Speech by Mr Cyril Rodrigo C.E.O S-NET Freight (Holdings) Pte Ltd At the launch of S-NET Freight in partnership with Singapore Post At the Fullerton Hotel Singapore, 17th April 2001

Good afternoon Mr Teo Ming Kian, Chairman, EDB; Mr Lee Hsien Yang, President and CEO, SingTel Group; Mr William Tan, CEO, Singapore Post; Mr Robert Lim, Chairman of the Board, S-Net Freight (Holdings); members of the Board of S-Net Freight (Holdings); distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

This is indeed a happy and exciting day for me and for all of us involved in S-Net Freight.
It had always been our dream, and that of our Asian partners -- most of whom we have worked together for more than 20 years - to set up a strong and non-fragmented Asian freight and logistics company -- sort of Asia's own response to a market that has long been dominated by foreign MNCs.

And how did we plan to do this? By harnessing the strengths, resources and talent already available within the Asian freight fraternity and to tie this to a global network of "best in class" type companies.
When asked recently about the timing of our launch, I have to say that more important than timing was the opportunities that came together for us to turn this concept into a reality. And we took it.
The speed with which S-Net was set up and became operational is testimony to the eagerness and commitment from all our regional and global partners. Their belief in S-Net was further validated with Singapore Post coming on board as our strategic equity logistics partner.

S-Net - "Asia's own answer" - is an admirable objective but can it be achieved?

From the outset, let me say that our valued airline partners present here today and our customers are integral to us achieving this goal. We thank you for your present and continued support.
We believe two things may help us achieve our goals. Firstly, we have structured the company using a simple model, keeping in mind the asian psyche for hard work, loyalty and equitable rewards. We were able to do this based on two decades of valuable experience we have gained in the market.

Secondly, what made it much easier for us - the management team and myself - was how willingly and, unanimously, all our regional partners looked to Singapore to take a "leadership" role. They see the value of Singapore, for its strong infrastructure for business, political stability and management expertise. We are very proud of this.
All our partners in Asia are leading companies in their own right and led by industry veterans. Now, under the s-net banner, they want to put their knowledge, network and experience at our customers' disposal, in this "new venture."

We are extremely pleased and excited to have on board in this venture, Singapore Post. The reason we were able to mutually conclude our agreement in a relatively short time was the many commercial opportunities both our organisations realised we shared going forward with this collaboration. Together Singapore Post and S-Net hope to build a strong logistics network to provide customers with a one-stop solution to their transportation and logistics needs.
Another opportunity for S-Net is in information systems. S-Net's system called "SWIFT" (S-Net Web-based Information Technology), is a non-legacy bound, Web-based system, and is our own in-house ERP application. More importantly, our customers have a user-friendly, nimble, "plug & play" system, which gives them complete, real-time control of their transportation and logistics information, all through any Web browser, from anywhere in the world.

I would like to acknowledge the presence here today of our valued partners from North America and Europe, and thank them for making the trip to Singapore to join us in the launch.
To complete our global network, as I have mentioned, we have partnered with "best in class" companies in North America and Europe. The common denominator being all of them are looking to S-Net to provide them with a common culture and coverage of the Asia Pacific. And we believe that they provide the best service in their own markets. Together, we can then provide our customers with a global reach yet with a very specialised and localised service.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Mr Teo Ming Kian for officiating at this event; Mr Lee Hsien Yang and Mr William Tan for their support of S-Net; the EDB for their assistance rendered thus far and for their continued guidance as we strive to establish this homegrown Asian brand name on to the global stage; Mr Eric Ang of DBS for his kind introductions; very special thanks to Mr Robert Lim, chairman of our board, for coming out of retirement to share with us his invaluable advice; to my management team, my heartfelt thanks especially for enduring the first few months of my hand at making "terrible" coffee whilst my verandah at home served as our office; to our airline partners again for your continued help; and last but not least, to all our customers to whom we will owe our success.

Thank you.
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