Ring of confidence

摘要

Ronnie Tye, the founder of Singapore-based Embassy Freight Services, spoke to Ravindra Galhena about the company's global expansion programme and the challenges it faces in providing a full range of integrated freight transport services. 'We see the demand for inte- grated freight transport logis-V V tics solutions increasing,' Ronnie Tye told CI, 'and with international trade also growing, we are busy expanding our global network.' The industry veteran, who set up Embassy more than 25 years ago, has experienced several trading cycles - and he has few fears about what he refers to as the 'current economic calamities of the world'. In fact, he sees recessionary trends as offering 'hidden opportunities for the freight forwarding sector' as companies look at further ways of shaving their costs but still delivering high levels of service. He argued: 'I think these periods keep freight forwarders busy. Look back at the early 1980s - a period of world debt and economic crises - and 1997/98 during the Asian currency meltdown, and you will see that our business exploded. As the saying goes, one man's food is another man's poison and we see the same being repeated in this current downturn.