Some projects never really leave you.

This morning, seeing the news that Terminal 1 of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport ceased operations brought back a lot of memories.

For most people, it simply means checking in at a different terminal.

For me, it was a reminder of another side of the same airport — not the passenger terminal, but the cargo side, where one of the most important projects of my career happened.

In 2004, when the new Baiyun Airport opened, I was still at Air France.

A few years later, I found myself on the other side of the same airport — deep in the cargo world, working on the FedEx Asia Pacific Hub project.

Same airport. Different side, different chapter.

People often describe the FedEx Hub as a major logistics and infrastructure project.

It was.

But it was never just logistics.

The hub was relocated from Subic Bay in the Philippines, where this operating model was straightforward. Aircraft landed, cargo was unloaded, sorted, reloaded, and moved on.

In China, it was a completely different story.

Under the customs framework at the time, once cargo landed, it had to be declared.

But FedEx’s model depended on international transshipment — cargo touching the ground, being sorted overnight, and flying on to another country within hours.

It was not import.

It was international transshipment.

That legal and operational system did not exist in China.

That was the real project.

We were not just moving a hub.

We were making that model legally and operationally possible in China.

There were no clear legal frameworks for how international transshipment should operate, how a bonded supervision zone should be managed, or how this kind of regulatory system should work in practice.

Much of that had to be built from the ground up.

Although my background was in sales and marketing, that was exactly why I was pulled into the core team.

Projects like this are never won by engineering alone.

For FedEx, Customs and CIQ were the two most critical government agencies, and I was the focal contact point working across both.

We were not just managing operations.

We were selling a concept — a completely new operational model.

We had to help government agencies understand that this was not simply a FedEx facility, but a system that could improve regional connectivity, create long-term economic value for Guangzhou, and change how international transshipment could work in China.

That meant coordination, project management, credibility, lobbying, and in many cases, helping write the regulatory framework itself.

From the management rules of the bonded supervision zone to daily operational approvals, much of that system had to be built, negotiated, and written from scratch.

We needed partnership, not just approval.

I always say this with real respect:

Guangzhou Customs did not simply support us.

They worked with us.

They were willing to break new ground with us.

Without that mindset, none of it would have happened.

The challenges ranged from major regulatory design and bonded transfer systems to small operational details.

Sometimes it was whether the CIQ inspection dog room needed a window for better ventilation.

Sometimes it was why a customs gate would not open even after all the required data had been submitted.

If something got stuck, it usually found its way to my desk first.

I still remember calling one of the directors in the middle of the night because the operation could not wait until morning.

At one point, half joking and half exhausted, he said to me:

“For your bloody project, my wife and I are sleeping in separate rooms now, thanks to you calling me every night.”

That was the kind of project it was.

There were long nights in our P&E War Room.

Pressure came from every direction — operations, regulators, engineering, deadlines, politics.

Failure was simply not an option.

You just moved forward, together.

Being part of that core team shaped how I think, how I work, and how I solve problems.

At its highest level, logistics is not just moving cargo.

It is redesigning systems so the impossible becomes routine.

And sometimes, what looks impossible is simply a system that has not been redesigned yet.

A terminal closes.

A building enters its next chapter.

But some projects never really leave you.