Gulftainer: Propelling global supply chain and logistics operations to new levels of efficiency through RISE with SAP
Explore Gulftainer’s journey with SAP
Gulftainer Company Limited is a leading operator of regional ports and terminals and a provider of customized supply chain and logistics solutions. To reduce operating costs and achieve its digital ambition of becoming more innovative and resilient, the company chose to take its ERP infrastructure to the cloud using the RISE with SAP journey.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Supply chain logistics | Sharjah, United Arab Emirates | >2,000 |
reduction in days taken to close monthly and annual books.
increase in equipment availability, due to optimized planning and preventive maintenance.
single view of master data for all process areas.
Director of Information Technology, Gulftainer Company Limited
Implementing a digital transformation that supports world-class performance
Gulftainer has seen tremendous growth since it launched the first container terminal in the Middle East in 1976. Today, the company is one of the world’s leading international ports and logistics solution providers, supporting seaports in the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the United States along with freight forwarding, supply chain operations, and logistics cities through Momentum Logistics. However, it isn’t stopping there. Gulftainer aims to become one of the world’s productive integrated supply chain and container terminal operators in the region.
To support this continued growth and deliver incredible customer service, the company needed to upgrade its IT infrastructure, including its ERP. The main goal of the ERP digital transformation was to gain access to technological innovations that would help Gulftainer reduce operating costs, become more resilient, and see big gains in efficiency and sustainability. Additional goals included streamlining processes to deliver a better customer experience and gaining a real-time view of multiple data streams to help the company make better decisions and meet regulatory requirements.
Director of Information Technology, Gulftainer Company Limited
Creating a more resilient and sustainable future in the cloud
As an SAP customer, Gulftainer had been using SAP S/4HANA as its on-premises ERP software. Then, following a rigorous evaluation process, the company selected the RISE with SAP journey, which includes SAP Cloud ERP Private as its new ERP solution. Key drivers in the decision were cost and flexible licensing.
One of the main benefits the company identified during its search was the ability to stay on a private cloud but have the core functionality be managed by SAP software through solution updates and maintenance. This setup would relieve the burden on internal IT staff, who would no longer have to manage the hardware, networking, database, and operating systems needed to run an ERP. In addition, it would help ensure that the company stayed up to date on the latest tools, technologies, and security, including 24x7 security monitoring with incident response by SAP. RISE with SAP also offered the innovation and sustainability the company sought, with access to advanced analytics, machine learning, and automation technologies such as Big Data, agentic platforms, and AI- and machine learning–based advanced algorithms.
Director of Information Technology, Gulftainer Company Limited
Delivering smarter services for the customer
SAP Cloud ERP Private has helped Gulftainer enhance its regional and global operations by unifying its engineering, finance, asset management, and materials management in a more efficient and cost-effective way. The solution also provided the ability for the company to leverage other SAP solutions, including SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), which provides more-advanced analytics, data management, and application development solutions.
Moving to SAP Cloud ERP Private and maximizing integrations with other SAP solutions has helped create a more streamlined sales process across digital touch points and improved equipment availability through real-time inventory and downtime prediction. Ultimately, Gulftainer’s digital transformation allowed the company to make significant advancements in the four pillars of its business: automation, customer touch points, employee well-being and safety, and sustainability.
Director of Information Technology, Gulftainer Company Limited
Planning for the future
Gulftainer will continue its digital transformation efforts by implementing additional SAP features and solutions. One priority is to leverage Generative AI capabilities in key business areas such as finance, HR, and CRM for enhanced decision-making and operational efficiency.
The company also plans to use SAP BTP, which will allow Gulftainer to unify data and analytics, AI, application development, automation, and integration in one place, helping it personalize SAP applications. It will use SAP BTP and AI tools to develop business-specific, low-code/no-code solutions to meet unique customer and business requirements.
Lastly, Gulftainer will make further sustainability tracking and management advancements by integrating the SAP Sustainability Control Tower solution. More-granular reporting and forecasting for sustainability metrics will help Gulftainer actively reduce its carbon footprint and stay aligned with global sustainability initiatives and organizational objectives.