“This is not a 9 to 5 job,” Dickson Chin, Wallem
“No two days are the same and certainly not a 9-5 job! Each day comes with different challenges and for me this means a great deal of job satisfaction,” says Dickson Chin, managing director, ship agency for Wallem. Wallem Group, founded in China and with Norwegian heritage, has provided a wide range of maritime services for the last 120 years. It is continuing to expand its focus in the project cargo segment.
Chin has been tasked with driving top line growth across the agency function, and this demands commitment that goes far beyond regular working hours. “It starts with reading overnight email over a cup of tea at 06:00 and trying to finish everything by 22:00! Throughout the day, there will be some form of engagements with clients, checking-in on different offices and collaborating on bids, and when the opportunity arises, to visit a ship in port to see the team in action,” Chin says.
Company progression
Chin was brought into the Wallem family in 2008 as the general manager for the HK agency branch. “In 2012, I was promoted to MD for Indo-China where I was responsible for the cluster that encompasses Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia. The opportunity then came for the role as MD for Ship Agency and I have held this position since,” Chin notes.
Over the years, Chin has witnessed the progressive uptake of new technologies, including the transition from fax to email, and the wider use of EDI and its expansion to e-manifests.
“Digitisation will continue to be the enabler in shipping and we have only seen the start of this,” Chin adds, noting that there is still room for greater acceptance of paperless or electronic bills of lading. “The technology is there so I would like to see more people accepting the use of the digital bills of lading as a safe and secure digital document.”
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