Restrata partners with Integral DMCC on supply chain projects in GCC

Dubai-based situational awareness and telematics provider Restrata has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Integral DMCC, a project management consultancy, that will see the companies work together to address a range of growing challenges within the logistics and supply chain sector.

These include government initiatives to tackle road deaths, including both general and commercial vehicle specific legislation, as well as the impact of rising fuel prices in the UAE and wider region.

“Integral has a wealth of experience spanning more than 20 years in the Middle East supply chain market,” explained David Nicholls, VP for situational awareness and telematics at Restrata.

“When you look at the two businesses, the synergy is obvious. We have already on-boarded our first joint client in the UAE and extremely excited about our combined prospects for the future.”

Restrata currently delivers a range of tailored telematics tools and services in the region that address fleet management, including systems based on custom radar communications infrastructure that allow customers to set up geofences and monitor RFID activity at a given location.

It is the distributor of both OBI Telematics and the Teletrac Navman technology in the MEA region.

But, noted Margereta AbuRas, MD of Integral DMCC: “Investing in technology is not enough, the on boarding of this technology, day to day management and interaction with the fleet data is key to achieving success.”

“The costs for supply chain companies in Dubai have risen by around 9% since 2016 as a result of diesel price increases, labour costs and locally imposed tariffs, but we have witnessed vast returns on investment from the implementation of fleet technology and improved safety and efficiency.”

With diesel prices on the rise, from 1.6 AED per litre in May 2016 to 1.97 AED per litre in May 2017, events and behaviours that impact fuel consumption, including traffic queues and vehicle idling, are of ever growing importance in the breakdown of job prices.

There has also been a movement towards the implementation of new legislation in recent months encouraging industry players to sit up and take note, including the tightening of seatbelt regulations, and increasingly routinely vehicle maintenance and tyre pressure checks.

In the UAE, where the number of road deaths rose from 675 in 2015 to 725 in 2016, or a rate of 5.5 deaths per every 100,000 people, the logistics and transport industry is under pressure to help meet government targets to reduce this to a rate of just 3.0 by 2021.