07-09 19 October 09:09-10 10 July 06 15/10/09 11:16 Page 3
HongKongReview
BEL: ‘rates will climb’ HACTL – handling the situation
Working in a depressed According to Lilian Chan, gen- completion of the new Cathay
economic market: “We eral manager, marketing and Pacific cargo terminal at Hong
find it important to try customerserviceatHongKong Kong “will change the face of
and add a new innova- Air Cargo Terminals Limited thebusinessattheairport”.
tion every day,” says Brian (HACTL), the biggest cargo Although construction on
Wu, director of Hong handleratthegateway,business the project has been put on
Kong-headquartered mul- levels have suffered since July hold, the new facility will even-
timodal forwarder BEL 2008 “when tonnages every- tually draw HACTL’s largest
International Logistics. where started to head south”. client away from the handler’s
“We find it important Astherecessionbegantobite SuperTerminal1facility.
to have our own identity “everyonehashadtostreamline Chan noted: “We know how
as we expand our net- their operations and face the things can change and Hong
work and all our offices challengeofbecoming‘leanand Kong could one day feel the
in Hong Kong and across mean’.ButatHACTLwehaveneverover-employed,eveninthe heat for its business from surrounding gateways, so we always
the China mainland are goodtimes,sowewerealreadyleanandmean.” want to do better while thinking what the next step should be.”
wholly-owned,” he
Wu – adding “a new
Shecontinued:“Weneedtobemoreflexibleinlookingfornew She added: “Looking forward, we expect a further tonnage
noted. “We also think it
innovation every day”
waystosupportourairlineclients.Witheveryoneelseattheair-
very important to find portwehaveapassiontomakesurethatHongKongworks.”As a73
improvement,hopefullyinapre-Christmaspeak.”
HACTL handled 212,391 tonnes of freight in September,
not just customers, but the right customers operating an example, Chan noted: “We are installing a new IT system to down by 4.3 percent on the same month of 2008. The
‘right-sized’ companies.” Wu explained that BEL Inter- come online in three years’ time and this is a huge investment.” cumulativeJanuary-Septemberthroughputof1.62million
national Logistics will thrive if it concentrates on She agreed that HACTL needs to keep up to speed, for the tonneswasdownby16.3percent.
a118
moving the right goods for the sort of company
“where the volumes are not so huge that the buyers
are constantly trying to squeeze the rates”.
Business levels at this family-owned freight for-
warder have been down since the fourth quarter of
2008, but “since the second quarter of this year we
have been seeing business pick up again”, he observed.
“It’s been very busy on our ocean freight side because
of a lack of capacity brought about by withdrawn ser-
vices,” Wu said. “Space has become congested and I
think that from now on freight forwarders will have to
face reality again on pricing.”
Rates will climb again, he assured, pointing out that
quotations can still vary by large amounts, but
warning: “Going for cheap rates in the current tight
capacity situation could mean that your goods are
stuck for a week waiting for available space.”
Agility – it’s all about location
There is no real secret to Hong
Kong’s continuing success as a
logistics hub, considers Wolf-
gangHollerman,chiefexecutive
Asia Pacific region at interna-
tional forwarder and supply
chain management provider
AgilityGlobalIntegratedLogis-
tics: “It’s all about location,” he
said.
The major trade lanes in the
region pass through Hong
Kong, Hollerman pointed out,
and the territory is well-
respected for providing the
highest customer service levels,
Hollermann notes the high
which attracts Chinese compa-
service levels in Hong Kong
nies from the mainland to ship
their goods through its multimodal array of logistics facilities.
He considers: “It will take a generation for the people of the
mainland to reach the same levels of competence – and that’s a
longtimeinlogistics.”
Hollerman concluded: “Hong Kong is also a major tourism
centre and that creates a lot of bellyhold capacity on air services
toworldwidedestinations.”
BRIEFS • BRIEFS • BRIEFS
HONG KONG’S FORMER KAI TAK airport on the edge of
Victoria Harbour has been described by property analysts
as the world’s most valuable piece of derelict land, with an
estimated worth to developers of up to US$40 billion.
CATHAYPACIFICCEOTonyTylerhasdrawnattentiontothe
escalating prices airlines are expected to pay to their sup-
pliers. “It’s absurd to expect an industry which is estimated
to be going to lose around US$9 billion this year to keep
paying higher costs for the same thing,” he complained.
Tyler cautioned: “We can’t grow our businesses if we can’t
make money, and suppliers’ businesses depend entirely on
us. If we don’t grow, suppliers don’t grow.”
19 October 2009 Page 9
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