EuroCham Cambodia
We recently sat down for three quick questions with James Mitchell-Kempner, Business Operations Manager at the global transport and logistics firm Flexport Cambodia.
He shared his background in the maritime industry as a navigation officer, how he’s helped lead the company’s entrance into Cambodia, and what opportunities the country holds for the logistics sector. James also discussed the ways that Flexport’s early adoption of digital technologies has positioned it for the ongoing AI revolution.
You began your career at sea before moving into freight forwarding and, more recently, international business development. Could you tell us a little about your professional journey and what inspired your move to Cambodia to help grow Flexport’s presence here?
James: I joined Maersk in 2012 as a cadet, trained through their cadet programme, by 22 I was responsible for 22 lives and more than a billion dollars’ worth of kit for 8 hours a day. You are working all over the world in places with very little outside support. That’s a steep learning curve and it teaches you to adapt fast and make quick decisions.
After 4 years as a navigation officer, I moved ashore, into the fine art industry for a couple of years doing project management, before joining Flexport four and a half years ago in our London office, during a period of rapid growth there.
Last year the opportunity came up to join Flexport’s Marco Polo program which positions tenured Flexporters around the world to help drive the company’s geographic expansion.
Flexport Cambodia launched six months ago.
Both me and my wife are loving Cambodia, everyone has been so welcoming, and I am really excited about the team we have built here.
Flexport sees this market as an extreme growth opportunity, as companies diversify their supply chains away from China. We want to be on the ground to drive the best possible experience for our clients.
Currently we have a team of 14. It feels like running a small startup, but with the backing of a much larger organisation behind it.
Cambodia continues to strengthen its position as a regional manufacturing and export hub. From your perspective, what opportunities do you see for businesses operating here, and how is the logistics sector evolving to support that growth?
James: Cambodia is evolving in front of our eyes. Ten years ago, this market was very well known for garments. Now we’re seeing real growth across automotive, plastics manufacturing, agriculture, and we only expect this list to grow.
I see two distinct opportunities here. The first is US companies diversifying away from China. Some through partner Chinese factories operating in Cambodia and increasingly, we’re hearing more conversations about companies setting up their own factories here instead.
The second is the domestic market: Cambodian companies are starting to export in larger volumes to the US, Europeand China. That’s exactly where a platform like Flexport thrives, giving local exporters access to the information and tools to run global freight, customs and compliance in new markets.
Flexport has been at the forefront of integrating AI and digital platforms into global logistics. Beyond the buzz around artificial intelligence, where do you think these technologies are already making a tangible difference for businesses moving goods across borders?
James: Flexport is the only top 100 logistics company in the world founded after the invention of the internet. That put us in the best position to integrate AI into our platform without having to unwind decades of legacy systems first.
It allows us to move at speed on several fronts. I think you saw that with the US tariff announcement on Independence Day. We were able to build a tariff calculator within 20 days, which was made freely available to all importers and exporters. Pairing industry exports with world leading technology.
We have also seen a lot of practical benefits automating a lot of the small manual tasks logistics is full of. Moving data from a document PDF into a database, into a customs clearance which had to be completed manually.
Our Customs AI Audit System has pushed the error rate on US customs declarations down to 0.2%, meaning fewer delayed containers and less time spent on rework.
Flexport Atlas gives us live berth and dwell data on the transshipment ports Cambodia cargo actually routes through – Singapore, Yantian, Cai Mep – so when congestion rises in Singapore, we can proactively tell the client and they can adjust a sailing or shipping mode before their cargo is even on the water.
