Routes out of crisis

Business is “flourishing.” It’s a rarely heard sentiment in Lebanon today given the war in neighboring Syria and unease at home. Despite these challenges, Mourad Aoun, Chief Executive Operator of logistics group Net Holding, claims his businesses are doing even better — far better — than they were last year. “For the express industry, it’s flourishing. … If we go to the shipping side, it’s been even better,” he says. Aoun’s counterintuitive assessment is one of the bright spots in an otherwise moribund economy.  And data from the Customs Higher Council supports the claim: from January to May 2013 — the most recent available public data — total import values were off just a fraction of a percent from the same period a year prior, while exports were up more than 7 percent. These modest changes, however, mask big movements in how the logistics sector is operating, and where companies