Not every logistics solutions partner will take the difficult route.We built our company on it.

Our Story

Compass Logistics International (CLI) was never built from a five-year plan. It was built the way most of the milestones below took place: an opportunity showed up, and we took it on. Here is that story, in order.

Founded in Jeddah
Our CEO, Abdul Sameer Mohamed starts CLI alone, from a one-bedroom apartment in Jeddah, focused on US trade. Days start early and end near two in the morning, chasing a US working day that only begins as Saudi Arabia's is ending. Strong relationships with US-based clients take root from the very beginning, making the US one of CLI's key sourcing markets from day one. There is no grand plan at this point, only the discipline to show up every day and take the next piece of business that comes.

2000
The breakthrough project.
By the end of the founding year, a major telecoms project, the kind most one-person operations would never be trusted with, becomes CLI's first real proof of concept. It is won by taking on complexity nobody else wanted to touch, hundreds of pages of customs documentation that a larger, better-resourced operation had turned away from.

2000(Towards the end of the year)
The Jeddah team grows.
What starts as a handful of employees in that one-bedroom apartment grows into a team of over 20 in Jeddah. There is no looking back after that.

2000-2005
First Dubai office.
CLI opens in Dubai with one room, two desks, and a third team member without one, chosen as a base to expand globally from. Everything that follows grows from this decision.

2005
India begins.
CLI's Bangalore front office opens as the start of the India network. Like most CLI offices, it starts with a market that has real opportunity. The next step is simple, build a team ready to go and work it.

2006
Moonachie, Bangalore back office, Bahrain.
Three milestones in one year. The Bangalore back office opens to support the growing India business, CLI's bonded warehouse opens in Jebel Ali Free Zone to give the Dubai operation storage capability for the first time, and Bahrain becomes the first Gulf office beyond the UAE. CLI's US aviation office opens in Moonachie, New Jersey, extending the network into North America and giving the aviation and AOG business a dedicated US base.

2008
Headquarters moves to JAFZA, Kuwait opens.
CLI's corporate headquarters relocates into Jebel Ali Free Zone, putting the company's leadership in the same free zone as its warehouse. Kuwait becomes the second Gulf office, continuing the region-by-region build-out.

2010
First US office, Somerset, New Jersey, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Qatar opens as the third Gulf office, and Abu Dhabi opens the same year, extending CLI's presence across the Emirates. Growing customer demand and shipment volumes make the case for a direct US presence rather than relying on agent nominations. CLI's first US office opens in Somerset, New Jersey, with the team expanding within its first year.

2011
Oman completes the Gulf network.
Oman joins Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, completing CLI's four-country Gulf footprint, and the regional base the company would expand out from into its first markets beyond the Middle East.

2012
Morocco.
A client with a project in Morocco asks whether CLI can handle it there. CLI says yes, and Casablanca becomes the company's first North African office.

2015
China.
CLI opens in Shenzhen, extending the network into East Asia and closer to the manufacturing base behind much of the cargo CLI already moves.

2016
London Heathrow.
CLI opens its UK office at London Heathrow, giving the network its first foothold in Europe.

2017
Mumbai.
Mumbai opens as CLI's second India office, deepening a market the company entered fifteen years earlier.

2021
Philippines.
CLI opens in Iloilo, extending the network into Southeast Asia.

2022
Thailand.
CLI opens in Bangkok, the most recent addition to the network, and a reminder that the story below is still being written.

2024
Still growing.
Closed the year with our strongest results to date. 500+ people, 21 offices, and a network that keeps expanding.

2025

Management Team

The people who built it are still running it.

Compass is led by the people who have been part of its growth from the early years.

Abdul Sameer Mohamed

CEO

In 2000, Sameer converted an apartment in Jeddah into an office and built Compass on the belief that the region needed a logistics solutions provider built to a higher standard. Twenty-five years on, that standard hasn't changed — he remains the person customers can reach directly.

Ahmed Shakeer Mohammed

COO

Holds Compass's operations to the same standard on the thousandth shipment as the first. Shakeer joined Compass in 2001 with thirty years of experience across customer service, freight operations, sales, regional management and supply chain.

Know more about our leaders →

Where We Operate

We are already on your trade lanes.

With 21 offices across 13 countries, from Jebel Ali to Shenzhen and Mumbai to Moonachie, Compass is present at the corridors that matter to your business, with local teams who know the ports, the customs authorities and the regulations that govern them.

+971 4 803 7400

Not every logistics solutions partner will take the difficult route.We built our company on it.

Founded in Jeddah

The breakthrough project.

The Jeddah team grows.

First Dubai office.

India begins.

Moonachie, Bangalore back office, Bahrain.

Headquarters moves to JAFZA, Kuwait opens.

First US office, Somerset, New Jersey, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Oman completes the Gulf network.

Morocco.

China.

London Heathrow.

Mumbai.

Philippines.

Thailand.

Still growing.

The people who built it are still running it.

Abdul Sameer Mohamed

Ahmed Shakeer Mohammed

We are already on your trade lanes.

CORPORATE OFFICE

DUBAI OFFICE

ABU DHABI OFFICE

DAMMAM OFFICE

JEDDAH OFFICE

RIYADH OFFICE

BAHRAIN OFFICE

OMAN OFFICE

QATAR OFFICE

CASABLANCA OFFICE

BANGALORE OFFICE

CHENNAI OFFICE

MUMBAI OFFICE

MANGALORE OFFICE

LONDON HEATHROW OFFICE

NEW JERSEY – MOONACHIE OFFICE

KUWAIT OFFICE

ILOILO OFFICE

SHENZHEN OFFICE

BANGKOK OFFICE

How we Work

Owner-operated accountability

24/7 availability

Specialist capability

Over Twenty-five years of finding ways. Let us find yours.

+971 4 803 7400

+971 4 803 7400