Interview with Maris Dreimanis, the CEO of Vervo Group, on the “Logistics Gulf News” magazine
Vervo Middle East is one of the Vervo Group companies, which operates in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates. It has already proven its strength and potential by being featured in the "Landmarks in Logistics Awards 2022", organized by the Logistics Gulf News. Vervo Middle East received the “Rookie of the Year 2022” award that recognizes inspiring and ambitious entrepreneurs in the logistics industry.
This time, Vervo Group and its CEO Maris Dreimanis are a part of the new Logistics Gulf News print edition magazine. It spotlights a group of 20 promising logistics leaders that have already shown talent and have the potential to develop even more, driving the logistics industry with themselves.
Read the interview with Maris Dreimanis, the CEO of Vervo Group and Vervo Middle East, below:
The Vervo group is increasing its freight volume by using multiple transportation modes
In 2008, Maris Dreimanis, CEO, founded a transport and logistics company based in Latvia, one of the three Baltic Republics. Steadily, the company has evolved and grown from strength to strength and today the Vervo Group is present in five countries, including its newest company, Vervo Middle East, in Dubai.
The Vervo Group is a relatively new logistics services provider established in Dubai in 2022.
Logistics Gulf news interviewed its supremo recently. The following are transcripts of that conversation.
LogisticsGulfNews.com (LGN): Provide us your professional background; When did you join your current company?
Maris Dreimanis (MD): In 2008, I founded Vervo in Latvia. In the beginning, I worked as a logistics specialist and participated in all the company's operational activities. That allowed me to get acquainted with all aspects of the company's business.
There has been no looking back since and we are now a progressive company, recognized in the professional community and emerging steadily as a powerhouse company with a comprehensive portfolio of product offerings.
LGN: What was the impact of the pandemic on your business, and how did you overcome this challenge?
MD: The time of the pandemic was challenging in many ways for most of us. The number of deliveries decreased, and we had to follow many restrictions and, for a while, switch to working online.
However, where others saw problems, we found opportunities. Despite the challenges coming our way in the pandemic, we founded two new Vervo Group companies and expanded the markets we operate in to be even closer to our customers in Central Europe and the Middle East.
In 2022, we founded the companies Vervo Polska in Poland and Vervo Middle East in the United Arab Emirates.
LGN: How did your organization perform in fiscal 2022 and what is your outlook for 2023?
MD: The Vervo Group has served a variety of vital and strategic industries. Now, we are performing 300 cargo transportations per day on average. We are increasing this volume by using all kinds of transportation modes: road freight, sea freight, and air freight.
2022 has been the best year in the history of our company. We achieved a 20% increase in revenue. In 2023, we are expecting the same growth rate because of the introduction of new services.
As a result of our well-researched business and marketing strategy, we expect Vervo Middle East to grow fast in the first few years. We have trust in our potential long-term clients, and we are sure they will value and appreciate the professionalism of the experts at Vervo.
LGN: What are your short-term and lang-term visions for your organization?
MD: We have big goals for our future. We are very proud of how far we have come, but we are definitely not planning on stopping here. We are already working on our next projects.
In the short term, we are planning to establish a platform for E-CMR in those countries that have acceded to the Additional Protocol for E-CMR and provide our leadership position in offering this service in the long term. That will bring many benefits to all the parties involved as well as contribute to a sustainable future.
In the long term, we plan to become one of the leading freight forwarders in the EUA in the following five years. We strive to become the best partner to our customers in the logistics industry by providing the most suitable cargo shipping solutions and logistics services.
LGN: Anything that you want to add: comments, observations, or remarks?
MD: This is a stressful time. Although it seems like the pandemic is gone, there are still many countries following certain restrictions, which causes some trouble in supply chains.
The pandemic has taught us to react quickly and learn how to adapt to different situations. As we have been doing for several years, we are stepping into the direction of implementing our internal digital solutions. Now we see that this was and is the right direction, and our competitors are following our lead.
Vervo Mode East has also been recognised and honoured by LogisticsGulfNews with the prestigious ‘Logistics Rookie of the Year 2022’ Award in the ‘Landmarks in Logistics Awards’.
The Award recognizes the new logistics businesses in the UAE that have demonstrated outstanding performance in their first year. We were and still are delighted to be recognized as ‘The Best Starter of the Year’ in a relatively short time in Dubai. That for us is a high honour.
We are honoured for being a part of the “Logistics Gulf News: The Thriving 20” edition and are looking forward to seeing what the future holds.