Operations · Logistics · Supply Chain · Advisory

Most plan the operation on paper. I've run it under fire.

I'm a logistics and supply chain operator turned advisor. For 20+ years I've brought structure to complex, high-stakes operations — from NEOM to Iraq — owning a USD 120M P&L, leading 150-strong teams, and working directly with boards, C-suites, and governments. I design the operating model, then deliver it.

Vivek Ghai
Core strengths

Where I'm strongest.

01

Senior Stakeholder Engagement

Board & C-suite leadership · government ministries & agencies

02

End-to-End Programme Management

150+ team across the DSV–NEOM JV · project & team leadership

03

Project Delivery & Scale-Up

USD 120M P&L · USD 10B JV · new business lines built from zero

04

Fiscal Stewardship

85% manpower rationalisation · USD 262M modelled savings · steering-committee capex review

05

Freight & Project-Cargo Strategy

Shell · BP · ARAMCO JV · heavy-lift & breakbulk

Where I help

Five problems I'm built for.

01

Project Logistics & Freight Strategy

Heavy-lift, breakbulk, multimodal and freight-forwarding strategy across energy and oil & gas.

ProvenShell · BP · ARAMCO JV · Panalpina & DSV
02

Megaproject & Construction Logistics

Mobilisation, sequencing, convoy strategy, laydown and PMC governance on the hardest sites.

ProvenNEOM · THE LINE · Soudah
03

Logistics Cost Transformation

Network redesign, freight and vendor consolidation, and process re-engineering — success-based where it fits.

Proven85% manpower rationalisation · USD 262M modelled
04

Operating Model & Network Design

Operating models from first principles — structures, processes, network shape and KPI architecture.

ProvenUSD 10B DSV–NEOM JV
05

Strategic Sourcing & Procurement Frameworks

Securing supply-chain capacity and vendor frameworks for large development portfolios.

ProvenGCC giga-project portfolios
Also for investment offices & funds

Operator judgment, on your side of the table.

Operational Due Diligence

Pressure-testing operating models, capex proposals, and delivery plans against ground reality — before capital deploys.

Board & Steering Representation

The operator's seat through the hold: protecting invested capital from operational drift and non-core spend.

Scale-Up Delivery

Building the teams, systems, and discipline that turn an investment thesis into an operating business.

Steering-committee experience inside a USD 10B logistics JV · owner-side PMC governance on a Vision 2030 giga-project · built and ran P&Ls — not just advised on them.

How I work

An operator, not a slide deck.

Most logistics problems aren't really logistics problems. They're operating-model problems wearing a logistics costume — unclear accountability, the wrong network shape, processes that never standardised, data nobody trusts. I've spent 20+ years inside those problems, on the operator's side of the table, owning the P&L and the outcome.

That's the difference I bring as an advisor. I've run the operations I now advise on — country P&Ls, megaproject logistics platforms, freight and project-cargo networks, control towers. I don't hand over a strategy and leave. I design the operating model, then help you stand it up so it holds after I'm gone.

Engagements are structured around outcomes — including success-based models where my fee is tied to the savings or performance I deliver. If the operation doesn't improve, neither do I.

The real test of an operating model isn't how it performs while you're watching it.
It's whether it still works after you leave.
Selected engagements

A track record measured in outcomes.

E—01
Major Saudi Industrial Conglomerate
Logistics Cost Optimisation Advisor — 2026, active

Success-based advisory engagement targeting logistics cost reduction across the industrial portfolio of one of Saudi Arabia's largest listed industrial conglomerates — construction, steel, and manufacturing. CEO-level mandate; fee structured against delivered savings.

Active engagement
Success-based
Outcome-linked fee
E—02
Soudah Development Company
Independent Consultant — 2026, active

Engaged to design and deliver the logistics ecosystem for Soudah — a Vision 2030 mountain-tourism megaproject in the Asir highlands, where severe terrain rules out the standard playbook. Set the integrated transport, routing, and materials-flow strategy from the ground up, and now driving its delivery on the ground.

Active engagement
End-to-end
Strategy to delivery
E—03
DSV–NEOM Joint Venture
Vice President, Strategic Projects — 2024–2025

Vice President of the USD 10B logistics joint venture between DSV and NEOM — the integrated partnership built to deliver logistics for the Kingdom's flagship giga-project. Ran two verticals under one mandate: a project-logistics consultancy designing logistics infrastructure and strategy across every NEOM region — THE LINE, Trojena, Sindalah, Magna, Oxagon — and DSV's air and sea freight operation moving all inbound cargo. Owned a USD 120M P&L and led a team of 150+. Sat on the JV steering committee, where the mandate included reviewing major capital and investment proposals — protecting both shareholders from non-core exposure.

USD 120M
P&L · 150+ team · USD 10B JV
E—04
DSV · THE LINE / NEOM (seconded)
Senior Director, Construction Logistics — 2023–2024

Logistics leadership for THE LINE — among the largest construction projects in the world — across a sprawling, multi-stakeholder environment, and put structure under it. Authored the logistics plan that mapped laydown, construction, and access zones across the build and secured NEOM CEO-level approval. Re-engineered the operational structure to deliver a step-change cost reduction while holding service levels.

Logistics plan
CEO-approved
E—05
DSV · NEOM Strategic Partnership
Director, Project Logistics & Head of BD — 2021–2023

Played a lead role in securing the NEOM–DSV logistics partnership — a USD 13M contract signed in 2023 — then led post-deal implementation, mobilisation planning, recruitment, and operational readiness through to project delivery. Previously owned a USD 12M commercial P&L (2022) for O&G and industrial project logistics.

USD 13M
Contract secured · 2023
E—06
DSV · Iraq
Managing Director — 2020–2021

Full country leadership across forwarding, customs, port handling, and inland transport in a high-risk operating environment — stabilising and strengthening performance under volatile security conditions. Contributed over 30% of regional profitability.

USD 6M
Country EBIT
E—07
Panalpina · Singapore & India
Commercial, Country & Project Leadership, DSV / Panalpina — 2014–2019

Commercial ownership of major energy and industrial accounts — Shell VITO (US Gulf deepwater), Veolia's USD 150M hazardous-waste project, Siemens India. Grew Halliburton and Schlumberger share of business 300%+, and helped design the ARAMCO in-field JV (USD 300M CAPEX / USD 110M EBIT p.a.).

300%+
Account growth
E—08
KPMG · India
Strategy & Transformation Consultant — 2008–2011

Corporate transformation for the world's largest coal-mining company — modelling logistics-flow rationalisation worth a potential USD 262M (≈17%) in cost savings. Financial due diligence, supply-chain modelling, and bid advisory across infrastructure and energy.

USD 262M
Savings modelled
Background
  • GeographiesIndian Subcontinent · South East Asia · GCCOperated and delivered across three regions over 20+ years
  • DomainsEnergy · Oil & Gas · Megaprojects · IndustrialFreight forwarding, project cargo, and construction logistics
  • MBAIIM CalcuttaMaster of Business Administration · India's premier management institute
  • KEDGE Business SchoolMBA exchange program · Bordeaux, France
  • EngineeringPunjab Engineering CollegeInformation Technology · Chandigarh

Architect. Operator. Advisor.

The career began in consulting — early IT and infrastructure advisory, then KPMG's Energy & Natural Resources practice, recruited out of IIM Calcutta — before the operating years at Panalpina and DSV that the advisory now draws on. The discipline never left.

Start a conversation

Let's discuss your logistics challenge.

Advisory engagements, operating-model design, and cost transformation — including outcome-linked, success-based engagements. If your logistics or supply chain isn't performing the way it should — or you're an investment office needing operational oversight of portfolio operations — start here.

Message on WhatsApp
vivek@vivekghai.com
+971 50 568 0805
linkedin.com/in/vivek-ghai
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Enquiry sent.
Thank you — I'll come back to you shortly.