The Kanoo Group

Business overview

The family business first made its name in the shipping industry, challenging the long established British firms that had come to dominate the Arabian Peninsula. Kanoo Shipping is the first Arab shipping agency in the region in 1911 and one of the founders of S5 Agency World Ltd. At present, Kanoo Shipping is the largest regional shipping agency in the Middle East which operates in 20 countries and all principal ports and offshore tanker loading terminals around the Arabian Peninsula, including Iraq.

Kanoo Shipping handles 15,000 port calls every year through its professional network, which covers all ports in the Suez to Sri Lanka range and East/South Africa, and represents some of the oldest, largest and most respected ship owners and operators in the world. In addition to its fully owned offices and joint ventures, the company’s regional network operates through established partners in Egypt, Jordon, Lebanon, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa.

Similarly, the family's involvement in the travel industry dated back to 1937 when Kanoo Travel began providing refuelling facilities for Imperial Airways, one of the first British commercial long-haul airlines, for flights en route to India and Australia. In 1947, Kanoo Travel became the first IATA agency in the Middle East and the very first travel company in the Middle East to receive the ISO certification in 1997.

With over 60 years of service in the travel industry throughout the Middle East, Kanoo Travel now operates in 180 IATA locations with a large portfolio of corporate clients in the Region, as well as a strong Global presence through its Network Partner - American Express Travel Services, and a 24-hour Regional Call Center. Kanoo Travel is listed in the Top 20 Middle East Travel Agencies 2011, The Arabian Travel News Power List 2014, and won the Tour Operator of the Year during the 9th Aviation Business Awards, 2015.

In the mid-1960s, Kanoo Machinery used to supply construction and material handling equipment in the region. At that time, the UAE was just setting up its oil and gas industry and developing its infrastructure. By providing the government and private sectors with world-class equipment and services, Kanoo Machinery helped lay down the foundations of the vital sectors of UAE's economy.

Today, for over 125 years, the family-run business has diversified business industries from shipping, travel, machinery; to logistics, property, oil & gas, power industrial chemicals, training, joint ventures, retail and commercial activities, and operates extensively throughout Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen and Qatar.

Kanoo Shipping

Kanoo Shipping is a regional shipping service provider in the Middle East. With regionally centralised operations, finance and communications, the Kanoo office network covers an extensive area, including the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and Indian Sub-continent. Kanoo Shipping handles 15,000 port calls every year and has offices in 20 countries.

Kanoo Travel

Kanoo Travel represents a team of over 1,000 travel specialists in the region. It operates a network of over 100 IATA locations and established global travel partners in key market areas in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Lebanon, United Kingdom and France. It is one of the largest and oldest travel management companies in the Middle East.

In 1980, Kanoo Travel began to represent American Express in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia solely as its official travel representative. Later in 2003, Kanoo Travel again signed a master franchise agreement with American Express that covered North Africa, the Levant, GCC including Iraq and the CIS countries. Kanoo Travel works with the American Express Travel Service Network throughout the Middle East by identifying and acquiring member agencies into the Kanoo Travel/American Express Middle East Franchise program.

American Express Middle East operates in 16 markets in the Middle East and North Africa region and issues dollar currency Credit and Charge Cards for The Centurion® Card, The Platinum Card®, The American Express® Gold Card, The American Express® Card (Green) as well as Company and Corporate Cards. It also offers a range of local currency-denominated Credit Cards which are accepted in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

Services:

Kanoo Holidays

Kanoo Holidays is a specialist division of Kanoo Travel with office networks and dedicated Kanoo Holidays Centers in Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar, Saudi; Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and UAE.

The Travel Attaché

The Travel Attaché represents the Kanoo Travel brand as its inbound Destination Management Company and Luxury Travel Management arm, offering quality service to its discerning customers.Headed by Mr Amit Gupta

Kanoo Machinery

Kanoo Machinery LLC is a construction, materials handling, floor cleaning and agricultural equipment distributor in the UAE. It offers its clients brands such as Grove, Hyster, Perkins, Bobcat, Tennant, Massey Ferguson, Lincoln Electric, Norton, AUSA, Sullair, Beach Tech, Aisle-Master, GEDA, Sakai and Utilev for its sales and aftermarket services. Products from these Principals are marketed through product specialist from sales and aftermarket in all its 5 branches (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah) in the UAE.

KANRENT

Kanoo Equipment Rental (KANRENT) offers a large fleet of rentable equipment that is supported by a group of full-service workshops and a mobile team of onsite mechanics to keep the rented fleet fully operational at all times.

Stor-Mat Systems

Stor-Mat Systems was formed in March 1993 and officially became a member of The Kanoo Group in April 2011. Stor-Mat Systems is one of few locally based storage and material handling companies with the in-house expertise to carry out the design of complex storage facilities.

Kanoo Oil & Gas

Kanoo Oil & Gas supplies specialist products and services for the oil, gas and petrochemical industries in the Middle East. Some of its major clients include Saudi Aramco, SABIC, ADNOC, BAPCO, SEWA, DEWA, and PDO.

Power & Industrial Projects

Kanoo Power & Industrial Projects (P&IP) used to operate as a General Trading Division and was changed to P&IP in 1999 to expand its operations and to increase its activities. Kanoo P&IP provides end-to-end industrial products and power and desalination products and services across the Middle East. These services include consultancy, product sales, equipment leasing & servicing. Some of its customers include Saudi Aramco, Emirates Airlines, GAMCO, ADMA-OPCO, ZADCO, and J.Ray McDermott.

Kanoo Industrial Products

Kanoo Industrial Products (KIP), a part of Kanoo P&IP provides end-to-end industrial product solutions across industries. The services offered by KIP include consultancy, site survey for safety, product sales, equipment leasing and equipment servicing.

Strategic Business Units:

KRT

Kanoo Rapid Transit (KRT) provides express deliveries and gulf-wide cargo distribution within the local market and lower Gulf states. It was founded in 1990 and headquartered in UAE, with branches in Qatar and Oman. KRT also expanded its local services to cover Bahrain and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. UAE operations are controlled from Dubai through strategic offices throughout the country.

H.A.K Industrial Chemicals

H.A.K Industrial Chemicals (L.L.C.) is a supplier of speciality chemicals, equipment and other raw materials for specific industries located in UAE and the region.

Kanoo Freight

Kanoo Freight LLC provides Supply Chain, Freight/Logistics and Brokerage Solutions in the region and around the globe through its GCC network offices in UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar, as well as international partners.

Kanoo Exhibition Organizers

Kanoo Exhibition Services has over 20 years of experience in exhibition freight that provides special project cargo services as well as several other services from travel to design and construction of exhibition stands. Kanoo Exhibition Services covers all major cities in the Middle East and expanding to cover other markets and regions.

Kanoo Engineering

Kanoo Engineering LLC specialises in the design, drawing, supply, paint and installation of carbon and stainless steel products, such as:

Some of the clients handled include Claudius Peters, Toyota Plaza Bahrain, Al Rostamani Pegel LLC, NASA Multiplex Dubai, Wade Adams and Arabian Construction Company.

Along with ISO 900:2008 certification for Quality Management, "U", "S", "R", "PP" certification from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Kanoo Engineering is also registered with major oil & gas companies like ADNOC, GASCO, TAKREER and Borouge.

Engineering Services

Kanoo Engineering LLC has in-house Design/Engineering facilities with experienced Design Engineers versed with international codes like ASME, BS, API, DNV and other standards which enable them to design and fabricate complicated process equipment, meeting the process conditions & fabrication standards. They have an experience in providing engineering code calculations for Pressure Vessels as per ASME Sec VIII Div. 1, using PV Elite, Storage Tank using Etank, Structural Steel Calculation using STAAD Pro and Modelling using TEKLA 19.1.

Manufacturing Services

Kanoo Engineering LLC has a purpose built 50,000 sq.ft. workshop consisting of two bays. The first bay is 93.455 m long and 26.5 m wide and contains 10T and 5T two EOT cranes, while the second bay is 76.42 m long and 26.94 m wide and contains 10T EOT cranes; and a separate facility of 50,000 sq.ft. for its stainless steel workshop. The total factory area is 300,000 sq.ft. The workshop is equipped with modern machinery for shearing, drilling, rolling, shaping, milling, pipe bending, plate bending, CNC machine etc. A separate bay is arranged outside the workshop bays equipped with blasting and painting facilities.

BRC Arabia LLC

BRC Arabia LLC is a premier leader in reinforcing steel production that offers a complete package for:

The Kanoo Group completed the acquisition of balance shares of former joint venture partner BRC Arabia, and became its sole owner on June 6, 2012. BRC has been headquartered in Dubai Industrial City Seih Shuaib 3 since November 2011. BRC Arabia was formerly known as BRC Arabia FZC and operated in Sharjah Airport Free Zone (SAIF) from 1996.

All these products are produced to International Standards and Specifications under stringent quality control. BRC Arabia (LLC) was certified to ISO 9001: 2000 under QMI Certificate No. 011860 in August 2001, to ISO 9001:2008 in November 2011.

Kanoo Business Centre

Kanoo Business Centre (KBC) provides startup base for companies seeking to do business in the UAE. Located in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, KBC provides administration, accounting, and full-time secretarial services as per customer's business needs.

Gemini

GEMINI Software Solutions is a 100% export-oriented IT and IT Enabled solutions providing company, owned by Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo. GEMINI is based in Technopark, Trivandrum.

Awards