Peter’s fame in Pago Pago has taken on another dimension. His previous visits were strictly business and even though we have had a presence there for only three years in the making, he and VP Tony Feist have built up many personal friendships from what originally were business relationships. Six or so years ago through Peter’s hobby of fishing he met up with a couple of guys who were deep into M.M.A. (mixed marshal arts) fighting. One was in clothing appropriately named Booyaa and the other was the owner of “The King of The Cage”, a fight promoter. Somehow or other family man Peter felt he could make a contribution behind the scenes of growing both businesses. Outside of work this hobby now consumes much of his spare time as he is heavily involved in management and promotions of fight gear and the fights themselves. Partners now include Mark Burnett of reality T.V. fame and billionaire Mark Cuban, cable TV and Dallas Maverick’s owner.

Polynesian men are gifted by unbelievable genetics and will power to achieve at sport and today American Samoa, population 60,000, boasts more NFL players per head of population than any county in America. Peter sees a huge potential for M.M.A. recruits from the South Pacific and has already put out the feelers to the local community to help find the next “Muhammad Ali” of M.M.A. The article here is a great human interest story and especially so for all those young men in Samoa, who dream of becoming professional sportsmen. Peter all his life has put his money where his mouth is. Because this is the case, this small island territory has embraced Peter as a “local hero”. Already 3,500 young Samoans proudly wear their Booyaa “T” shirts in appreciation, with pride but above all with affection for a man dedicated to maintaining close personal and business ties with all Samoans who come in contact with him. Little wonder our South Pacific Island division is the crown jewel of CII’s operations.

Although an American citizen by choice, I am also very proud of my Kiwi roots. Today an international organization based in Europe published its yearly survey of the least to worst countries for corruption. Heading the list, as has been the case since the survey of 180 countries started sixteen years ago is New Zealand, followed by Denmark and Singapore. Australia comes in at eighth with Canada, the States and Great Britain included in the top twenty. At the bottom of the list are Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan! That is not very surprising.

In my forty year career in forwarding I have seen huge windows of opportunities open up and many fledgling forwarding companies seize upon those opportunities. When mainframe computer manufacturers led the high tech boom, I saw a tiny little company, Computer Transport, open up in Australia and New Zealand and out of nowhere Alrod establish itself in San Francisco dedicated to Silicone Valley. In the nineties the renamed Flyway in Australia was sold for a fortune to Fritz/UPS and Al Rodriguez, with junior partner Stephen Russell sold to Circle (now Ceva) to become multi-millionaires after less than twenty years of being in business. Expeditors is now our largest indigenous forwarder and owner Peter Rose built this wonderfully successful company up to where it is today in less than thirty years. In the meantime, I have moved countries twice and today still remain a small businessman.

Looking back, I have few regrets. Over the years I have never been able to become comfortable dealing with countries, where I have difficulty understanding the culture, language and the political system. Rather than take the risk I have kept to my belief, I only want to deal with countries that speak English, are democracies and enjoy a way of life similar to me. Now I have reached my twilight years in business, I think that is why I am so happy with my lot, small as it is, because my working life has been about dealing with people who call “a spade a shovel” where a handshake on a deal still counts for something and where customers become personal friends. When I include the other chunks of business that passes over our docks, 95% of our revenue is derived from dealing with countries listed in the top twenty of the least corrupt. For my part, it has been a blessing to know who I have been dealing with and with all those little bumps in the road I have hit over the years, I have never fallen off my bike!

At CII, we take pride in many things staying the same. Our headquarters is in the same building since the day we opened our doors, our fax and phone number remain the same. Even our outdated, museum piece, second hand phone system, where an individual staff member is required to pick up the phone (no such thing at CII as a voice mail to switch the customer over to when you can’t be bothered talking) is still going strong after sixteen odd years! Our market niche, the South Pacific still represents 80% of what we do. Over the years, it is still just the same handful of carriers who receive the bulk of our business. It is a shame over the years to see the demise of so many mid-sized forwarders, either disappearing into that hanger in the sky or being swallowed up by bigger players but that is a change we have to accept. So many of my vintage have hung up their boots and yes, I do have difficulty acknowledging the future of forwarding is now safely in the hands of a new generation of smart people.

I do accept Pete and I may be regarded as anachronisms, but at the end of the day, I think we both share greater piece of mind clinging onto so many of the old same customs and things that never allow us to forget our roots; the most important of course being plain old fashioned personal service!