By far the most ambitious of all the land deals in the past year was Daewoo Logistics' contract with the government of Madagascar to lease 1.3m hectares, almost half the country's arable land, to produce corn for Daewoo's home country, South Korea.

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BP's UK logistics infrastructure manager, Mark Hardie, said the contract was part of BP's long-term marine strategy to support its UK offshore operations.

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The Defense Supply Center at Columbus, one of three inventory control points operated by the Defense Logistics Agency, employs 7, 000 civilians and contract personnel.

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