On time... - Lloyd's List

ASiA
HonG konG
Andy tung
the tung legacy lives on
Andy Tung brings a wealth of experience to the
helm of what many call Asia’s best-run box line
WHEN Andy Tung, 45, takes the helm as chief executive of
Orient Overseas Container Lines on July 1, he will be the third
generation to lead what has now become one of the best-run
companies in shipping.
OOCL, which is the main business of holding company
Hong Kong-listed Orient Overseas (International) Ltd has had
its troubles in the shipping crisis. But it is fair to say that other
than Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL has shown the most resilience to
the market downturn of any major line. OOCL finished 2011
in the black. Mind you, the $83m net profit it posted for the
year was down 90% from 2010, and also weaker than the firsthalf
gain of $143.4m, indicating that second half was lossmaking.
But OOCL was profitable all the same, a testimony to
the company’s discipline in holding down costs, turning away
loss-making cargoes during the 2011 rates war, and in its policy
of diversifying into the intra-Asia trades.
If it was easy, then more lines would have achieved
profitability. But Mr Tung, like his uncle, chairman of OOIL
Tung Chee-chen, or his father, former OOIL chairman and first
post-colonial chief executive of Hong Kong Tung Chee-hwa,
has never regarded shipping or the stewardship of OOCL as
anything but the most serious endeavour. Mr Tung has been
the line’s chief operating officer since 2009 and OOIL executive
director since 2011. After working in management positions at
OOCL between 1993 and 1998, he became chief financial officer
at internet stock trading company Boom.com. He then held
senior management positions at Hong Kong Dragon Airlines
and rejoined OOCL in 2006.
“His uncle CC tung said it best
when told Lloyd’s List in 2009,
‘there is nothing better than
working through the down cycle
to get experience.’”
The combination of outside entrepreneurial experience and
deep background in shipping is sound grooming for an heir
apparent. He has had exposure to finance and management
at two Hong Kong self-starting companies, and he knows the
mechanics of a ship operator now as second nature.
He has a legacy to draw on. The Tung family itself has had
a long and complex history of shipping in China. In 1947,
the 10,000 tonne Tien Loong, owned by the family patriarch
CY Tung, was the first all-Chinese ship to cross the Atlantic.
42 next generation 2012
Andy Tung:
will take control
of OOCL in July
Following the communist revolution in 1949, the Tungs moved
from Shanghai to Hong Kong and built their shipping empire
there under British governance. CH Tung was closely involved
with the politics of the handover in 1997 before being tapped as
Hong Kong’s first chief executive under Chinese rule.
The company went through a major restructuring in
the 1980s. Some analysts believe that that trial by fire has
benefitted OOCL’s institutional memory. Under CC Tung,
the company has maintained a strong cash buffer, which
has helped its operations and reputation during the current
downturn. Looking ahead to 2012 and to stewardship of
OOCL into the future, the main focus will be maintaining
the discipline on cost, risk management, diversification and
customer service that has put the company ahead. Andy Tung
looks well prepared. His uncle CC Tung said it best when he
told Lloyd’s List in 2009, “There is nothing better than working
through the down cycle to get experience.”