Contributed by Adolph Beyerlein
Grandfather Wong and his stevedore company pioneered containerized freight services in Hong Kong during the decade that began in 1970. I always regarded this as a major achievement which had a very significant impact on shipping to and from Hong Kong.
I first met grandfather Wong in 1970 shortly after Anne and I were married . He came to Clemson to visit us during a business trip as manager and part owner of a stevedore Company. The purpose of the trip was to observe the loading and unloading of containerized freight at two major US harbors. His goal was to learn enough about container freight so that he could add container freight loading and unloading services to his Stevedore company. I am not completely certain which harbors he visited but I believe it was the San Francisco and New York harbors. At that time containerized freight was something very new and I did not at all understand the significance of going from old fashioned cargo to container freight.
In the following year Anne and I took our first trip to Hong Kong. At that time Grandfather Wong was trying to obtain financing to purchase machinery and obtain access to land to provide the container services. I remember it was difficult and during our visit he was not optimistic that he would get the financing. He predicted that the old fashioned way of shipping, loading and unloading cargo would be superseded by container freight within 3 to 4 years. At the time this prediction was not shared by many people including myself, but it turned out to be remarkably accurate.
Shortly after returning from our first trip to Hong Kong, we heard the very good news that Grandfather Wong had obtained the financing, and containerized freight and shipping services within his company became a reality. The company was very successful and operated well for about ten years. Two reasons for the success are: (i) the company was a first to provide new and innovative services that changed shipping, (ii) Grandfather Wong personally was able to provide all the technological knowledge needed to bring in ships to the harbor, unload and then load them and get them on their way in a very short time (I recall as little as 6 hours). This was important because dock charges were very expensive and levied by the hour.
Even though the company was very successful for about 10 years, struggles and difficulties remained. The Hong Kong government by eminent domain took the land on which his equipment and warehouses were based and forced the company to move further away from the main harbor on at least two occasions. Nevertheless the company survived for about 10 years and provided many financial rewards for Grandfather Wong and his family.
Memories from the branches of Fowler and Wong 