Director's Notes

Dear AES Cargo Associates,

The past month undoubtedly ranks as one of the busiest in AES Cargo's history. A great deal of our attention, along with the rest of the world's, has been directed towards the Middle East. As the need for humanitarian relief in Iraq becomes increasingly urgent, AES Cargo's field staff is busy providing important logistical support for the international aid that has started entering that country. Our operations are being conducted from the port of Umm Qasr, the point of entry for the bulk of Iraq-bound aid. With over a decade of experience in assisting with humanitarian relief shipments in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and the Middle East, our company is more than up to the task.

However, while we forge ahead with these important activities, our operations elsewhere are continuing apace. Nowhere else is this more evident than in Central Asia, where our Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan offices are continuing to experience steady growth. With all that's happened it's hard to believe that only 18 months have passed since we opened our first Central Asian office in Tashkent. Since that time AES Cargo has grown to become one of the largest freight forwarders in the region.

While it's nice to look back on our achievements, our present pace doesn't afford us many opportunities for reflection. On the home front, the hard work of our IT staff has paid off with the recent launch of the new AES Cargo website ( www.aescargo.com ). The site offers a full range of services in support of our revamped operations system and will eventually support complete interfacing between our clients and operations staff. It's all part of our commitment to provide our clients and partners with shipping solutions that make sense. As we forge ahead into what promises to be an even busier summer, rest assured that our commitment to providing you with unparalleled service will continue to be our top priority.

All the best from Budapest.

Sincerely,

Curt Clements
Managing Director, AES Cargo

What's in a name?

Before the words are lost forever at the hands of marketing strategists, AES Cargo would like to remind our clients of what 'AES' actually stands for.

Advance Expeditionary Services

Acronyms are double-edged swords. On the one hand, they're intended to shorten long and often cumbersome titles into a format that's easily remembered. On the other hand, acronyms can be so successful that the words they represent are often overlooked or even forgotten.

Take, for example, one of the world's most enduring acronyms - ACME. Created by the Sears company as a brand name for its products at the turn of the last century, the ubiquitous acronym can still be found stamped on everything from school supplies to anvils (most famously in Bugs Bunny cartoons!). The problem is nobody seems to remember what the acronym means. Interpretations range from 'A Company Making Everything' to 'American Craftsmen Employed' though at this point no one can say for sure.

As AES Cargo enters its second decade the words behind the AES acronym - Advance Expeditionary Services - appear to be in danger of heading for a similar fate. Indeed, a quick survey of the staff at AES Cargo's Budapest headquarters would suggest that the actual meaning of the 'AES' acronym is privy to only a select few. Namely, those who have been around long enough to know its origins.

One of these of course is Curt Clements, AES Cargo's Managing Director. He was in Moscow in 1992 at the brainstorming session that produced the company's original, but short-lived name - 'Express Services.' "We wanted to check that no one else had registered that name already but Russia was in such disarray back then that it was impossible. Sure enough, when we went to register we discovered that there was a Russian shipping company already using that name! With so few registered companies in Russia at the time it was pretty unbelievable."

However, what seemed like a stroke of bad luck eventually led the company to its current, more suitable name. As our Operations Manager Paul Cziraky points out, a name should express to customers what a company actually does. "The unique thing about our company is that we are often amongst the first people on the ground delivering humanitarian aid and disaster relief to isolated, developing regions. We tried to capture that in our company title.... if it sounds different than other cargo company's names that's because we're doing things that others don't."

So, what's in a name? A lot, apparently. So much that the AES acronym will no doubt continue to overshadow its lengthier counterpart. Oh well, you can't say we didn't try.

Bridging the technology gap

Creating a seamless link between the high-tech expectations of western customers and the low-tech reality of doing business in Central Asia and the Middle East is far from an easy task. Particularly when the technology gap resembles something more like a gaping chasm.

Luxuries such as bar code scanning and other technologies that make shipping go smoothly in much of the world are simply non-existent in the regions AES Cargo specializes in serving.

Abacus, Version 3.0

Forget the Linux vs. Windows debate that currently rages in the IT departments of many a western firm. For many of our Central Asian partners, the critical juncture is simply whether or not to go electronic. "At one of our partner companies, they use an abacus to do calculations," observed Managing Director Curt Clements. "And a lot of them type out their invoices on huge old typewriters where the letters don't align."

Unfortunately, upgrading AES Cargo's technological capacity in the hopes of overcoming the gap is not always a safe bet. The high-tech gadgetry that our managers carry with them is often severely hampered by conditions in some of the countries where we operate. For example, a mobile phone is useless if there is no electricity to recharge it. Electricity shortages are a fact life in many Central Asian countries making California's recent spate of power outages seem like a walk in the park.

Even with electricity, the antiquated infrastructure creates enough headaches of its own. Patience is truly a virtue if you're looking to surf the internet in Central Asia. With only antiquated analog line systems providing internet access downloading emails occurs at a snail's pace. Of course, that's if you're lucky enough to maintain your connection. Service providers are unreliable and, of course, the aforementioned threat of a power outage always looms.

What all this means is that, while AES always gets the job done, it is difficult to predict the specific time of arrival of shipments in these regions.

"FedEx can tell you down to the minute where your package is," said Clements, himself a former FedEx employee. "In some of the markets we deal with, that's impossible."

Still, something useful has come out this drudgery. The lessons AES staffers have learned from working under such difficult circumstances have allowed us to act in an advisory capacity for companies that are looking to do business in Central Asia and the Middle East. For advice on renting mobile phones to obtaining a power generator and everything in between, AES Cargo is your regional specialist.

The AES family:

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