rates from the airlines and profits by selling he space in turn for a higher rate to the other forwarders. ASPAC serves international markets only through loose connections to overseas associates. In the late 1970s, the firm established a branch office in Manila but after the latter's traffic became increasingly directed towards the United States (rather than Singapore) the link between the two branches was severed. The Philippine branch has followed the larger industry trend towards into logistics services. Pointing to the recentness of development, ASPAC began offering distribution and vendor hub services only in 2002. example, it operates a distribution hub for the bookseller Amazon.com in the Philippines. It also handles all of the Philippine logistics for Teradyne (a US manufacturer of automatic test equipment used in semiconductor industry), its largest client. Interestingly, the firm used to specialise in perishables like its Singapore counterpart and, although it has now abandoned that market, cited the "disc line it gained in perishables as an advantage in meeting the extremely strict requirements of the semiconductor industry (interview with ASPAC, Manila, 12 August 2002).