Kai Olschner

Tell us a little bit about you and your career

I’m Kai, I’m 51 years old and I started my career as a shipping apprentice at Hapag-Lloyd, where I learned all about container shipping and sea freight. After my army service, I joined BLG LOGISTICS for the first time to work in the business development department. This is when I was introduced to contract logistics and also automotive. I was asked to support a project in one of our warehouses, doing some expert packaging for one of our clients. It was my first time dealing with people directly and managing a warehouse project from scratch, but I never left. After four years I moved over to Kuehne + Nagel, where I started as a solution engineer in contract logistics and automotive logistics – more in the inbound area, supporting plans with just-in-time and just-in-sequence methods. I then became Operations Head for all the contract logistics operations of Kuehne+Nagel in Eastern Europe, based in Vienna, and my goal was to streamline, develop implementation capabilities and achieve operational excellence – again, in automotive. At this time Hungary was becoming a hidden champion of the automotive industry, so we gained new businesses there and I was responsible for that as well. But, after many years in various positions, I was asked, ‘Kai, would you like to come over to BLG again to manage our international businesses?’. I’ve always been an internationally-minded and culturally-aware person, and I thought this would be a highly-interesting opportunity. So, I took responsibility for business in South Africa, India, Malaysia, the US – and it was great. Naturally, there were a lot of ups and downs given what happens in these countries in the markets, but I was able to focus on different verticals like automotive and healthcare. In 2023 I joined DP World, where I’m responsible for building end-to-end solutions for our clients, right from their specialist customer area to the end of the supply chain. We use our company capabilities to build bespoke solutions to help them improve on a global scale. 

What specifically was it that attracted you to DP World?

I see this company as a multi-billion-dollar startup. At DP World I’m not only dealing with logistics people, but business people, and because we want to create business we are widening the scope of our services. In my first working week at DP World, I attended the Transport Logistic trade fair in Munich and we had a very prominent booth. The logistics network is quite intense and the community is rather small – you know people from all the competitors. And what I saw was companies sneaking around our booth, wondering ‘what are these guys doing?’. The answer then – and now – is that we are becoming an end-to-end service provider instead of a port operating company. There are many companies which want to change, but sometimes they don’t have the money or the investment power; sometimes they refuse to have an open mind; and sometimes they consider themselves to be flexible but, really, they don’t want it enough. DP World is not that kind of company and, for what I hope is the last part of my career, I want to be part of this growth story. 

What’s your leadership philosophy?

My philosophy is that you need to apply the personal values you live by every day. The first one, above all others, is respect – that means showing respect to others and their workload as well. The second is that you need to be open to change – this is so important. And the third is that you must be passionate about what you’re doing. These are the values I live by to serve as a role model for my staff and also for the people I’m dealing with. But the main thing is respect. I’m in a leadership role, I’m part of the DP World headquarters and I report to the global CCO – but, at the end of the day, my salary is made on the shop floor. If I don’t respect my colleagues and they aren’t happy, I will not earn my salary. I can sell, I can design, I can come up with great ideas, but if the clerk on a terminal or the operator in a planning department isn’t doing their job, the customer won’t be happy and I won't get my salary. While I see us as one big family, I must set the tone and set the pace. I have to be very clear in explaining what we want to achieve. And with my passion, I want to truly impact my staff. 

How important is mentorship when it comes to moulding the next generation of supply chain professionals and leaders?

DP World has a growth programme for young, upcoming leaders who are not only being introduced into this industry, but also gaining their first job experience after finishing their studies. With my 30 years of experience in this industry, I try to give them guidance, teach them how to articulate their ideas and solve problems. Don't forget these kids are part of a 100,000-person-plus company and they are acting in different areas – maybe starting in the ports area, then jumping over to contract logistics, then maybe running a project for freight forwarding. It’s difficult to stay focused and figure out what they really want to do. In the same way that I’ve had mentors in the past, I think it's an obligation that you share your knowledge and your experience with others.

To what extent is sustainability playing into your everyday decisions?

I have to admit, it wasn’t a few years ago because there was COVID-19. Nobody cared; it was a matter of survival. But I can say that, in the meantime, this has completely changed. At DP World, sustainability is an important part of our decision-making process at board level. It’s not only about money or profits, but how we secure the future of our planet and consider how we are using our limited resources. We and our customers have one common goal which is to reduce our use of these limited resources and it plays more and more into our way of thinking. It’s not only a case of looking at the products we’re offering, but also the customers we’re serving because new industries are emerging from the area of sustainability all the time – renewable energy, for example. Ultimately, sustainability is important to reducing our own carbon footprint and also in identifying new markets and new areas, be it by geography, by vertical or by industry.

How is DP World preparing for the supply chain crises of the future?

You need to have the necessary product employees and the experience and capabilities to expand on a global level. It’s not only about having a centre of gravity in Dubai, where we’re based, or in Europe, which is our biggest region for operations, but also about having capabilities in regions you might not usually consider. Take Africa, for example. Africa is always mentioned as an upcoming star in various industries and markets, especially when it comes to raw materials like lithium or cobalt for battery production. I think now is the time. You see the economies in Africa are growing, becoming more stable and, if you go to countries like Ethiopia, Ghana or Morocco, they have a vision and they have a plan. They’re growing – maybe not as fast as people might with, but they're growing. We must think about how to be present in those emerging markets and provide the same type of service we do in established markets like Europe or the Americas. It’s good to be able to offer that and it also gives you the flexibility to overcome the next crisis. And I think it’s also part of the DP World strategy to offer customers end-to-end solutions. 

What do the next couple of years look like for you and DP World?

I'm responsible for the supply chain engineering department, which means we design end-to-end solutions for our customers by using all the different capabilities of the company. Where we don’t have them, we look externally to search for them. It’s a kind of consultative selling in combination with 4PL services down to 3PL services. This is what I really like within DP World: the idea of not being segmented; going the extra mile; end-to-end, out-of-the-box thinking. That’s something you hear in every other sentence at this company and we really mean it. I’ve enjoyed this reality for 18 months and it’s one hell of a job. As I said, we’re a multi-billion-dollar startup and I’m 100% sure we’ll keep on growing. 

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