Country manager who 'stumbled' into shipping

Richard H.S. Tan, country manager of L.T. Shipping Sdn Bhd, appears to be your typical 'yuppie'.

At 34, he runs the firm's business, lives in an upper-middle class area and seems to be steadily climbing up the corporate ladder.

But interestingly, all he says he really wants to do is to retire by the age of 40 and live in a quiet place where he can fish.

Whether this eventually happens remains to be seen but perhaps this gives a clue as to his down-to-earth and low-profile nature.

The youngish-looking bespectacled manager who was born and bred in Malacca seems to have his feet on the ground although he is in charge of his company's office in Shah Alam and its two branches in Penang and Pasir Gudang.

L.T. Shipping is the agent for Lloyd Triestino, Italy's national shipping line.

Heading three offices may seem a lot of responsiblity for someone relatively new to the industry, but Tan has had his fair share of it since his late teens.

After completing Form Six in Malacca, he left to pursue an Economics degree in Singapore, where he had to fend for himself.

Coincidentally it was in university that Tan had his first encounter with shipping.

"You can say I stumbled into shipping and it started when my friend and I were invited to have a drink by the wife of a shipping firm's general manager.

"We met her husband and it was then that we learnt a bit more about the business.

"Somehow it seemed interesting enough for us to stay back and talk about," he relates.

Thus began Tan's career in Jardines based in Singapore and soon after he was posted to Vietnam to do what he jokingly describes as his "tour of duty".

Wanting a change he left Jardines to join Regional Container Lines (RCL) for four years.

However according to him the call to come back was strong and he had to decide whether to stay on or to come home.

He chose to leave RCL and joint L.T Shipping two years ago.

Having spent close to 10 years in shipping, Tan says that he likes his job because of the challenges.

He said in this line, it is important to establish a network of contacts and client and maintain a good working relationship with customers.

"The business culture in this part of the world is such whereby a lot depends on the trust and personal relationship between both parties," he said.

Tan also enjoys the free hand that his bosses give him in running the company as it is like "running my own business".

"I basically look into all operational aspects of the firm, including sales, cash flow and employees including keeping them motivated," he said.

Tan, who lives in Bandar Utama, is married to Chow Lai Khum, a system analyst and the couple have a one-year eight-month old daughter.

He enjoys reading and plays golf occasionally.

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