Ladies & gentlemen, good evening.

Hi, my name is Kathy Henderson. It’s an honour / privilege to be invited to speak at this special occasion and I am delighted to be here this evening to celebrate the 30th anniversary of EES.

EES Shipping was established in 1979 in Sydney by three founders, Mark Salmon, Rod Brown and John Hull. It went on to become the biggest consolidator in Australia. In the 80’s and early 90’s, EES had offices Australia wide as well as New Zealand and Los Angeles. We had a service to Singapore from somewhere in Australia just about every day! Singapore was very important as it was the key trans-shipment hub for Australia.

In 1983, Jean met Mark Salmon here in Singapore. She then flew to Sydney to be endorsed by both Mark Salmon and John Hull to establish EES Singapore presence.

The name; E.E.S.; stands for exact export services, this implied that it only did exports and thus it was changed to EES in (1981) as Australia imports more than it exports.

EES Australia use to send 40 groupage containers monthly to Singapore, which back then was quite an achievement.

I worked at EES Shipping in Melbourne as import operations manager, EES was a great company to work for, and a place where, life long friendships were made. There were many social occasions and it was and still is a very exciting industry.

Today is a special day.

It is 30 years ago that I met a young lady called Jean from Singapore.

Jean left a lasting impression on myself, for a number of reasons which I would like to share with you.

Jean was prompt and professional at all times, but it was her fierce determination, business ethics and organisational skills that really distinguished her.….Excellence, all excellence involves discipline and tenacity of purpose, jean has these qualities.

I’d met many overseas agents,,,,but Jean was the – only – female agent we had, she would visit Melbourne & Sydney frequently to do joint sales calls with EES Australia sales staff. Freight forwarding is challenging and even more so in a male dominated industry.

I would like to point out, that the 80’s / 90’s was a time when more business deals were made over a few beers in the pub than in a boardroom. ( it also helped that Jean likes a beer. )

In my own dealings with EES Singapore, they provided a high standard of service and efficiency, with attention to detail. ( at a time prior to email ) shipping documents were prompt and accurate. I am sure this is, one of many reasons that has contributed to succeeding in a very competitive market.

We all know that leadership is crucial for any successful business.

30 years ago, EES Singapore started with 3 staff, it has grown to more than 50 staff in 3 offices!!!! Quite an achievement when you consider the uncertainty in the industry and world economy. EES Singapore has gone from strength to strength, a credit to everyone at EES Singapore.

To my dear friends, Gilbert and Jean, I am pleased to congratulate you and your staff on the 30th anniversary of EES Freight Services. I wish you many years of continued success and growth. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Now it is my pleasure to introduce,,,,,Mr Gilbert Tjong : CEO and managing director of EES to come up onto the stage.