Topical Topics 2011

Alan Chan, for most of his career was the owner of a tanker shipping company, which he sold off in 2007.  He now heads a holding company called Petroships Investment Pte. Ltd., with his latest project being a minority share in a port at Changshu on China’s Yangzi River. In the lead up to his business career in shipping, Mr. Chan was a broadcaster, translator and salesman in Singapore, as well as shipping executive in Hong Kong. He struck out on his own at the age of 38, founding a small tanker shipping company from scratch. It was far from plain sailing in the early years and it took more than a decade to establish the company, and another decade for it to grow.

 Mr. Chan completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School at the age of 47, and during this program developed and honed his skills in forecasting. In 2007 he began to sense that overcapacity was looming in the shipping business and made the decision to sell his now 37-year-old business, despite his strong emotional attachment to it. Petroships was sold to Brostron of Sweden, itself having been recently acquired by Maersk LIne. He has developed a strong interest in philosophical issues, as well as maintaining his interest in politics and current affairs. He reads widely and writes in the area of ancient Confucian philosophy, comparing it to the wisdom of the West, and believes strongly in the relevance of traditional Confucian precepts to the modern world.