Tell me about yourself
The logistics industry in Hong Kong was booming back in 2000, so I decided to study transport and logistics at university. My first job was focused on sea freight sales at a Hong Kong-based forwarder, and then more on selling total logistics solutions at some other global forwarding companies. At that point I could see the future market for sea freight in Hong Kong was turning soft and the air freight market was continuing to grow. I joined Cathay Pacific Cargo in 2007 as an Assistant Manager in the Hong Kong sales team, I was then promoted to Cargo Manager in 2011.
In 2013, I was seconded to Shanghai as Cargo Sales Manager and in 2016, I was posted back to Hong Kong as Airline Partnerships Manager looking after our interline business. I was promoted to my current role in September 2018.
I have two daughters aged three and seven. We love to travel as a family to beach destinations like Phuket in summer and enjoy snowboarding and skiing in Hokkaido in winter. I also enjoy golf and bowling.
What do you like best about your role?
We have established a good relationship with our customers – it’s a small world and relationships are important.
It’s important to explore new business opportunities and see how we can serve customers better with our latest developments and technologies like e-commerce and other specialised products. Every day brings a new challenge in air cargo and I enjoy working with my team to ensure that there’s something new evolving.
What are the main shipments and flows?
We have a more balanced mix of destinations – around 50 per cent of our shipments are long haul and 50 per cent are short haul. About a quarter of our volumes are going into America, another quarter to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and half to Asia and South West Pacific.
Around 20 per cent of our shipments are special cargo, led by speed-sensitive consignments – Priority LIFT – then shipments that require special handling such as dangerous and valuable goods, and temperature-sensitive shipments. We will be working to grow this segment in 2019.
Hong Kong is responsible for approximately 35 per cent of exports on the network, over 90 per cent of which are derived from the Greater Bay Area of Southern China.
What are the challenges and opportunities?
The global trade situation comes with uncertainty but it’s important not to be overshadowed by the things we cannot control. Our challenge is to find the equilibrium in the short run – the market softened in first two months of the year – while looking for opportunities in the medium and long term.
These include the growth in e-commerce to Asia, which remains strong and I believe growth will continue in the rest of 2019. Similarly, the demand for special shipments looks likely to grow. When I first worked in the Hong Kong Cargo sales team, we only had about one pharma shipment a quarter from Hong Kong. Now it is on weekly basis.
How do you keep up with the needs of the local market?
From the start of March, Cathay Pacific Cargo have a new team structure that aims to be more customer-centric, agile, and resilient. We have shared our plans with our customers. This will enable us to be much more responsive to their needs. The team will be more focused on their respective sales areas, and key accounts will be taken care of by a dedicated account manager who can address their unique requirements.
We will continue to work closely with our business partners and deploy the latest technology to automate our distribution channels.
