How long is 40 years? The stories of three Hactl staff...

40 years: now I am a Hactl Old Boy!

Chan Chor Ping, universally known as Jimmy Sir, is the “Big Brother” of Hactl. Before becoming an advisor to Hactl, he was Executive Director of Hong Kong Air Cargo Industry Services Limited (Hacis), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hactl. Various new services launched by Hacis (for example, SuperLink China Direct rolled out in 2000, and Airport Direct), are the brainchildren of the Hacis team which worked under him.

Prior to joining Hactl in 1976, Jimmy Sir was employed in logistics, but in the shipping sector. “Joining Hactl was a happy accident,” he begins. “At that time, I thought a plane was much smaller than a container ship, so thecargo volume must be smaller and the work would be easier.” When he joined Hactl as a Supervisor for import and export freight, he soon realised the truth: that the air cargo industry is a constant race against the clock, with no room for mistakes. In fact, the pressure is even greater than in the shipping industry!

Jimmy Sir has served Hactl for more than 40 years. In addition to bringing him a sense of fulfilment, it has enabled him to make many good friends in the industry. “I was very young when I first joined; I never felt tired, and even working seven consecutive night shifts was a piece of cake. I often went to restaurants in Kowloon City with my colleagues after work, to eat and drink together until early morning. It was fun.” 

His friends at work were also his team-mates on the football pitch.“At that time, there was a grass soccer field outside the Hactl terminal at the old Kai Tak Airport. We got off work at 3pm when it was a morning shift, immediately changed into our jerseys and played football together.” In a photo showing the football team shared by Jimmy Sir, we can see long chains of cargo being towed on dollies in the distance. Playing football in front of this busy airport backdrop must have been a memorable image.

Witnessing “open skies”

“Years have passed, and many of the colleagues I played football with have moved overseas, or moved on to other companies. But, although we are now far apart, every 10 years we gather for a meal. We often jokingly call ourselves ‘Hactl’s Old Boys’. Nowadays we still dine at restaurants together, and the backdrop on the stage still reads ‘Hactl’s Old Boys’ Club’, and we take photos of ourselves in front of these words.”

It’s no exaggeration to say that Jimmy Sir grew up with Hactl. Over these 40 years, he has served in no less than 13 different positions. The most unforgettable was becoming Hacis Manager in 1996.

“After the completion of the new airport, the Hong Kong Government opened up the air cargo handling market, which meant that Hactl was no longer a monopoly, and faced industry competition for the first time. Since then, apart from paying attention to improving operations, we learned the importance of communicating well with customers and the industry. This was the biggest change that we faced.” 

Jimmy Sir continues: “In that period, I met two people who recognised my talents and potential: Mr. K.K. Yeung, Former Hactl Deputy Managing Director, and Mr. Mark Whitehead, Former Hactl Chief Executive. Mr. K.K. Yeung gave me a lot of chances to see the world beyond Hactl, and to learn the importance of IT and automation systems to Hactl’s development. And Mr. Whitehead shared with me his distinctive philosophy of management. His open-minded and tolerant personality and broad vision have given his colleagues a lot of room for development.

“All these years in Hactl, I have witnessed the era in which the air cargo industry experienced the most vigorous change: moving airport, computerisation, opening up the air cargo handling market, and so on...but these are also the most appealing aspects of Hactl. You never stop learning new things working here.

“Hactl faces different challenges in every new stage of its development, and the whole of the supply chain keeps evolving. New challenges bring us opportunities and push us to keep an eye on the future. Hactl is a professional company with solid foundations. By continuing to make timely changes and adjustments, we have everything it takes to face the road ahead.”

40 years have passed, but the view never grows old

Wong Sik Chee Rosaline come across as a quiet person. For these past 40 years she has served in Hactl’s Service Delivery and Operation Services Departments, and has been responsible for secretarial and then administrative duties. She wears the glasses of an executive, and speaks calmly and carefully. But, when she first joined Hactl after graduation, it was all in pursuit of a simple, almost childlike aim: to get closer to that amazing mode of transportation, airplanes.

“My father used to take me to watch the planes taking off and landing. Maybe I was influenced by him, because I have always thought airplanes are amazing, from when I was very small,” says Rosaline with a smile. “When I graduated, I saw Hactl was recruiting for a clerical position, so I decided to give it a try. I thought it would be great to work at the airport every day; that it would be fun.” Rosaline’s new job brought her into the exciting new world of the airport, which was full of surprises: like getting lifts to work every day from total strangers!

During the Kai Tak era, buses to the cargo terminal were infrequent. Sometimes, after a long and fruitless wait at the bus stop outside the airport, Rosaline would stop a truck heading for the cargo terminal and ask the driver to give her a lift. But the gentle and quiet Rosaline did not feel at all uncomfortable doing this: “The drivers saw me wearing my uniform, and were all very friendly and kind enough to give me a ride.” So Rosaline often went to work in the cabs of her new friends’ trucks, and every day this was like a small adventure in itself.

She stayed in her first position for about a year, then applied to transfer to a different department. She has since served as assistant to the Secretary of Terminal Manager, and assistant to the Secretary of General Manager. She even helped to produce the new Operations Manual for the Company at the time. In the mid-80s, she started working in Operation Services, where she still is to this day.

Rosaline recalls how, in the early years of entering the industry, her outstanding bosses and colleagues advised her how to be a professional in administration: “I still remember at that time Mr. Norman Best teaching me that, every day, we have to coordinate with different parties. So, wherever we go, we must take along a notebook, to write down every detail discussed, and make sure nothing is left out.” Today,when tablets are now widely used, and Rosaline is a Senior Administration Officer, this established good practice of hers still hasn’t changed.

Rosaline actively participates in the company’s activities. The first time Hactl took part in the Hong Kong 24hour Charity Pedal Kart Grand Prix held in Victoria Park, she brought her beloved bike to the Company to be converted into a four-wheeler to comply with the rules of the event. And she then led the girls’ team in the competition.

During her decades at Hactl, the most unforgettable period for Rosaline was the preparation for the opening of the new airport. “In the 90s I had already started working in Operation Services, so I had to go to the new location of Hactl at Chek Lap Kok regularly with my boss and the engineers, for site visits, attending progress meetings and taking meeting minutes. At that time Hactl was still just a building site; there was no transportation to get there. We had to take a boat from Gold Coast in Tuen Mun to reach Hactl’s current location.” Pointing out of the window, she continues: “The big roundabout we pass nowadays on the way to cargo area, was just waste land, and very close to the shore.”

Talking about exploring the new airport, Rosaline becomes very excited. 40 years may seem a very long time, but she has never become bored. “There are many new projects and opportunities here, so I always feel very fresh working here.” Of course, this is also that same airport landscape that so fascinated her as a little girl. “To this day, the sight of aircraft taking off and landing still amazes me.”

40 years, the most joyous adventure

In 1978, Chan Chi Kwong (Brother Four) joined Hactl as a frontline warehouseman. At that time he didn't know that, in the coming 40 years, many wonderful events in his life would be brought about by his new job...

Because of this job, Brother Four met his (then) girlfriend, now wife. “At that time I was working in the cargo terminal at Kai Tak Airport. This reunited me with a secondary schoolmate from another class. I hadn’t got around to talking to her when we were studying, but when we saw each other so often at the airport, we found we had a lot of common interests. We became good friends, and then we started dating!”

Apart from winning the hand of a lovely wife, Brother Four also gained a lot of travel experience because of Hactl. “Travelling by plane was very expensive: too expensive for frontline staff like us. But, because we worked at Hactl, we could enjoy discounted air tickets. In the 80s I had the chance to travel to many countries in Southeast Asia, and I tried a self-drive holiday, touring in a camper van around Australia.” Brother Four smiles broadly as he recalls these happy memories.

In his daily work, Brother Four also achieved a great deal of job satisfaction. This part of the story explains how he earned his nick name of “Brother Four”. “In the past, the company was often short of manpower, and Supervisors frequently asked us to work overtime. I was very fit when I was younger, and wanted to earn more money by working overtime shifts, so I always said ‘yes’ immediately.” Overtime shifts were often 4 hours per session, and Supervisors remembered this energetic warehouseman, so - whenever they needed someone to work overtime and saw Brother Four in the distance, they would hold up 4 fingers to tell him that overtime shifts were available. “My colleagues came to realise how much I loved working, and named me ‘Ah Si’ (“number 4”, or “maid”). Later on, when I became more experienced, people called me ‘Brother Four’, giving me face.”

When the new airport opened, Hactl had to move. “Two years prior to the opening, I was responsible for transporting colleagues to the new Hactl location, arranging buses and shifts for drivers, to make it easier for staff to do site visits.” The scale of Hactl’s relocation was huge, and it all hung on countless behind-the-scenes heroes, of whom Brother Four was one.

In 2009, in recognition of his professionalism, and hardworking and proactive personality, Brother Four was given the “Outstanding Performance Award” in the first “Hong Kong Outstanding OSH Employee Award”, organised by the Labour Department, Occupational Safety & Health Council and other organisations—becoming the first ever airport employee to achieve this honour. “I did my bit for the opening of the new airport, and won this award at the same time. Although I wasn't the only one in Hong Kong, I was the only one at the airport. These 40 years have brought me lots of precious memories like this,” Brother Four says with obvious satisfaction.