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Advertisers Barama Company Limited
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Guyana offers shipping terminals of international standards
Singh, a 1999 Entrepreneur of the Year awardee, attributes his success to the strong group of team leaders he has trained over the years. "I've got strong team leaders in every section. They do the work, I don't. I guide them."
Forming his own distribution company, DIDCO, Singh entered the shipping business in 1992. Since the company was already heavily involved in imports and exports, he decided buying a ship made sense. On a visit to Savannah, GA, he met John Emory, who brokered the deal for the purchase of the Icebird, the first vessel in what would eventually be named the Carolina Caribbean Line. The shipping business expanded rapidly, and after chartering vessels for some period of time, Singh bought a second ship, the Snowbird.
Today, DIDCO Trading Co. Limited also incorporates a shipping agency, a wharf, a stevedoring operation and a customs brokerage division.
"Everything is interlinked," said Singh. "Shipping came as a natural extension, then we started handling for customers. They all started out as assisting DIDCO, and now we're able to offer the services to the public at large."
Carolina Caribbean Line has direct fortnightly sailings from Gloucester City, New Jersey and Savannah, Georgia to Point Lisas, Trinidad and Georgetown, Guyana.
DIDCO also is the sole agent for Associated Transport Line, having sailings every 10 days from Houston, Texas, and New Orleans, La., to Venezuela, Trinidad and Guyana.
DIDCO customers include the major industrial companies in Guyana: Omai, Linmine, Linden Power Co., Texaco West Indies and Shell Antilles.
As described by M. P. Seemangal, the company's marketing representative, "DIDCO Trading Co. has moved in leaps and bounds, we have increased our volume, built our own terminal and even acquired our own ships!"
Singh's talent of identifying opportunities and applying everything he has to developing them to its fullest and most successful led him to open the first KFC ever in Guyana in April 1994.
The restaurant was an immediate success, and to this day the lunchtime crowd is standing-room only. Singh would eventually introduce a street-level walk-up window, an innovation which proved not only to be highly successful, but which was emulated by KFC restaurants in other countries. Singh opened a second outlet in 1995, a third in 1997 when a Pizza Hut was also added to the roster, and another KFC in 1999. He is also the current president of CARIBLA, the Caribbean & Latin American Association of KFC Franchisees.
Other shipping companies include Demerara Shipping Company Limited, a subsidiary of Demerara Distillery Limited. This company represents Seaboard Marine, Kent Line and Europe Caribbean Lines. According to DDL’s Chairman, Yesu Persaud, Demerara Shipping has done exceedingly well. Mr Persaud said, “It’s only a little over six years old and I consider Demerara Shipping to be number two in the business.”
Persaud also mentioned that Demerara Shipping has a joint venture with a Trinidadian company. “We have a weekly container service to Trinidad-Guyana -Suriname and recently to other Caribbean Islands. So we are well covered for shipping.”
Tecmarine (Guyana Limited), John Frenandes Limited, (Bernuth Lines out of Miami), Guyana National Shipping Corporation Limited and Muneshwers Limited (MAERSK) are some of the other major shipping companies in Guyana.
Brenco Shipping & Trading Company
C&V Caribbean Shipping Ltd.
D & J Shipping Services
Demerara Shipping Company
DIDCO Trading Co. Ltd. |
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Table of Contents President Bharrat Jagdeo pursues foreign and local investment, builds confidence in private sector |
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DIDCO Trading Co. Ltd. has built a shipping terminal that is second to none in Guyana and its managing director, Deonarine Singh, has become a leader in the business world in less than a decade.
DIDCO offers complete services for companies shipping with Carolina Caribbean Line and Associated Transport Line, acting for the ship from the time it docks at the terminal in Georgetown, unloading, reloading, and providing 24-hour-a-day security and complete transportation.
"You learn to see things," said Singh, describing his ability to perceive and capitalize on opportunities. You learn to read between the lines, what I might see the other person might not see."