Mr. Patrick Hicks is one of the devoted readers of my Container Market Report.
He hosts and is the executive director of the Container Owner’s Association (COA), which takes place the day before the Intermodal Show.
I first met him when I attended the Intermodal in Shanghai in June 2011 for the first time.
I also had a chance to meet him at the Intermodal held in Hamburg that year.
I remember how well he handled the COA meeting, which was attended by 150-200 people, and the way he welcomed people in a very friendly and sociable manner at the reception, and I was very impressed that he is what a real British gentleman is like.
He is also the executive director of the International Tank Container Organization (ITCO) and is energetically flying all over the world.
EFI took over the agency of MCC, which was a public enterprise in Tianjin in 2014, but unfortunately MCC ceased the tank container business due to the business contraction in Tianjin city. As a result, EFI became a tank container agency for JJAP, but ever since we are occasionally relying on Patrick for tank container matters.
On the other hand, back in 2010, none of three Japanese shipping lines (NYK, MOL, K Line) were members of the COA, so when Patrick and Kate, his colleague, came to Japan in September 2011, I took care of their visiting 3 Japanese shipping lines and their having the press interviews with 4 industry newspapers.
Thanks to that, NYK participated in COA from the following year.
I have had a long relationship with him, and he is a good friend who sometimes gives me comments and encourages me on various reports.
I feel sorry that this year’s Intermodal Shanghai and Rotterdam had to be canceled amid the worldwide spread of the new coronavirus.
Under such circumstances, he made a special contribution from London, where he lives, about the latest situation of COVID-19 in the UK.
Mr. Patrick Hicks is the executive director of 2 associations referred in above;
The Container Owner’s Association (COA)
The International Tank Container Organization (ITCO),
as we well as 2 associations below;
The Cargo Incident Notification System (CINS)
The Container Self-Storage and Traders Association (CSTA)
I sincerely hope that many Japanese companies will join the international organizations sponsored by him and get a closer look at what is happening in the world.
EF International Ltd.
Managing Director
Harumi Nakao
(translated by Chizuru Oowada)
Letter from London by Mr.Patrick Hicks
Dear Harry,
Autumn arrived in England a few weeks ago – and it seemed to come very suddenly! After a beautiful Spring and Summer, with sunny days and gentle long evenings, we are now experiencing typical November weather – grey days, wind and rain! Like most of Europe, we changed the clocks at the end of October, so that means that although the mornings are a little lighter, it gets dark at 4:30pm. London is famous for its “Sherlock Holmes” fogs, but we haven’t had any of them yet. The trees are nearly bare, the leaves have all been blown off the branches – and I spend many hours sweeping them up from the path outside my front door.
As you reported in your recent EF International Newsletter, Covid 19 cases increased again here in September and October – so we are now in “lockdown” for the month of November. The Government expected this to happen, they knew that as soon as the Autumn arrived, people would be staying indoors more. It will last until the beginning of December, when the restrictions will be lifted a little.
The current lockdown means restaurants, pubs, bars and coffee-shops are all closed, although many of them are still selling take-away food and drinks. Supermarkets are still open, to sell groceries – but all the other “non-essential” shops are closed. Also, all the gyms, golf courses and football clubs have had to close down. However, professional football is still taking place – so there are a lot of football games on the TV.
The majority of people are still working, especially in industries which are not directly affected by Covid. Where possible, they are working from home, so the business district in Central London is very empty, with very few people going into their offices. But if you are employed in the travel, hotel and entertainment business, of course there is no work for you. For these people, the Government introduced a scheme to enable their wages to be covered. The system is called “furlough” – a very strange, very old, English word, which no-one had previously used. The furlough scheme is costing the country a lot of money, but at least it means that people’s jobs are being protected and retained – and they can hopefully return to work when things return to normal.
Our first lockdown was from March to June, when it was really quiet outside. People were staying in their homes and gardens, and just going out for a walk or on their bicycles for an hour a day. This time, it seems different to me – with a lot of cars on the roads and the traffic feels almost normal. Near our office, the streets are quite busy with a lot of pedestrians. In the shops and on public transport (buses, trains and the underground railway) everyone must wear a mask. But outside, it is not a legal requirement, which means that about half the people walking on the streets are wearing a mask.
At the weekends, I go for a pleasant walk near my house. I live in a suburb in the south-west of London, on the banks of the River Thames. It is very near to a very old town called Kingston – which is normally a busy shopping and business centre. The kings of England were crowned here in the 10th Century, and there is a Coronation Stone still in the middle of the town. We are also near to Hampton Court Palace, which was one of the palaces of Henry the Eighth, the famous King of England in the 16th Century. Normally, it is a very peaceful walk – but these days the path by the river gets very busy, as it is a convenient place for people to go for a walk or a run or a bike ride, especially as the gym and other sports are all closed.
The recent news about the new vaccines sounds very positive, but we know that it will take some time before we return to normal life – business and leisure travel, conferences and exhibitions, going into offices.
It is over a year since the last Intermodal Europe exhibition, and the next one will be another year from now – we are already planning for Amsterdam in October 2021. Intermodal Asia in Shanghai is scheduled to take place in July. We hope that it will be possible for international visitors to come to China then.
My colleague Kate and I are fine and keeping busy with a lot of work to do. Kate has been working at home for the last 6 months, while I have been coming into the office every day. We are still managing the four container industry associations – the Container Owners Association, the International Tank Container Organisation, the Cargo Incident Notification System and the Container Self-Storage and Traders Association (CSTA). We provide a lot of technical and market reports for these associations, and we are also organising webinars for them. These webinars have been very successful, with about 70-80 participants each time.
The CSTA (www.containa.org) continues to grow. This Association serves both the Container Trading and the Container Self-Storage Operators markets and we now have about 70 members. We have published a number of Technical Reports, Guidance Documents and Newsletters, which have created positive comments. We have also organised three CSTA Webinars – on the “Outlook for the Container Market”, “Container Coatings for Traders and for Self-Storage Operators” and the “Outlook for Container Trading”. These have been well-attended with some good feedback.
I hope you, your family and the EF International team are well. And I look forward to seeing you next year.
With very best regards from London
Patrick
About Patrick Hicks
Patrick Hicks studied at Cambridge University and has worked in the Container Shipping business since 1978, when he joined the P&O Shipping Company as a trainee. For many years, he published specialist magazines about cargo, containers, chemical distribution and railways, and he organised many conferences and exhibitions around the world. For the last 15 years, he has managed four international trade associations – the Container Owners Association (COA), the International Tank Container Organisation (ITCO), the Cargo Incident Notification System (CINS) and, more recently, the Container Self-Storage and Traders Association (CSTA).