Your new boss, Nigel Woodhead, is Unilever’s Logistics Manager in Jebel Ali. That means that he is responsible for getting products in and out of the Middle East. He makes arrangements to have goods shipped to Jebel Ali from Unilever factories all over the world. Then, he gets those goods from the Unilever distribution center in Jebel Ali to countries all over the Middle East including United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and Yemen. He’s held his job for six years and has offered you the chance to spend a school term learning about global transportation.

Unilever is a world-wide corporation that sells food as well as home and personal care products. The company was created in 1929 with the merger of Margarine Unie, a European business, and Lever Brothers Limited from the United Kingdom. Over the years, Unilever has grown from a European-based company that sold mostly soap and margarine to a global firm that sells frozen foods, ice cream, soup, tea, and personal products to people in nearly 200 countries. Unilever sells many brand names you recognize including Lipton, Ragu, Country Crock and Promise margarines, Breyers ice cream, Bird’s Eye and Gorton frozen foods, and Chicken Tonight sauces. The company also sells a number of brands that are popular in the Middle East including Omo detergent, Lux soap, Dove soap, Sunsilk shampoo, Signal toothpaste, Ponds cream, Vaseline, Brut and Axe deodorant, Flora margarine, and Walls ice cream.

Just as you’re learning your way around the office, Nigel gives you your first assignment. “I need to get a container load of tea to Jebel Ali as quickly as possible,” he says. “I want you to figure out how to make it happen. Please give me your recommendation about what to do by this afternoon.” So, what should you do?