Logistics' New Building Blocks.(Public Warehousing Co.)(PWC Logistics name changed to Agility)(Company overview)

BYLINE: William Hoffman

Some of the many terminals that PWC Logistics set up across the Middle East have a feature visitors have found in few distribution centers around the world: framed photographs of former employees who have died in combat zones in the region.

It's a reminder of the fierce reality in the company's core region and also of what the Kuwait-based company sees as a guiding business principle as it pushes onto the world trade and logistics stage.

In a business where managing logistics often is synonymous with managing risk, PWC believes it has learned something about risk.

"We tend to do extremely well in markets that most of our competitors shy away from because we are more risk tolerant, because of our history of serving developing markets a lot longer," said Charbel Abou-Jaoude, managing director of global operations at the business PWC last month renamed Agility.

"We feel those are areas where we can bring significant advantage, and we try also to be on par with our competitors in the developed markets, in the Western markets."

For a global logistics industry in the throes of consolidation, the rapid expansion of a regional operator into a $4.5 billion global business marks a new step in the changes that are reshaping global distribution. Although built with the familiar building blocks of acquisitions, including the purchase of GeoLogistics, Agility is building from a …