Trading Post to Sail to Third World : The MS Expex Will Call at 50 Ports to Push U.S. Exports

By WILLIAM C. REMPEL

July 8, 1985 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

With the U.S. trade deficit climbing past $123 billion, it isn’t surprising that American policy analysts are focusing on ways to increase trade with major markets in Europe and the Far East. But a Long Beach businessman, Javid Jalali, contends that such emphasis overlooks a valuable market, one particularly suited to small and mid-size American manufacturers--the potentially lucrative markets in poor Third World nations.

He cited Sudan as a typical example. The drought-stricken north African country annually imports about $1.7 billion in goods ranging from cars to chicken wire.

“People think because it’s a poor country, there’s no market,” Jalali said. “But they’re spending $1.7 billion on products from France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. Why not America? Why don’t we go after the market, too?”

Quest for Markets

From the decks of the MS Expex, a former Alaskan cruise ship anchored in Los Angeles Harbor, Jalali is planning to lead an American challenge for increased shares of export markets in small, commercially overlooked countries.

He is converting the 300-foot ship into a floating supermarket of American technology to tour 50 Third World ports in South America, Africa and the Middle East. Plans call for the ship to serve as a combination product-exhibition hall and export sales office. Products on board will range from agricultural and mining equipment to personal computers and telecommunications gear--products that Jalali called “suitable for developing nations.”

“Our emphasis will be products to help them create food or exports of their own--to improve their standards of living and the health of their people,” Jalali said.

He called Sudan a gold mine of mineral wealth “where people are starving to death.” Jalali said U.S. companies can market “appropriate technologies” that would help ease the problems of hunger in Sudan and other countries.

Among its 50 port calls, the Expex is scheduled to stop in French Guinea, Gabon and Gambia--none of them major trading partners with the United States. And, though it is months from sailing, Jalali’s project already has won two international trade awards and the enthusiastic encouragement--if not endorsement--of the U.S. Commerce Department.

“The Expex project has great potential for developing new export markets for American businessmen,” Roy Gootenberg, international trade promotion coordinator at the Commerce Department, said.

“It’s not going to solve our trade deficit, but it can make a meaningful contribution to opening markets in these countries for American technology. Many of these countries would never see U.S. products otherwise. They’re going into areas that American enterprise has largely overlooked.”

Gootenberg called the project “a glamorous concept” that he expects will attract wide attention at the Third World ports it visits. “We’re going to open the doors in these ports and assist this project in all sorts of ways,” he added.

During its initial cruise, the MS Expex will call on countries with combined annual imports of about $200 billion, according to U.S. trade statistics.

“I’m not saying we’ll sell $200 billion of American equipment, but we’re opening a door,” Jalali said. “I think it’s amazing that the smaller countries have been left alone so long.”

Trading Company

The MS Expex is designed to be more than an exhibition ship. Jalali plans to operate an export trading company from the vessel. The ship’s crew will be trained to represent the manufacturers of each product carried aboard the Expex, both for purposes of selling the products and of training the purchasers in its use. To avoid representing competing products, the ship will carry only one brand of each type of product. Jalali said he is negotiating with various manufacturers for which he would serve as a “floating distributor.”

Small and mid-size U.S. manufacturers--companies that cannot afford to set up costly distribution networks in small foreign markets--are primary targets of Jalali’s negotiations.

“A small, poor country may want to buy 20 personal computers, an investment that is quite significant for that country. But an IBM wouldn’t even want to talk with them, because to a big company 20 personal computers isn’t a very big order,” Jalali said. “But smaller companies would be happy to get a piece of the market. We can help the smaller companies do that while we help the poorer countries get access to useful American technology.”

Considerable Attention

Already, the Expex project has attracted considerable attention among trade officials in the Third World. Earlier this year Jalali, an engineer who came from Iran 16 years ago, was awarded the Arab Prestige Trophy in Barcelona in recognition of the project. And next week Jalali will receive the Islamic Trade Award in Madrid for his contribution to international trade.

Planning for the Expex project was launched about four years ago by Jalali while he was living with his family in Alaska. The $6.5-million cruise ship was purchased in Seattle where it underwent extensive drydock work before being moved to Los Angeles Harbor. In recent months Jalali has been assembling a crew of sailors and technology representatives. He and his family have moved from their Palos Verdes home to live aboard the ship.

Jalali expects the MS Expex to sail--”under the banner of free enterprise”--early next year.