Pentatalk, December 2018 by identityperth

THE LATEST UPDATES AND STORIES FROM PENTAGON OFFICES AND STAFF AROUND THE GLOBE

DECEMBER 2018 I ISSUE 3 I GLOBAL NEWSLETTER

“Welcome to the December edition of our global newsletter, PentaTalk. With Christmas just around the corner, I hope your shopping experience is underway and continues to be an enjoyable event!” ASHLEY TAYLOR GROUP CEO

PENTAGON LLC WINS TRANSPORT COMPANY OF THE YEAR 2 I PENTAGON AUSTRALIA 3 I PENTAGON MIDDLE EAST 5 I PENTAGON EGYPT 6 I PENTAGON GLOBAL 7 I PENTAGON UNITED KINGDOM 9 I PENTAGON GERMANY 10 I PENTAGON HOUSTON 10 I PENTAGON CHINA 11 I PENTAGON GLOBAL

PLUS FACES OF PENTAGON, PROJECT UPDATES, IT, QHSE AND PENTAGON CHARTERING NEWS

A WORD from ASHLEY

PENTAGON FREIGHT SERVICES GROUP CEO

A WORD FROM ASHLEY

02 Hello Everyone, Welcome to the December edition of our global newsletter, PentaTalk.

PENTAGON AUSTRALIA HELPING DIABETES CHARITY SAVE LIVES HORSE RIDE FOR ALZHEIMER’S WA

With Christmas just around the corner, I hope your shopping experience is underway and continues to be an enjoyable event! Whilst 2018 remained challenging, during the second half of the year we started to see the first signs of recovery in the global energy and resource industry, as the Brent Crude started to stabilise at a more sustainable level. This change provided the industry with the confidence to invest and focus on future business opportunities. Following our commitment to invest in a renewed global IT strategy, our key regional hubs in the United Kingdom, Middle East, USA and Singapore, successfully adopted our new global system. We now have approximately 50% of our volume utilising the new system, allowing us to improve and strengthen our end to end customer service. The schedule for 2019 is aggressive, as we continue to rollout our new IT system in Europe, Australia and Asia. Throughout the year, I travelled to many of our global offices. During these visits I had the pleasure of meeting our valuable staff and customers in Houston, Marseille, Amsterdam, Milan, Hamburg, Aberdeen, Seoul, Busan, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Perth, Brisbane, Singapore, Dubai, Oman and Qatar. It has also been busy here in London, with visits from Management of our offices in Egypt, Iraq, UAE, France, Norway, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, Australia, USA, Canada and Azerbaijan.

PENTAGON MIDDLE EAST BEST IN CLASS PENTAGON: LOGISTICS/TRANSPORT COMPANY OF THE YEAR WINNER FACES OF PENTAGON SABRINA SCHROEDER

PENTAGON MIDDLE EAST PENTAGON DUBAI IRAQ NORTHERN LOGISTICS SERVICES - DNO WAREHOUSE WIN

34TH ADIPEC 2018 FACES OF PENTAGON NEIL YOUNG

In August, the Executive Leadership Team held our quarterly meeting in London over four days, to review the business performance and set our Group objectives and key results for 2019. The meeting was extremely productive, and highlights have been shared with our regional Senior Leadership Teams. During Offshore Northern Seas (ONS), Pentagon Norway proudly opened its new terminal in Stavanger. The Grand Opening was conducted by County Mayor Solveig Ege Tengesdal, who cut a ceremonial ribbon in the presence of many staff and customers. The new facility is conveniently located at the newly developed Risavika Harbour, allowing direct port access. I hope you enjoy reading our PentaTalk newsletter and welcome any comments you may have. I would like to wish our valuable staff, customers, vendors and families a very Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year. Stay safe, enjoy the festivities and look out for the next PentaTalk Oz newsletter in 2019!

Ashley Taylor, Group CEO

PENTAGON EGYPT PREPARING FOR BUSY TIMES WITH NEW CONTRACTS FACES OF PENTAGON TAREK FAHMY

PENTAGON UNITED KINGDOM WORKING ON HCA GAS PROJECT PENTAGON ABERDEEN CHARITY SHIPMENT FACES OF PENTAGON STEWART MCKENZIE

PENTAGON UNITED KINGDOM PENTAGON ABERDEEN’S CUSTOMS TEAM GEARING UP FOR BREXIT

PENTAGON GREAT YARMOUTH WELCOMES NEW TEAMMATE FACES OF PENTAGON IAN MOBBS

PENTAGON GERMANY HAMBURG RELOCATION WISHING LOYAL CUSTOMER A HAPPY RETIREMENT FACES OF PENTAGON AUTUMN POWERS

PENTAGON HOUSTON PENTAGON HOUSTON CELEBRATES HALLOWEEN 2018 PENTAGON CHINA SHANGHAI’S NEW OFFICE FACES OF PENTAGON MICHAEL RUEDIGER PENTAGON GLOBAL

PENTAGON GLOBAL

QHSE UPDATE

BUSY MONTH FOR PROJECT CARGO FACES OF PENTAGON DENISE DEERING

FACES OF PENTAGON JOANNA BARRETO

PENTAGON GLOBAL IT UPDATE GLOBAL ETHICS & COMPLIANCE UPDATE

PENTAGON AUSTRALIA

HELPING DIABETES CHARITY SAVE LIVES PENTAGON SHIPPING PALLETS OF GOODS TO SUPPORT CLINICS ALL OVER THE WORLD.

Three out of every four people with diabetes live in disadvantaged countries where healthcare is often not provided by the Government and is not affordable for many. The yearly cost of insulin and its related supplies, such as needles and syringes for blood sugar (glucose) testing, is often more than a poor family’s entire annual income. Some of the possible consequences of a lack of these supplies: poor glucose control; loss of vision; kidney damage; heart disease; amputations and early death. In the poorest parts of the world, families must often make a choice between insulin for one child and ensuring the others do not starve. This is unacceptable. Pentagon Freight Services has partnered with Insulin For Life (IFL) to reduce the burden of diabetes in disadvantaged regions. IFL (www.insulinforlife.org) is a not-for-profit organisation that collects and distributes

Andrea (#36) departing Northam

in-date, unopened insulin; blood glucose testing strips; new glucose meters; ketone testing strips; insulin syringes; pen needles and lancets to hospitals, clinics and diabetes associations in underprivileged countries.

Over 86 countries have received support from IFL, which started in Australia in 1984, and now operates out of 9 countries. Pentagon assists by shipping pallets of hardware, such as syringes and lancets, from both IFL Australia and IFL USA. So far, shipments have been sent to the Maldives, Cambodia and Gambia. One pallet of goods is usually enough to meet the needs of the supported clinics in the region for a year. These goods are also used in educational holiday camps for children with Type 1 diabetes, for whom multiple daily insulin injections are essential for life, and in communities’ diabetes education and screening days. The President of IFL Global and IFL Australia, Dr Alicia Jenkins – a diabetes doctor based at the University of Sydney – is grateful for this substantial support from Pentagon. It enables the registered charity to ship far more medical supplies than it otherwise could afford to, helping thousands more people in need.

Pictured are members of our Pentagon Australia team, and an Ecuadorian child with her donated insulin.

Andrea’s daughter, Ava (#26), departing Clackline on her horse ‘Louis’

HORSE RIDE FOR ALZHEIMER’S WA Congratulations to Andrea Green, Customs Broker at our Perth, Western Australia office and her daughter, Ava, for raising a huge $1400 for charity this October! Their chosen charity was Alzheimer’s WA, which supports those affected by dementia. Andrea and Ava completed the 50km Wine & Horses Ride, travelling 25k from Clackline to Northam (rural Western Australia) on horseback, then back again the following day. It rained and it poured but they battled on! Andrea thanks all staff members who donated, and Pentagon for matching these contributions.

PENTAGON CHARTERING

Client/Booking office: NOV/PFS Norway • MV BBC Coral • POL Kalundborg • POD Vitoria • Cargo: 10 x Umbilical reels • Volume approx. 5223 cbm • Weight approx. 1979 tons

CLIENT: NOV/PFS Norway • MV BBC Coral • POL Kalundborg • POD Vitoria • Cargo: 10 x Umbilical reels • Volume approx. 5223 cbm • Weight approx. 1979 tons

FACES of PENTAGON

PENTAGON MIDDLE EAST

BEST IN CLASS Pentagon continued to demonstrate best-in-class project management with the November movement of a land rig of 18,206 CBM from Kakinada, India to Bahrain for one of the world’s leading onshore drilling companies. Our skilled project team have developed an unrivalled understanding of the unique rig move demands and challenges, and were able to overcome a significant last-minute challenge that arose from a volume increase of more than 11%! Anil Kumar, Cargo Superintendent – Projects, who headed this operation, provided the logistical expertise, reworking the load sequence and stowage plans to accommodate the additional CBM. This optimized all available space to accommodate the whole rig.

SABRINA SCHROEDER HAMBURG, GERMANY 1. Position at Pentagon: Global Key Account Manager.

As with all Pentagon projects, the move was completed on time and in full, with safe operations as the primary objective. Anil coordinated all pre-move safety briefings and toolbox talks daily, identifying any potential risks and hazards.

2. What is the most enjoyable part of your job? Working together with people from different cultures to achieve a group goal. 3. What’s the most irritating industry buzzword? Urgent: everything seems to be urgent! 4. If you could give your 18-year old self one piece of advice what would it be? Spend time abroad and gain as much experience as possible. 5. Describe yourself in four words or less: Ambitious, communicative, organised (most of the time!). 6. What was your worst ever job? Working as a bartender in a club. 7. Dead or alive, who would you most like to meet? Victoria Beckham. 8. What one question would you ask this person? How do you manage to lead a successful company while raising four children at the same time? 9. If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be? SCM at a producing company. 10. What made you laugh recently? A funny situation with one of my friends. 11. What was the last concert you went to? Kings of RnB.

Gordon Shand, Regional Director – Middle East, receiving the award.

PENTAGON: LOGISTICS/TRANSPORT COMPANY OF THE YEAR WINNER We are delighted to announce that Pentagon Freight Services LLC has been named the winner of the Logistics/Transport Company of the Year category in the MEED Awards 2018! The MEED Awards recognise the best companies in the GCC across all sectors, aiming to promote best practice in business and showcase outstanding performance in key areas of operation such as innovation, worker welfare and sustainability.

It is a significant achievement to have been given this recognition by MEED – the region’s most trusted business intelligence provider – and we are so proud to stand alongside the winners of the other 17 categories, who represent some of the best businesses in the GCC. We feel closer than ever to achieving our aim of being recognised by our clients, colleagues, competitors and supply chain as the best-in-class freight forwarding and logistics service provider to the energy and resource industries! The winners of the 18 categories were presented with their awards at a gala dinner at the Ritz Carlton, DIFC, Dubai.

PENTAGON DUBAI

FACES of PENTAGON

In the recent supplier awards at Chevron Phillips, Roy John – OCTG and Warehouse Manager at Pentagon Dubai – was awarded a trophy in appreciation of 15 years of dedicated service and excellence in support of Drilling Specialties. Technical Manager at Chevron Phillips, Larry Jones, has nothing but praise for the OCTG Team: “The staff at Pentagon are great to work with and I have been associated with them since 2001. I can honestly say we could not do all the things we do here without the dedicated services Roy and his staff exemplify on a daily basis.”

IRAQ NORTHERN LOGISTICS SERVICES DNO WAREHOUSE WIN Pentagon-owned Northern Logistics Services (NLS) in Erbil, Kurdistan, recently won the tender to supply warehousing and storage to support the DNO operation in Erbil, which comprises 4 rigs to date.

Pictured is Roy John (left) and Larry Jones (right) The continued growth of the Erbil operation has allowed further local staff development, with Zafar Shahzad being promoted to Logistics Supervisor, and Ashti Hassan promoted to Deputy Load Foreman.

NEIL YOUNG

This is in addition to the successful 6-month training and transition program we provided to DNO’s local staff on how to set up and manage their own warehouse operation within their facility in Dohuk.

1. Position at Pentagon: Regional QHSE, Compliance and Projects Manager.

Pentagon Iraq won the tender to supply warehousing and storage to support the DNO operation in Erbil

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

2. What is the most enjoyable part of your job? Travelling around the region interacting with our great regional staff. 3. What’s the most irritating industry buzzword? “Synergy.” 4. If you could give your 18-year old self one piece of advice what would it be? Get out of your comfort zone and experience everything! 5. Describe yourself in four words or less: Married under the thumb! 6. What was your worst ever job? Cleaning smelly boots as a junior rugby player. 7. Dead or alive, who would you most like to meet? Michael Palin.

34TH ABU DHABI INTERNATIONAL PETROLEUM EXHIBITION AND CONFERENCE (ADIPEC 2018) This is the largest oil and gas expo in the region, which this year hosted over 2,200 exhibiting companies, and attracted more than 110,000 attendees. Pentagon’s Sales and Management teams from our Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices were pleased to attend, and found it a brilliant platform to meet with existing clients, network with new entrants into the Middle East market, and to gain further insight into current industry trends. ‘We visited the international pavilions and introduced ourselves to many overseas companies who are planning to enter this lucrative market.

We explained to them about our setup in Jebel Ali Freezone and how we are helping many of our overseas clients with inventory management and various other aspects of logistics. This idea was perceived well by many, since it eases the financial and administrative burden of maintaining a company’s own facility and workforce,’ said Robin James, Business Development Manager at Pentagon Dubai.

8. What one question would you ask this person? What is the most interesting place you have travelled? 9. If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be? A full time rugby coach. 10. What made you laugh recently? Watching old re-runs of ‘Scotch and Wry’ (old Scottish sketch show). 11. What was the last concert you went to? Alison Krauss this summer in Ottawa. Outstanding!

FACES of PENTAGON

TAREK S. FAHMY CAIRO, EGYPT 1. Position at Pentagon: President. 2. What is the most enjoyable part of your job? Signing new contracts. 3. What’s the most irritating industry buzzword? Your rates are too high! 4. If you could give your 18-year old self one piece of advice what would it be? Go live in Cuba. 5. Describe yourself in four words or less: Let people judge me. 6. What was your worst ever job? Greasing pipes and painting barrels in the Shetland Islands.

PENTAGON EGYPT

PREPARING FOR BUSY TIMES WITH NEW CONTRACTS Since its creation 15 years ago, Pentagon Egypt has fast become a major upstream oil and gas specialist within the region and has further evolved into one of the leading project freight forwarders in Egypt. As such, it operates in many diverse sectors including power, fertilisers, petrochemicals, civil engineering and oil refineries. Through partnerships with specialist operators in exceptional transportation and heavy lifting, Pentagon Egypt has built a reputation for service excellence with some of the leading EPC companies in Europe, the USA, South Korea and Japan. Recent projects in Egypt include coal-fired power stations and railroad and metro lines, while further afield we also participate in offshore power projects in Mauritania, Libya, Iraq and Ghana. Thanks to the recent discoveries made by ENI and BP, Egypt is now being recognised as one of the biggest natural gas producers in the region.

Pentagon Egypt has built a reputation for service excellence with some of the leading EPC companies in Europe, the USA, South Korea and Japan. Our Cairo office is kept busy in its continued pursuit of new contracts with major oil companies – as well as joint venture companies – which are expanding their exploration programs in the lucrative North Mediterranean area. The view from Pentagon Egypt is highly promising, and we will continue to develop – and hopefully expand – throughout 2019, while we provide our clients with the very best services within a highly competitive international market.

7. Dead or alive, who would you most like to meet? My father. 8. What one question would you ask this person? Why did you leave so soon? 9. If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be? Movie star. 10. What made you laugh recently? Our poor Manchester United defenders! 11. What was the last concert you went to? Fleetwood Mac at Wembley Arena.

Left to right: Mahmoud El Manialawy – Operations Manager; Mostafa Hegazy – Accountant; Somaya Mahmoud – Projects Manager; Aly Allam – Seafreight Operations Department; Dahlia El Taib – General Manager; Zainab Said – Airfreight Operations Department.

READY TO ROLL Pentagon truck fleet in Kristiansand, Norway 5

PENTAGON GLOBAL

BUSY MONTH FOR PROJECT CARGO

from CHRIS KENT

FACES of PENTAGON

Pentagon’s Houston-based project team had a very busy October. Over a two-week time span, the team managed shipments of gas plant equipment for the company’s ongoing project work to Saudi Arabia by both a last in, first out ocean charter vessel and an Antonov AN124 flight. In addition, they coordinated shipments of a 100t blowout preventer to Shanghai and data centre cooling units to Chile. The cargo for the Saudi Arabia ocean charter featured several skids that were heavy and over-dimensional which required 9 axle-type hydraulic trailers, police escorts and bucket trucks to lift overhead wires for transport to the Port of Houston. An Antonov AN124 charter is considered the top of the project freight forwarding spectrum because it requires top-notch pre-planning and execution. The aircraft has a detention rate of USD 2,000.00 per hour, which means no delays can be allowed! For this charter, the team worked with Volga-Dnepr’s load masters to get a fuel gas skid of 427cm high into the aircraft’s cargo hold of ‘only’ 440 cm high. We are pleased to report that the unit was successfully loaded onboard – but only after the crew ladder to the upper flight deck was removed!

The blowout preventer (BOP) was considered a small unit at 686cm high, but that still made it too high to move over the roads to the Port of Houston. The project team developed a plan to move the unit to a barge dock near the manufacturer’s facility with 12 lines of self-propelled hydraulic trailers in a doublewide configuration. This setup provided the stability necessary to move the top-heavy piece safely. Once at the barge dock, we hired ‘Big John’, Houston’s 500t floating crane, to pick up the BOP and move it to the Port of Houston, where it was loaded onboard a ship to Shanghai with the same floating crane.

DENISE DEERING LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM 1. Position at Pentagon: Executive Assistant to Global Projects Director. 2. What is the most enjoyable part of your job? When I feel that I can add value. 3. What’s the most irritating industry buzzword? “Knowledge is power!” 4. If you could give your 18-year old self one piece of advice what would it be? Anything is possible. 5. Describe yourself in four words or less: Loyal, committed, driven, direct. 6. What was your worst ever job? Temping. 7. Dead or alive, who would you most like to meet? Luther Vandross 8. What one question would you ask this person? Would you sing for me please?

The next project consisted of two data centre cooling units going from Houston to Santiago, Chile. The heaviest unit was 60t, so we needed to use our trucker’s 9 axle hydraulic trailers again.

9. If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be? Probably still working in Human Resources. 10. What made you laugh recently? Re-runs of Only Fools & Horses. 11. What was the last concert you went to? Damien Escobar (New York’s Emmy Winning Violinist).

We are pleased to report that all of these shipments were executed to the satisfaction of our customers. ‘Pentagon makes it look easy’, was a comment overheard during one of these projects. We get excited about new customers and new projects because it gives us the opportunity to show off our expertise,

and positive feedback like this means a great deal to us. Special thanks to Brian Sweenie, Belinda Rangel and Scott Vincent of Pentagon Houston for their dedication, great customer service, attention to detail and sleepless nights.

“Pentagon makes it look easy” 6

FACES of PENTAGON

PENTAGON UNITED KINGDOM

WORKING ON HCA GAS PROJECT

MV Heenvliet (vessel for shipment 1)

STEWART MCKENZIE ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND 1. Position at Pentagon: Warehouse Manager. 2. What is the most enjoyable part of your job? The people. 3. What’s the most irritating industry buzzword? I’m not incensed by any buzzwords. 4. If you could give your 18-year old self one piece of advice what would it be? You can’t help the things that happen, but you can help how you feel about them. 5. Describe yourself in four words or less: Tall, friendly, polite. 6. What was your worst ever job? Nappy changing. 7. Dead or alive, who would you most like to meet? John Lennon.

PENTAGON PROJECT TEAMS WORKING TOGETHER AROUND THE GLOBE Pentagon Aberdeen were recently contracted to handle the door-to-door delivery of 5 gas production compressors each weighing 64t, along with various ancillary equipment from Chirileu, Romania to Hassi Messaoud, Algeria. The project consists of 3 ocean charter shipments from Constanta port to Skikda port, along with road transportation, stevedoring, technical support such as sea fastening design and on-ground supervision.

The loadout for the first shipment commenced on 28th September, with delivery to Hassi Messaoud achieved 12 days later. Thanks to the close cooperation between Pentagon Project teams in the UK, Romania, France and Algeria, the execution was on-time, without incident and within budget. The remaining two shipments are due before the end of 2018.

8. What one question would you ask this person? Yoko Ono? 9. If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be? Unemployed. 10. What made you laugh recently? My children. 11. What was the last concert you went to? Stereophonics.

PENTAGON ABERDEEN CHARITY SHIPMENT Earlier this year, Pentagon Aberdeen provided complimentary transportation to Uganda of two baby scanners from Oor Bairns Charitable Trust. They are being used in a health centre in Nakasongola, one of Uganda’s poorest districts, which has around 80 births and 400 visits from pregnant women per month. The outlook for mothers and infants is vastly improved thanks to these machines – on the very first day they were used, they had already helped save an expectant mother’s

life. We are proud to be a part of such an important project, which is already going a long way to improving the standard of care and survival rates for the mothers and babies. Pictured are medical professionals at Nakasongola Health Centre, alongside the sonographers who flew out from Raigmore Hospital in Inverness to train them.

PENTAGON ABERDEEN’S CUSTOMS TEAM GEARING UP FOR BREXIT As the Brexit deadline draws closer, small and medium sized businesses need to be prepared for the potential of a ‘hard’ Brexit. As a member of the EU, the UK is part of the Customs Union, which means it enjoys the benefits of trade freedom, including the easy transit of goods across international borders. When the UK leaves the EU in March 2019, the outcome could potentially be the complete loss of the benefits of free trade and the subsequent difficulty and additional cost of exporting and importing.

Given that each UK customs declaration will cost an average of £32.00 GBP, the overall financial impact will be very significant. Pentagon Aberdeen has a dedicated customs consultancy team, offering support, guidance and training to UK traders. This service has proved invaluable to our clients, who rely on Pentagon’s expertise to remain compliant as customs regulations change, while reducing unnecessary expenditure.

Pentagon recommends that our clients undertake a comprehensive review of their business and the Brexit-related risks:

IAN MOBBS GREAT YARMOUTH, UNITED KINGDOM 1. Position at Pentagon: Operations Clerk.

Understand the issues, costs and opportunities that Brexit may present to your organisation

2. What is the most enjoyable part of your job? Satisfaction when a shipment departs as booked.

Run data to provide a detailed assessment (previous EU trade / commodity codes / duty)

3. What’s the most irritating industry buzzword? Brexit.

Consider contingency plans for a ‘hard’ Brexit

4. If you could give your 18-year old self one piece of advice what would it be? Don’t worry so much.

Mitigate financial risk by implementing changes and planning investment in technology and resources. One of the key considerations should be resources: does your company have the dedicated in-house resources to handle the additional workload? Approximately 43% of overall UK trade is with the EU, which could represent up to 200 million additional customs declarations to the UK authorities.

FACES of PENTAGON

5. Describe yourself in four words or less: Bright, comfortable, tall, witty. 6. What was your worst ever job? Paper boy. Our customs team (LR: Emma Robertson, Lisa O’Neill, June MacBain) are ready for the challenges ahead!

7. Dead or alive, who would you most like to meet? Michael Jackson. 8. What one question would you ask this person? What is your favourite novel? 9. If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be? Archaeologist / historian.

PENTAGON GREAT YARMOUTH WELCOMES NEW TEAMMATE

10. What made you laugh recently? Comedy shows on TV. 11. What was the last concert you went to? Belinda Carlisle at the Norwich UEA.

There is a positive vibe to the town, which is seeing business picking up again after being hit by the downturn.

Pentagon Great Yarmouth recently welcomed Daniel Spurling to the team – just one example of how things have improved over the last 12 months. We have settled in nicely to our purpose-built offices and warehouse facility and are happy to have with us Gary Arthur, who works for Projects, and Steve Triggs, our UK Process Manager. There is a positive vibe to the town, which is seeing business picking up again after being hit by the downturn; we also are being kept busy with the survey and exploration companies, and have high expectations for 2019.

Front row - Daniel Spurling, Phil Howe Middle row - Lynette Green, Ben Johnson Back row - Steve Triggs, Ian Mobbs, Gary Arthur

FACES of PENTAGON

AUTUMN POWERS HOUSTON, UNITED STATES 1. Position at Pentagon: Inside Sales Agent. 2. What is the most enjoyable part of your job? Building lasting relationships with clients. 3. What’s the most irritating industry buzzword? Urgent... does that mean you want to pay for urgent cargo, or you just want your quote fast?

PENTAGON GERMANY

HAMBURG RELOCATION In July 2018, after a successful decade in operation, Pentagon Hamburg relocated from its original office in the Portuguesa Quarter to a new, modern office in Billbrook. The motivation behind the move was the advantage for both ourselves and our clients in adding the warehousing and in-house packaging services to our existing international logistics.

Pentagon Hamburg now acts as a single point of contact, satisfying customers’ needs from the beginning to the end of a project. We have settled in well to our bigger, better premises, and with our expanded range of services and facilities expect great things for the coming year.

4. If you could give your 18-year old self one piece of advice what would it be? Listen to your parents’ advice. 5. Describe yourself in four words or less: Sarcastic, devoted, trustworthy and strong-willed. 6. What was your worst ever job? I have enjoyed all my jobs so far… 7. Dead or alive, who would you most like to meet? Adele. 8. What one question would you ask this person? Can we grab a drink? 9. If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be? Buyer for a fashion company. 10. What made you laugh recently? Anything my daughter does – she loves to make us laugh. 11. What was the last concert you went to? Adele.

WISHING LOYAL CUSTOMER A HAPPY RETIREMENT Glen Plant – Regional Director, Singapore – was asked to say a few words at the recent retirement dinner of long-time customer Colin Hunter, Regional Vice President of Varel International, after 40 years of loyal service. Colin had been a valued customer of Pentagon Singapore since 1983.

Glen shared some stories about interesting jobs and experiences shared throughout the years... and wished Colin and his wife Beth best wishes in their well-deserved retirement on behalf of all at Pentagon.

FACES of PENTAGON

PENTAGON HOUSTON

The Addams Family – Team Costume Winner 2018 Back Row L to R: Donnel Elam (Uncle Fester), Luis Brito (Gomez), Jared Savoie (Lurch) Front Row L to R: Maria Almaguer (Wednesday), Leticia Darden (Morticia), Amanda Warner (Cousin It), Monica Lucio (Grandmama)

PENTAGON HOUSTON CELEBRATES HALLOWEEN 2018

MICHAEL RUEDIGER HOUSTON, UNITED STATES 1. Position at Pentagon: Project Director, Americas 2. What is the most enjoyable part of your job? Working with people.

Congratulations to the winners and to all the participants in this year’s event!

3. What’s the most irritating industry buzzword? Disruption.

MC Hammer, aka Eric Salas – Individual Costume Winner 2018

4. If you could give your 18-year old self one piece of advice what would it be? You are going to find yourself in unique places all over the world. Savour every moment and don’t be in such a hurry to get back home. 5. Describe yourself in four words or less: Tenacious, detail-oriented and funny. 6. What was your worst ever job? I worked as a cashier at Jack in the Box. I was 16 years old and did not take the customers’ orders very well. I had lots of hungry people upset with me.

PENTAGON CHINA

7. Dead or alive, who would you most like to meet? Keith Richards. 8. What one question would you ask this person? How are you still alive? 9. If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be? A restaurateur, bartender or a ship captain. 10. What made you laugh recently? In this business you stand around a lot waiting for cargo to get loaded. Truck drivers have the best jokes.

Isaac Low of Pentagon Singapore with Howard Liu and the team.

11. What was the last concert you went to? My son’s last orchestra concert.

SHANGHAI’S NEW OFFICE Pentagon Shanghai moved into a new office on 1 October 2018, located in Shanghai’s bustling business district and only a short distance from our old office where we had been located for the past ten years. The new office gives us room for future growth, and we are currently recruiting new staff to compliment our existing team as we see an upturn in the export market for oilfield products in particular.

FACES of PENTAGON

PENTAGON GLOBAL

QHSE UPDATE from ADAM FEWSTER

JOANNA BARRETO HOUSTON, UNITED STATES 1. Position at Pentagon: Import Supervisor. 2. What is the most enjoyable part of your job? Helping my team and working with my customers. 3. What’s the most irritating industry buzzword? Urgent. 4. If you could give your 18-year old self one piece of advice what would it be? Don’t regret the choices that you have made, for they have formed you into the person that you are today. 5. Describe yourself in four words or less: Reliable, hard-working, crafty and honest. 6. What was your worst ever job? Retail. 7. Dead or alive, who would you most like to meet? Grandpa. 8. What one question would you ask this person? What’s the best advice you can give me? 9. If you weren’t doing this job, what would you be? Teaching elementary students.

As 2018 comes to a close, Pentagon has some significant achievements to reflect upon. We have continued to strive towards improved performance and initiatives that add genuine value to our global Penta-family, clients and operations, advancing from strength to strength in the critical area of QHSE. Throughout the year, we have undertaken some key projects across the group that are indicative of this:

GLOBAL QUALITY & HSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM CONSOLIDATION Pentagon has systematically removed duplicate processes across its regions, with a view to further developing our Pentagon Global Management System (PGMS) – a singular, global approach to a consistent and consolidated management system.

ISO CERTIFICATION PROGRAM The company undertook its annual 3rd party global QHSE ISO certification surveillance audits, to measure our compliance with and performance against the following international standards: ISO9001:2015 Quality Management Systems OHSAS18001:2007 Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems ISO14001:2015 Environmental Management Systems While this is a standard phase in an organisation’s certification program, Pentagon sees great value in this process, as it provides us with an opportunity for an external party to impartially examine our operations, procedures and processes with a view to continual improvement and operational excellence.

GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATIONS (GDPR) With the implementation of the European General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in 2018, Pentagon examined its operations and applied measures that will not only ensure continued compliance but also promote a best-in-class approach to the management and protection of data relating to our people, customers and business partners around the world.

INTRANET & ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT December 2018 sees the conclusion of the first phase of Pentagon’s project to develop an advanced electronic platform to act as an electronic document management system (eDMS), as well as a more streamlined and interactive global corporate intranet. Tools such as these strengthen our existing bestpractice approach towards global internal communication, providing our personnel with timely and accurate information, and resources to ensure mutually effective communication externally with our clients and business partners. Our progress this year in the QHSE & Compliance space has definitely strengthened our systems and organisation as a whole while demonstrating our unwavering commitment to achieve our mission to be recognised by our colleagues, clients, competitors and supply chain as the best-in-class freight forwarding and logistics service provider to the energy and resources industry. I personally welcome any feedback you may have via email: adam.fewster@pentagonfreight.com. On behalf of the Pentagon QHSE & Compliance team, I would like to thank you for all of your ongoing support during 2018 and wish you and your families a safe and enjoyable festive season and a prosperous 2019.

10. What made you laugh recently? My team’s remarks on our office’s Halloween dress-up. 11. What was the last concert you went to? George Straight.

We have continued to strive towards improved performance and initiatives that add genuine value

PENTAGON GLOBAL

IT UPDATE

from JEREMY SMITH

Since the last edition of PentaTalk, the IT team have been busy pushing ahead in new areas of technology while performing the necessary day-to-day support activities for the group. The rollout of the CargoWise One system progressed with the Singapore hub being added to the platform. Well done to our Singapore colleagues and the global project team for working step by step together through the program to achieve a smooth go-live on 2nd July. The 100-shipment mark was passed at midday! Singapore was the first hub to go live with electronic messaging to air carriers, thereby saving Pentagon and its customers time and money. Once all the Pentagon offices on the platform are fully utilising the feature, the path will be paved for electronic air waybills (e-AWB) – a timely step, given the recent announcement by IATA that e-AWBs will become the default contract of carriage for all cargo shipments on enabled lanes on 1st January 2019. Another CargoWise One project achievement was the successful golive of the native CargoWise One USA customs module for our USA offices. The module allows the submission of customs declarations and receipt of approvals/ rejections to and from America’s 3 customs filing agencies. Previously, double-key entry was required because a standalone system was used.

Another addition to the business during this period was the new cloud version of Insight. Insight is the Group’s customer portal, B2B integration platform and warehouse management tool. Aside from a latencybased performance issue that was raised by our more remote offices (now remedied), the cloud release has addressed all 12 issues for which it was designed. The release has been rolled out to all current users, plus new requesting facilities. One of the realised benefits has been the speed and cost at which new Pentagon sites can be up and running, compared with the old on-premise version. Efficient deployment of Insight is important when one of our offices starts to move freight for a new or existing global 3PL customer. The cloud version of the system passed a security penetration test by an independent third party, and some improvement items noted in the report have since been incorporated. A side project for our Insight team was the specification, development and testing of a new SAP interface, which was required by a global customer in line with their own extensive programme to switch ERPs from JD Edwards to SAP. Regular communication and a joint focus on testing resulted in a trouble-free switch. Best wishes for the upcoming festive period!

GLOBAL ETHICS & COMPLIANCE UPDATE 2018 - RAISING COMPLIANCE AWARENESS In support of Pentagon Freight Services’ mission to be recognized as the bestin-class freight forwarding and logistics services provider to the energy and resource industries, the Global Compliance team is focused on raising ethics and compliance awareness and providing timely guidance on targeted issues throughout the Group. These efforts have established Pentagon as a trusted partner of our clients: knowledgeable of and compliant with global anti-bribery, anti-corruption, trade and sanctions regulations, we are well-placed to support and supplement our clients’ ethics and compliance programs. Raising the level of ethics and compliance awareness is being facilitated by our membership of TRACE International, which provides access to the TRACE suite of online compliance training modules. Individual training modules – covering anti-bribery, conflicts of interest, economic sanctions, gifts and hospitality and avoidance of trafficked labor – have been assigned based on each employee’s role and responsibility. New hires are assigned training modules at on-boarding and are expected to complete the assigned modules within three weeks. To date, more than 99% of all Pentagon employees have completed all their assigned training modules.

from MATT SCHEFFE

Due diligence reports and TRACE Intermediary Certifications for Pentagon hub locations in the UK, USA, Canada, Dubai, Singapore and Australia are also benefits of membership. Targeted guidance is most often provided to address economic sanctions, such as the EU/ US/Norway/Canada/Australia sanctions on exports, which could aid certain areas of the Russian energy industry. Guidance on Iranrelated transactions has also been provided, due to the USA’s decision to withdraw from the JCPOA and re-impose sanctions on Iran. The Global Compliance team is also administering the automated denied persons screening (DPS) tool within CargoWise. The DPS tool allows Pentagon to provide an invaluable resource to clients by automatically screening all parties involved in a transaction and implementing a Freight Restriction if a denied party is involved. Entering into a transaction with a denied person could subject the client and Pentagon to significant penalties or fines.

UPCOMING ETHICS AND COMPLIANCE FOCUS AREAS Improvements to the Ethics & Compliance Management System are ongoing to achieve certification against the ISO37001 Anti-Bribery Management System in 2019, adding to Pentagon’s Global ISO accreditations.

The additional certification will further assist in meeting the needs and expectations of clients, as well as enriching Pentagon’s bestin-class reputation. Additional noteworthy objectives for 2019:

Refresh and update the Code of Conduct to address current topics, including Human Rights and Whistle Blowing;

Develop and implement – with input from the Group CFO and Finance team – a Gifts, Travel and Entertainment policy and procedure; and

Improve the efficiency of the due diligence and compliance review process for the vetting of new agents and the management of Approved Agents.

The key achievements so far in 2018 and our plans for 2019 are to raise awareness and strengthen Ethics & Compliance in the core culture of Pentagon, enhancing our recognition by colleagues, clients, competitors and supply chain as best in class.

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