Page 38 - AAA NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2013 Online Magazine

PROFILE

THAT’S ME

Vivien Lau is the Managing Director of First, the developing into the consumer market. Most Asian
HACIS, the logistics part of the Hong Kong countries are not just a manufacturing base now - take China
based HK Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals and Indonesia; there is growing demand not only for export cargo
but also for domestic consumption from new middle classes.
Limited (HACTL). An MBA scholarship Second, ASEAN is supporting infrastructure investments. Asian
winner from Henley Business School in UK countries will be linked up via road, rail, air and sea. This helps
and qualified management accountant, to expand traffic capacity to meet growing demand, and most
she oversees the crucial links between importantly, provides good opportunities for logistics providers.
air freight and overall logistics at one of What’s the single biggest advance you’ve seen in the industry?
the world’s busiest air cargo terminals. I believe “e-freight” is a significant step in transforming the
airfreight industry. This e-freight initiative is changing from
paper-based process to electronic workflow; but to make it
How long have you been in the industry, and how did you start? successful, the industry needs to re-engineer and transform the
I joined Jardine Matheson Group (a shareholder of both HACTL entire structure in the supply chain. I believe it will subsequently
and Jardine Airport Services Limited) as a Management Trainee shift the focus of logistics from a single mode into intermodal
in 2000, moving on to marketing and business development of services that emphasise cost efficiency.
ground service for passengers in 2006. In 2012, I was appointed
MD HACIS, a subsidiary of HACTL that focuses on air cargo How do you see airfreight business developing across the
logistics. region?
Supply-chain management is getting more sophisticated now.
What is the best thing about working at HACIS? Intermodal transportation is the trend. For example, air freight
It’s a new challenge! This is the first time I worked on air cargo might be used to cover no more than the first 10 days of sales
logistics and it is quite different from the passenger side. We of new products; the remaining shipments through the short
have to provide efficient and cost effective services using Airport six-month product life of smartphones or personal electronic
Direct and Superlink China trucking services. I like meeting with products, on average, can go by sea.
different people and learning new things everyday. This is the
part of the job that I enjoy most. What’s your best/scariest moment in an aircraft?
The best moment is to look out from the aircraft window and to
What’s the best thing about your job? realize that “the sky is the limit”. There is almost no limit to how
I enjoy working with different people to achieve a common goal. far you can go in what we are doing.
In Hacis, I can always look for ‘collaboration’ with different
parties. I am so proud to see the long-term relationship that
Hacis has been built with our Chinese partners, and carrying on Vivien Lau is the Managing Director of HACIS and a
the relationships. qualified management accountant, and has worked with
Jardine Matheson Limited since 2000. She spent six
How do you think the industry will develop in Asia? years in Property Management then moved on to Airport
Intra-Asia trade has been increasing and it is projected to Services, formulating and executing business expansion
in China. She project-managed the first Sino-foreign JV in
increase further. From my perspective, such intra-regional Kunming, and then worked at Jardines head office before
trade is transforming the region’s logistics market in two ways. being appointed MD of HACIS.

38 ASIAN AIRLINES & AIRPORTS NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2013 WWW.ASIANAIRLINES-AIRPORTS.COM