5% ahead of the same period last year.

“The global macroeconomic uncertainty has continued into 2012. With our portfolio focused on the faster growing emerging markets and more stable origin and destination (O&D) markets, we remain committed to delivering improved operational and financial performance over 2011”.

FPS Visit To CSS Kolkata

Yoshikatsu Sawada, Sales Director of FPS Singapore recently visited the CSS Kolkata office. His business visit was intended to strengthen the existing ties between FPS Singapore and CSS India and to chalk out new areas of operations and finalise some major movements from the Far East to the Eastern Indian region. Sawada interacted with the CSS team in Kolkata and enjoyed some fruitful discussions during his stay.

Badminton

CSS- India Club UAE Open

K. Nanda Gopal gave his reputation as one of upcoming talents of Indian badminton a big boost with a double crown at the India Club UAE Open badminton tournament played at the India Club. He walked away with the men’s super league singles crown and then the doubles title, partnering B. Sumeeth Reddy.

Twenty-one-year-old Gopal is a product of the P. Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad and is ranked India’s No 5. He produced a sterling performance in the final to down K. Ajay Kumar 21-19, 21-7.

Kumar is also from the same academy and is ranked No.18 in India. Kurmar started strongly in the first set and raced and was leading by five points, when Gopal lifted his game and clinched the set. In the second set, Gopal was in full flow and wrapped up the set with little effort to prove that he is the worthy winner of the title.

Inspired by his singles’ title win, Gopal then joined Sumeeth Reddy to down Indonesia’s Didi Purwanto and Bahrain’s Jaffer E. Jaffer Ebrahim in the men’s doubles final. Gopal and Reddy won 21-16, 21-14. Incidentally, Ebrahim is one of the most outstanding talents in the Middle East. More than 500 players contested the tournament. Co-support Sponsor, CSS Group was represented by Susanth Shekar, HR Manager, CSS gave away the prizes to the winners of the tournament.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TOURNAMENT

  • The tournament was inaugurated on Monday,14th May 2012.
  • On an average 25 – 27 matches were played daily for 23 days.
  • A record number of 135 matches were played on two weekends, Fridays, 18th& 25th May and 40 matches were played on a weekday, Sat., 26th May.
  • Daily crowd: Approximately 300 including Club Members/Badminton Players/ Guests.
  • In all the 14 categories, 481 entries were received.
  • A total number of 485 matches were played throughout the tournament (so far highest ever on India Club records).
  • All the matches were played under the new WBF 21 point-scoring format.
  • Players from India, Pakistan, Philippines, Indonesian, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Germany, United Kingdom, Bahrain, China, Syria, Belgium & Denmark took part in the tournament besides the local Indian & Pakistani expats residing in the UAE.
  • The Badminton Committee comprised of A. K.Prakashan, Kishore Setpal, Anil Mohan.
  • A team of 25 Officials were also set up for the tournament.
  • This tournament started in the early 1978.
  • International & Olympic Umpire, Apinder Sabharwal umpired the super league matches.
  • H. E. Sanjay Verma, Consul General of India, Dubai spoke on the occasion.
  • Dr. Ram Buxani, Chairman, India Club also spoke on the occasion.

Golf

CSS would like to congratulate Ken Dinnadge, VP Business Development, recently representing CSS at a local golfing tournament organized by the UAE’s shipping fraternity.

His stellar play helped him to record one of the highest scores in tournament history and for getting only the 2nd ever Hole in One on the Par 3 course.

He did it using a 6 iron on the 167yard 7th hole, “It was an unbelievable shot that bounced on the top of the bunker in front of the green then rolled directly to the hole!!!” said Ken Dinnadge of his outstanding game. CSS congratulates all of the participants and organizers involved, well done!

Basketball

Senior Girls Basketball Team: CSS Group recently sponsored the girls Basketball team from ‘Our Own English High School’, Al Warqaa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

They ruled the basketball courts at the Mini Modern Basketball Tournament, held at the Dubai Modern High School back in May 2012.

‘Our Own English High School’ defeated Dubai Modern High in the finals by a score of 33-22.

Irene Jacob of Our Own English High School, Dubai was voted as MVP of the tournament.

CSS Group would like to congratulate the team on their outstanding performance!

Welcome Olympics 2012

London has hosted the Olympic Games on two past occasions, in 1908 and 1948, with a third scheduled for 2012. The planned 2012 Summer Olympics will make London the first city to have hosted the modern Games of three Olympiads. London is the only city in the United Kingdom to have ever hosted the Olympics; the United States is the only country to have hosted Summer Olympics on more occasions than the UK. There are some interesting facts from the history of Olympic Games, which you might not know.

  • In 1908, the marathon standard had been set at exactly 26 miles. During Olympic marathon in London, it was decided that the royal family needed a better view of the finish line so organizers added an extra 385 yards to the race so the finish line would be in front of the royal box. From then on the distance of the Marathon remains to be “26 miles and 385 yards.

 

  • Swimmer “Michael Phelps” of USA won 8 Gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It is the highest number of gold medals ever own by a single person in a single olympics game.

 

  • “Abebe Bikila” of Ethopia won the marathon in 1960 Rome Olympics by registering a record time of 2hrs 15mins and 16.2 secs. He ran this marathon bare footed. He also become the first african to win an olympic gold medal.

 

  • “Berlin Olympics” held in 1936 were the first Olympic games ever to be broadcast on television.

 

  • Romanian “Nadia Comaneci” was the first gymnast to score a perfect 10 seven times in a row. She achieved this feat in the 1976 Montreal Games.

 

  • “Hilda Lorna Johnstone” of Great Britain is the oldest women to have ever participated in Olympics till date. She was 70 years old when she participated in 1972 games. She was an Equestrian.

 

  • There were “no women” participants in the Athens olympics which were held in 1896. First time the women were allowed to participate was in the year 1900 summer olympics held in Paris.

 

  • “Charlotte Cooper” was the first women to win gold medal in the olympics. She won it in the sport of tennis, during the 2nd olympics held in Paris in the year 1900. It was the first olympics in which women participated.

 

  • “Oscar Swahn” of Sweden is the oldest olympian to have participated in any of the olympic events so far. He was a shooter who participated at the 1920 Antwerp Games at the age of 72 years.

 

  • “Dimitrios Loundras” was the youngest olympian ever to participate in modern olympics. He was a Greek gymnast, who competed in the 1896 Athens Olympics. He was 10 years and 218 days old. He remains to be the youngest medallist and competitor in any of the olympics till date.

 

  • “James Connolly” of USA was the first person to win a medal in the first modern olympics held in athens 1896. The winners were given a silver medal and olive leaf.

Some Facts About The London Olympics 2012

  • 26 Olympic sports will be played .
  • 19 Paralympic sports will be played.
  • The London economy is projected to grow by $80 billion by 2015.
  • The Games are projected to generate 12,000 new jobs in the Olympic Park.
  • 31 competition venues will be utilised.
  • 20,000 press/media will be in attendance.
  • 10km of new roads will be built.
  • There will be 500,000 spectators per day.
  • 9,000 new homes will be built.
  • There will be 9.6million tickets for sale – 8million for the Olympics and 1.6million for the Paralympics.
  • Organisers say 75 per cent of all tickets will cost less than £50 and offer free travel on London transport.
  • A sell-out rate of 82 per cent for the Olympic Games and 63 per cent for the Paralympics is estimated.
  • Tickets for the athletics will start at £15 and there will be 20,000 £10 tickets for the Olympic Park to watch.
  • The village will be converted into 3,600 apartments, most of them will be affordable housing.
  • After the Games four arenas would be ‘deconstructed’ and relocated to other parts of the UK along with the swimming pools that are used for water polo and the 50m training pools.
  • Charities will be given the sports equipment used in the Games for free.
  • 93 per cent of training venues are to be within 30 minutes of the athletes village.
  • There are 9,000 planned park and ride spaces to be made available at Ebbsfleet where spectators can board a 10-minute javelin service to the Olympic Park.
  • It is predicted that on event days 78 per cent of spectators are likely to travel from within London and 22 per cent from the rest of the UK and Europe.

Chairman’s Message

“I Have a Dream”, the 17-minute public speech, by Martin Luther King Jr., which was delivered on August 28th 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, has always been inspiring to me. It called for racial equality and an end to discrimination. The speech was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement.

It is said that every idea starts as a dream and I have no doubt that dreams are a fillip in everyone’s life. However there are those who just dream and others who also act on their dreams. This difference creates both world leaders as well as people who just queue up to buy lottery tickets as a gamble for their dreams.

The chances are that we fall somewhere between these extremes just “lounging around”.  But imagine what might happen if we stopped lounging and started acting on our dreams. I believe that dreamers can create a positive culture in any organisation. An employee who dreams, and is able to align their dreams, with a company’s goals, results in both attaining success. If you look into any successful organisation, you can find leaders who encourage their employees to dream for success. Gone are those days where staffs are just managed. Now we need inspiration, similar to Martin Luther King Jr., to attain our corporate goals. It is this style of leadership which brings the creativity needed for success. CSS has been effective in encouraging our employees to dream and innovate. By promoting the further development of this culture we may all enjoy the feeling of being able to say, “I have a Dream” – a belief in a defining moment of excellence, both for ourselves and CSS, where all of us benefit equally together.

CSS Group Attends Breakbulk Antwerp 2012

UBM Global Trade’s 7th Annual Breakbulk Europe Transportation Conference and Exhibition will take place May 22nd -24th at the Antwerp Expo in Belgium and will address anticipated industry growth from emerging markets. The program features two days of panel and keynote discussions and as well as workshops and networking events within the heavy-lift and breakbulk transportation sector.

CSS Group will have a strong presence at the Breakbulk Exhibition led by a delegation from the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and India.

From CSS Dubai, Raj George, Senior Vice President-Ocean Freight, Siby Kurian, General Manager Sales & Marketing, Amith Horra, Marketing Manager and Deepu S Dev, Marketing coordinator will be in attendance.

From CSS Bahrain, Narayan Tagore, General Manager and from CSS India, Prabhakar Maniyan, Vice President-Projects will be representing their respective regions during the exhibition.

“The Breakbulk exhibitions have proven to be a success for the CSS Group and its network offices and we look forward to exhibiting in the Antwerp show.  It is an excellent platform for industry professionals to network and gain valuable information from the conferences offered,” added Raj George, Senior Vice President-Ocean Freight.

“Breakbulk is and an ideal exhibition for any logistics company to showcase its first class services and product offerings, not only from the Middle East, but worldwide. Year after year, we have witnessed the number of companies and visitors increase, which helps us to identify and target keys segments to grow our business,” said Narayan Tagore, General Manager, CSS Bahrain.

CSS India, Prabhakar Maniyan, Vice President-Projects added, “With the increase of international audiences, specifically sub continent exhibitors and visitors attending Breakbulk Antwerp, it is essential for us to exhibit as we are able to nurture our existing business relationships with overseas clientele along with generating new business that will in turn grow our market share, locally and internationally.”

Highlights from the recently released agenda include discussions of technology issues for the industry, the growing complexity of risks and liabilities in cargo moves and the influence of other shipping sectors on the breakbulk market. In addition, the topic of so-called “giga-projects,” which are creating new challenges amid rising energy demand, will be explored in depth.

“Last year, the Breakbulk Europe conference grew to be our largest event in 2011 at 4,300-plus attendees. We are excited to host even more guests this year. The agenda for Breakbulk Europe 2012 will provide real insight into areas of major growth to even more people in our industry,” said Alli McEntyre, Breakbulk Vice President and Publisher.

UBM Global Trade’s Breakbulk division organizes a trio of major conferences and exhibitions each year — Breakbulk Europe, Breakbulk China and Breakbulk Americas. In addition, three two-day congresses will be added this year: Breakbulk Africa, Aug. 7-8 in Cape Town, South Africa; Breakbulk South America, Dec. 4-5 in Sao Paulo; and Breakbulk India, Nov. 20-21 in Mumbai.

CSS Group Attends GPLN Global Meeting And Power Logistics Conference / Exhibition

Global Project Logistics Network (GPLN) will be conducting its 9th Annual General Meeting at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Center, Singapore, from May 9- 11, 2012.

Just ahead of the annual GPLN meeting in Singapore, GPLN has provided an excellent opportunity to combine the Annual Meeting event at the same venue with the Power Logistics Conference and Expo on May 7-8, 2012. From CSS Group,  Amith Horra – Marketing Manager,  Chandrakala – Asst. Manager NVOCC and Amal Harendrean – Coordinator, Projects, Oil & Energy department will be representing CSS Group at this Conference/Exhibition.

CSS Group is pleased to be an exclusive sponsor for the GPLN Annual Meeting Cocktail reception to be held in the evening of May 9th, 2012.  Raj George, Senior Vice President Ocean Freight, CSS Group and Narayan RT, General Manager CSS Bahrain will be attending the GPLN Annual Meeting representing CSS Group.

About GPLN Annual Meeting:

GPLN brings together project cargo experts and independent project logistics specialist companies from around the world, all of whom have an expert focus on project logistics. This global meeting will allow members the face-to-face contact with other GPLN partners whereby they will be able to efficiently build professional relationships in the most lasting and cost effective manner.

CSS Group Recent Visit To Naouri Group

Continuing to build upon its business relationship with the Naouri Group, CSS Group recently visited their offices in Jordan as part of its initiative to create and sustain a strong alliance as well as strategically position themselves to service the global market.

Raj George, Senior Vice President-Ocean Freight, Ken Dinnadge, Vice President-Business Development and Ahmad Fuad, Branch Manager- CSS Abu Dhabi led the CSS Group delegation during the course of their official trip, where they met with all of the major business heads- Senior Managements of the Naouri Group whereby everyone involved was able to network and determine key sectors of business for both parties to heavily target and develop.

A focus in developing consolidation services to Iraqi clients through utilizing CSS assets and services to establish continuous services from Dubai and other global locations were discussed along with operational aspects and commercial sales/business development were discussed in detail.

“Our trip to Jordan to meet the Senior Management of Naouri Group was an excellent opportunity for both companies to meet and discuss ways in which we can grow our business together. The hospitality extended to us by Naouri Group was exceptional and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved,” added Raj George, Senior Vice President-Ocean Freight.

“We want to convey the message that Iraq is now starting to open up for business which we believe is a unique opportunity for our global partners to participate in”, said Ken Dinnadge, Vice President-Business Development.

ABOUT NAOURI GROUP

Year of Establishment

Naouri Group was established in 1994  and today is a leading group of companies with its core businesses being in the fields of shipping and logistics, and travel & tourism.

HEAD OFFICE

Amman –Jordan

Number of companies

17 company

Network of offices

51 offices in Jordan, Iraq and Syria

Number of Employees

+ 650 employees

SERVICES OFFERED:

Shipping and Logistics

  • Shipping
  • Projects
  • Customs Clearance
  • Freight Forwarding
  • Land Transport
  • Cargo Inspection and Testing
  • Packing and Removals
  • Warehousing

Dubai Boat Show 2012 CSS Group & Peters & May

The 20th annual edition of the Dubai International Boat Show took place at the prestigious Dubai International Marine Club from March 13-17th, 2012.  Home to more than 430 boats, the show featured 20 superyachts and an astounding 33 premiers, including 9 world launches and 24 regional launches, highlighting the event’s number one ranking in the Middle East as the leading destination for leisure marine trade and boating enthusiasts.

“The 20th anniversary of the Boat Show marked one of the region’s great milestones within the leisure maritime sector and we highlighted this achievement with our best show ever, from the record number of super yacht builders exhibiting, to amazing investment opportunities to secure optimum purchases on the full-range of boats and products on display, plus the spectacular entertainment and educational opportunities on offer. The boat show brings together the full range of marine offerings and is ‘the’ event on Dubai’s social calendar which is not to be missed,” said Trixee Loh, Senior Vice President, Dubai World Trade Centre, organiser of the event.

CSS Group and Peters & May exhibited its first class products and services in the Luxury Supplies and Services Area of the Dubai International Boat Show, at stand number LSS-D3.

“This year’s exhibition saw an increased number of traffic within the Luxury Supplies and Services Area. We welcomed quite a few visitors everyday and I was extremely impressed with the quality of leads and networking that took place at our booth,” said Edward Morgan, Manager-Yacht & Marine Logistics CSS Group/Peters & May.

“The Dubai International Boat Show has not only maintained its position as an essential event for the region’s leisure marine industry, over 20 years it has become a vital gateway to the global boating market,” he added.

Following last year’s success, 2012 witnessed the return of the hugely popular Supercar Promenade where visitors were able to get behind the wheel of some of the world’s fastest and most expensive cars – such as Bentley Continental Series 51, Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, and Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé – all of which could be purchased at the show and driven off the site.

The Dubai International Boat Show was open to trade visitors and the general public from 3pm to 9:30pm daily.

Yacht Movement

The Yacht and Marine logistics division in CSS Abu Dhabi has recently executed a yacht shipment from Jebel Ali to Beirut. The Yacht AS 52 owned by Mr. Sami Kyriakos of length 15.5 meters, width 4.35 meters, which is roughly 350 CBM, was loaded into the vessel Atlant Trina at the Jebel Ali port. The entire operation was executed under the supervision of Rosaline Nabil, Business Development Manager, CSS Abu Dhabi. CSS along with Peters and May over the years have become one of the leading and reputable partners in the Middle East, within the Yacht and Marine Logistics sector.

Intermodal South America 2012

The 18th edition of Intermodal South America is the leading integrated exhibition and conference event for international trade, logistics, transport and cargo handling in Latin America.

This year as the largest event in the Americas for logistics, cargo transport and international trade, Intermodal South America is focused on offering three distinct benefits to its visitors and exhibitors: networking and relationship-building, technical knowledge exchange via high-quality, content-driven conferences, and the generation of new business opportunities.

The event offers over 500 exhibitors from all over the world, presenting new products, the latest equipment’s and technology innovation and a vast conference program, providing the unique opportunity and experience for more than 50 thousand professionals.

Siby Kurian, General Manager Sales & Marketing CSS Group, represented CSS Group for Intermodal 2012 and said; “By having a presence at Intermodal for past number of years we are able to network and nurture business relationships with our business associates from all continents. Intermodal is an excellent platform for logistic companies to showcase their first class products and service offerings to an international audience.”

Intermodal South America- [2012]?Venue: Transamerica Expo Center, Sao Paulo, Brazil?Date: Apr 10, 2011 – Apr 12, 2012.

New Assignment With Homeward Bound

Massimilano Spina, VP Freight Forwarding has been given the additional responsibility of the relocations department, CSS Homeward Bound. CSS Homeward Bound was setup by CSS Group to meet the ever-growing demand of the relocations among the expatriate community.  Now CSS Homeward bound is well equipped with an experienced and professional team capable of delivering substantial services in relocation of your offices, apartments or villas. Within a short span of time CSS Homeward Bound has been successful in a great number of relocations of households and offices within and outside the Emirates. The professionalism in which we carry out each job has certainly earned us the reputation of being among the top within the industry

“I am extremely delighted to take on the new challenge of overseeing all relocation activities for CSS Homeward Bound.  The relocation’s industry is vast not only in the Middle East but worldwide as many expatriate professionals and organizations choose the Middle East as their home base. I look forward to continually build upon the brand awareness of CSS Homeward Bound both locally and internationally”, added Max.

THE SERVICES OFFERED


  • Worldwide packing and moving of personal effects
  • Local and International removals (Homes and Offices)
  • Customs clearance and door to door service
  • Warehousing
  • Transportation
  • Industrial packing and lashing
  • Comprehensive insurance
  • Special Events & Exhibitions



THE FACILITIES / STRENGTHS


  • Own warehouse facility
  • Operating a fleet of own trucks
  • Multilingual staff
  • Well trained and experienced professionals



CERTIFICATIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS


  • A member of the Canadian Association of Movers (CAM)
  • A member of International Association of Movers (IAM)
  • A member of Asian Relocation Association (ARA)

Dubai Export Monitor Shows Continuous Growth Trend

Exports continue to increase fostering growth in Dubai’s manufacturing sector. South and West Asia are top destinations for Dubai products by value, according to Dubai Export Monitor – a yearly publication by the government.

Dubai Exports, an agency of the Department of Economic Development (DED), Government of Dubai, revealed that in 2010, the Emirate has been exporting diverse products, such as gold and precious metals, sugar, plastics and food, in various target export markets particularly in South and West Asia.

“This edition of Dubai Export Monitor report has been compiled to serve as a ready reference to various stakeholders in the four main areas of interest-overall trade trend, regional trade, trade by product and trade by market,” said Saed Al Awadi, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Exports.

An important conclusion of the report showed that in 2010, exports sustained the continuous growth trend, while imports to Dubai and Free Zone as well as re-exports have reversed the decline witnessed in 2009. Another important trend was the continuous growth of direct and free zone exports during the past years, followed the positive growth trend of manufacturing GDP, indicating that exporting was a main factor in fostering manufacturing growth during the recession.

Projects @CSS

CSS Tirupur successfully handled and moved solar panels which are used for solar photovoltaic power plants at Nenmani village in Sattur, Tamil Nadu. The movement was carefully planned and executed by the professional projects team of Tirupur. These solar panel movements were executed for Drake and Scull water and power LLC, Dubai, who were the clients. The consignment originated from Malaysia. There were 13,400 units of panels in 7 X 40 and 1 X 20 containers, which comprised of 268 boxes which were of 358.59 CBM. CSS did the entire local clearance procedures and transported the consignment to Sattur. The entire job was challenging and exciting as per the team at CSS Tirupur.

Growing Leaps And Bounds Cochin With CSS

Kochi, with its world renowned port and the new Vallarpadam transshipment terminal gives an edge to the booming commercial aspect of this city. CSS takes the full advantage of being present in this historic and the fastest growing city of Cochin, which is regarded as the commercial hub of Kerala. This city could is considered as the second most important port city after Mumbai in the western coast.

Console Shipping Services, with a very strong presence in Kochi, is on its move to make it even stronger. Situated right next to the Port, CSS India is fully equipped with state of the art technology and an efficient manpower to cater its best of service to the clients. Console Shipping, being present in most of the major ports and cities in India, finds Kochi presence, a strategic one, foreseeing the mammoth growth, Kochi has seen in the recent past.

The recent advancement in the projects sector and the relocation business, has paved a new path for the shipping and logistics fraternity for development. Due to various favorable factors, Kochi is becoming the hub of IT industry, which catapulted the real estate boom. The entry points of this city like the Shipping Port and Airport has fastened its pace to meet up with the sparkling requirements, the industry demands.

Cochin Port trust has taken measures to increase and modernize its facilities, with the support of a pro-active management team and the support from the State and the Central Governments. The port has handled around 17 million tonnes of Cargo in the year 2010-11 period and is expected a steady growth in the years to come. New initiatives such as the International Container terminal, the International Marina and International ship repair complex could change the face of this port city of Kochi.

Cochin international airport, with a fame of being the first privately owned one, has announced 25,000 Sq. Mts of temperature controlled warehousing facilities for perishable items with in its cargo village. Most of the International airlines are flying in and out of Cochin airport, which makes it now one of the busiest airports in South India.

Kochi, the business capital of Kerala, has long been an attraction for the international traveler. Kochi was popularly known as Cochin from the colonial days till recently. Its strategic importance over the centuries gave shelter to Arabs, British, Chinese, Dutch, and Portuguese sailors, all of whom have left indelible marks on the region’s development.

Al Noor-Family Fun Fair 2012

Keeping in line with its continuous commitment to corporate social responsibility and giving back to society, CSS Group has lent support to the Al Noor Training Centre for Children with Special Needs by volunteering for the Al Noor-Samsung Family Fun Fair 2012, which took place at the Al Noor campus in Al Barsha, Dubai on Friday March 2nd, 2012 from 10am-10pm.

The Al Noor – Samsung Family Fun Fair was honored to have the Royal Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Dalmook Bin Juma Al Maktoum, and His Highness Sheikh Rashed Bin Dalmook Bin Juma Al Maktoum.

Isphana Al Khatib, Director of Al Noor Training Centre for Children with Special Needs said, “as we do each year, we have carefully planned and organized the activities for the event with care to ensure the element of fun and entertainment for all ages prevails. With close to 1000 volunteers registering to help in the logistics, we look forward to another exciting and highly successful event.”

Over 50 CSS employees, family members and friends participated for this worthy cause by volunteering their time to help setup and facilitate for various booths, gaming areas, food counters and raffle stations throughout the event.

“The support and team work displayed by the CSS staff, family and friends was outstanding, their positives attitudes and excellent enthusiasm was highly appreciated and I would like to personally thank everyone involved and as well as Al Noor for organizing the Al Noor-Samsung Family Fun Fair 2012, and for allowing CSS to participate.  We look forward to other events throughout the social calendar,” added Amith Horra, Marketing Manager, CSS.

The Al Noor Annual Fun Fair is the second fundraising event of the year that aims to raise a substantial amount of funds to cover a part of the running cost of the Centre and address the Centre’s budget deficit. Al Noor Training Centre for Children with Special Needs has for the past 30 years been providing quality professional training to the special needs community of Dubai. They are a nonprofit organization and currently provide training to 270 children from 31 different nationalities with special needs.