Rock-it Cargo has gained a foothold in the emerging Saudi Arabian market by partnering with Sela Sport Company, of the kingdom’s leading event management outfits.

The global partnership sees LA-headquartered Rock-it become Sela’s freight-forwarding and logistics provider for all countries outside of Saudi Arabia, while Jeddah-based Sela will act as the logistics provider to Rock-it Cargo within Saudi Arabia.

Sela, which has worked with partners including Live Nation Middle East, WWE, PRG and Formula 1 race circuit designer Tilke, offers services including event management, venue operations, ticketing, sponsorship, broadcasting, marketing and athlete representation.

Under the partnership “Rock-it now has a partner that is unrivalled in its live event experience across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Sela now has a global partner with an extended network across five continents,” says Paul Martins, president and CEO of Rock-it.

“Rock-it now has a partner that is unrivalled in its live event experience across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”

“Both companies are already well-established market leaders in delivering time-sensitive logistics solutions for live sporting and entertainment events, industrial projects and much more. This new global partnership provides us with a strong opportunity to further grow our business and broaden our service offering for customers.”

Rock-it will act as Sela’s single provider to handle the global logistics of freight movement to Saudi Arabia for the company’s shows and events.

“Sela is going to raise the bar once more in the event management sector in Saudi with our partnership with Rock-it,” comments Loai Kamakhi, general manager of business solutions for Sela.

Rock-it Cargo in January announced its merger with UK-based Sound Moves, with both companies set to rebrand as Rock-it Global later this year.

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Rock-it Cargo and Sound Moves, two of the leading providers of logistics to the global live touring industry, are coming together under a single corporate entity, Rock-it Global.

The US-based Rock-it Cargo and UK-based Sound Moves are both subsidiaries of Rock-it Cargo USA, backed by ATL Partners, which remains the sole private equity partner and the majority shareholder.

Rock-it Global will merge the office and vendor networks of both subsidiaries to offer a combined seven decades’ worth of expertise. The company plans to unveil new branding and a newly assembled leadership team in the spring.

“It’s time to get excited about the future, come together and be the best we can be, jump on all the pent-up energy and optimism of a new year, successful vaccines and the shared will of our client base to get back to business. Let’s get this show on the road,” says Duane Wood, president and CEO, Sound Moves.

Paul Martins, Rock-it Cargo, CEO and president, says: “This coming together is something long in the making. We devoted significant time and effort to bring this to fruition. “I’m also extremely pleased that Duane Wood, founder and CEO of Sound Moves is joining the executive team as chief strategy officer. His experience leading Sound Moves will be a remarkable asset to the new combined company as well as the entire group of companies under our umbrella.”

“When you’ve got the best operators in the world functioning in two different silos, you need to bring that power together”

“Same people, same phone numbers, same email addresses, same great experiences, it makes sense,” Martins continues. “When you’ve got the best operators in the world functioning in two different silos, you need to bring that power together to create an unbeatable organization that can provide tailored solutions for critical projects anywhere in the world, delivering for our customers the ultimate peace of mind.”

David Bernstein, non-executive chairman of the board of Rock-it Cargo Holdings, says: “We’ve reorganised Rock-it in a way that we believe will provide for the best customer experience and expertise available in global entertainment logistics.”

“The time our people have been off the road has allowed us to internally assess our strengths and ask how we could be stronger and more prepared when our clients signalled it would be time to get back out. This move positions us for what lies ahead.”

Sound Moves recently spoke to IQ about post-Brexit changes on the carnet system within Europe. Read the feature here.

The impact of the reintroduction of ATA Carnets, alongside new cabotage rules, will be discussed during the panel Trucking Hell! Is it really that bad? at this year’s ILMC Production Meeting on Tuesday 2 March.

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