Together with his team, he took the car apart and rebuilt it, adding over a tonne of thick glass and steel plating. This was no simple conversion. Doors had to be modified to allow for thicker windows, suspensions had to be strengthened to cope with the extra weight. But three years of work paid off. They have a promotional DVD at TGS now that shows one of these armoured vehicles being put to the test, sprayed with gunfire and subjected to a pounding that would do for most vehicles. The armoured car emerges battered but intact, solid enough – in a real situation – to save the lives of anyone inside.

George Bassadone, the chairman of TGS, proudly recounts the story to illustrate the range of skills and know-how that his business boasts in-house, much of it drawn from what he describes as the local Gibraltar gene pool. “We’ve got a lot of talented individuals here, and diverse talents,” he told B2B in a recent, rare interview. “Tom basically hand-built the first armoured prototype. There are plenty of people here on the team whose job I couldn’t even begin to do.”

The story of how Mr Bassadone transformed a small family car dealership into a multinational company is a story that hinges on this human factor. Over three decades and starting from scratch, Mr Bassadone put together a team of experienced professionals and created a business that is now the world leader in a demanding, unusual niche market. Under his stewardship, the company grew to take the lion’s share of the market for supply of project vehicles to relief operations and non-governmental aid organisations around the globe. From Asia to Africa, relief workers use Toyota vehicles supplied and equipped by TGS to bring help to communities devastated by war and natural disasters.

TGS provides a bespoke service to its many clients, tailoring vehicles to highly-specific needs. The company converts factory vehicles into ambulances, equips them with tyres for operations in sandy environments, or fits them with specialist communication kits. Some of the work is unusual and includes a Toyota land cruiser pick up which TGS fitted out with generators to be used by an oil company for steam cleaning out in the desert.

“It says a lot about the adaptability of our team that they can work round the challenge and come with a one-off design like that,” Mr Bassadone said.

And all from a modest set of offices and workshops on Devil’s Tower Road.

It all started with a phone call from Denmark in 1985. By that time Mr Bassadone had been working in the family business for eleven years, the last seven of them taking a prominent role in the company following the death of his father. The call was from a Danish Car Trader, who wanted to buy five right-hand drive Toyota vehicles for Africa. This was at a time when unauthorised distributors were setting up channels for distribution of vehicles, and Mr. Bassadone smelt a rat. He suspected that the vehicles were really destined for the UK market but, amused by what he thought was an elaborate cover story about aid work in Africa, agreed to supply them to the Danish company. As a precaution, he alerted the UK Toyota distributor.

“But of course, the vehicles never arrived [in the UK],” he said. “They truly went over to Africa, and that was the start of the trading relationship with the Danes.”

By 1989 Toyota, recognising that this was an important sector, asked Mr Bassadone to sell directly to the end customers and, in effect, cut out the middle man. Mr Bassadone set up Bassadone Project Vehicles, the forerunner to the present company, and got to work. Travelling widely, he fostered relationships with UN bodies and NGOs around the world, brought in experienced people to help guide the business. This was not like setting up an ordinary car dealership, for which there was an established process, a route map. This was a step into the unknown, from establishing the contacts to understanding their needs and setting up processes that met those requirements. Take language, for example. Knowing the importance of being able to communicate in one’s indigenous tongue, Mr Bassadone brought in French and German speakers, Danes and Dutchmen who knew the aid business and could talk freely with potential clients. “One of the incredible things about TGS is that there was no model to follow,” Mr Bassadone said. “Here was a business that had no guidelines.

By 1996, the business had received a full sanction from Toyota and became TGS, its present incarnation, a fully authorised company active in many areas of the car trade but specialising in the provision of customised project vehicles. “Gibraltar has really become a touch place,” Mr Bassadone said. “In the case of an emergency, the phones ring to the Rock. We’ve been doing the job for 20 years and we’ve become a blue chip partner for relief organisations, an implementing partner. The client has a trust in our performance. We have a trust in them. At the end of the day, we’ve tailored ourselves for their requirements.”

For years they have cropped up all over Gibraltar, rows of white Toyota four-wheel drive vehicles parked in neat rows in the most unlikely places. These are the factory models, the raw material which the TGS team transforms for work out in the field.

Until recently the cars were shipped in to Gibraltar on car carriers sailing directly from Japan. They were offloaded here and stocked piled, ready to be converted and shipped to the final destination depending on client needs. Space has always been a frustrating constraint for Mr Bassadone and his team, who have had little choice but to base parts of the business outside the Rock. The armoured conversions, for example, are now subcontracted and carried out in plants in Spain and Poland.

The car carriers now call at the port of Sagunt north of Valencia, where TGS is able to hold a substantial stock of vehicles. Cars are trucked down to Gibraltar to be converted and fitted with accessories, then trucked out again to Spanish or Portuguese ports for onward transport. On occasion, depending on the urgency, they have even been shipped by air using giant Russian Antonov freighters flying out of Málaga airport. It is a complex logistics operation that has Gibraltar as its hub, the centre point on which all else hinges. It works at speed sometimes. Recently, TGS shipped 21 ambulances in 21 days, a formidable achievement that further consolidated the company’s reputation for reliability under pressure. In the world of relief work, TGS has put the Rock firmly on the map. The vehicles shipped through this logistics chain end up in the four corners of the world. Africa is always a main contender, but they end up anywhere where there’s a problem. TGS, for example, was the first agency to get vehicles to Asia after the devastating tsunami.

For TGS, bad news on the TV screen means good news for business, but the company plays a crucial, positive role in that equation. “At the end of the day, I look at it from the point of view that our operation here supports the hardship that is created by natural disasters,” Mr. Bassadone said. “We’re not responsible for the natural disasters, but we help alleviate the pain.”

Eventually, TGS hopes to bring the Japanese car carriers back to the Rock, to find ways exploiting minimal available space for the good of both the business and Gibraltar as a whole. The company currently employs over 200 people on the Rock.

Close associates of Mr. Bassadone said he never stands still, something that he admitted with little hesitation. He said he was driven by a sense of personal duty to the legacy left to him by his father and grandfather. His was an upbringing infused with the entrepreneurial spirit of his predecessors, one that he embraced with vigour. “Both my father and my grandfather were in business,” he said. “I was born into a business environment. There’s a sense of duty to expand and take the business forward for the next generation.”

This is a success story, but there have been difficult times over the years too. A low point, he said, were painful shareholder wrangles that damaged relations with other members of the Bassadone family. “That was a very difficult time, a very testing time,” he said. “Business mixed with family is an explosive situation.”

George Bassadone’s style is to lead from the front, to put in as many, or more, hours than his staff, to inspire with ideas and to boost confidence and self belief. His company is covered in his fingerprints from top to bottom, but it is not only about him. “I believe my role is to give inspiration, to coax people along, but above all to allow them to develop, and in that development contribute to the company,” he said.

He wants to wind down in the coming years, take a step back into an advisory role and let others continue the frontline work. He has a daughter and two sons, one of whom, George, works at his side. “It’s a pretty tough environment but we’re in a strong financial position and of course, 2009 will happily come to an end on the 31st of December. We’re looking forward to an invigorated 2010.”

But challenges aside, Mr Bassadone insisted that he was genuinely thinking of retirement. “A lot of people tease me by not believing that I’m capable of running out of steam,” he said. “But I’m convinced I will run out of steam. I’m planning my retirement in about four to five years time.” (As he said this, Ernest Felipes, Mr. Bassadone’s business development manager, laughed and looked unconvinced. “He said that five years ago,” Mr Felipes said, smiling.)

But across the table from him, the TGS chairman insisted it was true. And once again, he returned to a theme that ran throughout the conversation.

“One of the real values in successful businesses, one which is off balance sheet, is the human factor, the people who are working in that team,” he said.

“One of things that we’ve done over is we’ve pushed people to their own extremes. I enjoy doing that. I enjoy pushing myself, and others.”

Last year, as the global economic downturn kicked into full swing, maritime lawyers in Gibraltar were predicting a busy time ahead.

Gibraltar has long boasted a solid reputation as an efficient jurisdiction in which to handle admiralty arrests, and with ship owners struggling to find work for laid-up vessels, it was only a matter of time before banks and creditors moved in.

By this summer, the predictions had come true.

Lawyers in Gibraltar say there is mounting evidence that lenders are taking tougher action against ship owners who default on loans and mortgages. They point to a string of recent admiralty arrests as proof.

On the waterfront in Gibraltar, there are clear signs that the economic crisis has hit some owners hard and there is a general expectation of more
to come.

At least 10 ships have been arrested here over the summer, with more coming in on a regular basis.

John Restano, a partner at Hassans who handles maritime work, told the maritime newspaper Lloyd’s List recently that the number of enquiries had risen sharply.

“Many banks are sitting on problem accounts and are now looking to take action,” he told the newspaper.

That sentiment was echoed by James Ramagge, a partner at another of Gibraltar’s law firms, Triay & Triay.

“We have seen a marked increase in enquiries and inevitably we expect there to be an increase in arrests in the coming months,” he told the newspaper.

Banks like to arrest ships in Gibraltar because admiralty cases are dealt with swiftly and efficiently here under British law.

That, coupled to an unrivalled geographic location overlooking the busy Strait of Gibraltar, means this is a jurisdiction of choice in troubled times. It also makes the Rock a potential barometer of a wider malaise in the industry.

During shipping’s recent boom years, admiralty work was slow.

The few arrests that did materialise were as a result of contract disputes or breaches of charter parties, with owners or insurers settling the amounts quickly and avoiding forced sales.

“These days, we’re arresting and selling ships because people are not paying,” said Christian Hernandez, a partner at Isolas.

“Many owners are struggling to make their payments because they haven’t got the work.”

“It’s much more drastic than a year ago.”

Resolving the legalities swiftly and with minimum fuss protects the equity in a vessel and enables a speedy return to business or, in the case of older ships, to the scrap beaches of Asia.

Gibraltar’s legal community is tightly knit and has a close working relationship with court staff, who are well-versed in the intricacies of admiralty law and try to give priority to shipping cases wherever possible.

In cases where vessels have to be sold, this can be done by way of public auction at the hands of a UK broker, or by private treaty in which two parties agree terms within certain restrictions.

In both cases, creditors – including crews, who take priority – are able to claim against the proceeds of sale.

And the business of arresting ships is not only profitable for lawyers.

Across the maritime community and beyond, from the port authority to ship agents, victuallers, hotels and airlines, this is an area of business that generates wide-ranging benefits.

Gibraltar and Spain will establish closer links in the maritime sphere as part of an agreement reached during the historic visit to the Rock by Spain’s foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos.

In the coming months officials will work to formalise multi-level contact between the ports of Gibraltar and neighbouring Algeciras, which share a bay that is increasingly busy with shipping activity.

The move aims to improve cooperation and coordination between the two ports in the wake of major casualties including the New Flame and the Fedra.

It will also ensure a synchronised joint response to pollution incidents in a region that has become a key bunkering point for vessels sailing through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Authorities in Gibraltar and Spain have worked together at a practical level in the past, including the daring rescue of 31 seafarers during the Fedra casualty.

But political difficulties had so far hampered efforts to establish formal frameworks on issues such as maritime safety and environmental protection.

Although the exact details have yet to be finalised over the coming months, the will to resolve those difficulties has now been clearly signalled from the highest diplomatic levels.

The agreement was reached following the ministerial-level meeting of the Trilateral Forum for Dialogue between the UK, Gibraltar and Spain.

Present at the discussions were Mr Moratinos, the first serving Spanish foreign minister ever to visit the Rock, his British counterpart David Miliband and Peter Caruana, Gibraltar’s Chief Minister.

“We have sought to ensure a high level of environmental protection in Gibraltar and the whole region…by proposing cooperation in areas such as pollution from maritime activity and traffic, bunkering operations, industrial emissions and water discharges, waste disposal and land reclamations, among others,” the three governments said in a joint statement.

“This cooperation is intended to take the form of liaisons, establishment of contact points and urgent means of communication, rehearsed cooperation in coordinated incident response and other means.”

British Airways (BA/BAW)

Earlier this year, the national carrier announced another of its frequent restructurings of its short and medium haul network from Gatwick Airport. As a result, whilst maintaining a single daily flight from Gibraltar to London, the service will switch from Gatwick to Heathrow Terminal 3. In addition, the flight has been retimed and will now leave ‘The Rock’ at 8.10pm each evening, arriving at Heathrow at 9.55pm. If you are connecting to another destination, it is pretty certain that an overnight stay would be required in London as the last departures from Heathrow leave before 11pm.

easyJet (U2/EZY)

The low-cost carrier has confirmed that it will reduce its schedule to London Gatwick from 12 weekly flights to just seven for the Winter period. The now single daily flight has also been retimed to leave Gibraltar at 2.25pm (Monday to Friday), arriving at Gatwick at 4.20pm. Although there are slight time differences at the weekend, the basic pattern is clear.
Monarch Airlines (ZB/MON)

Following the precedent of previous years, Monarch is reducing its schedule to London Luton from six weekly flights to five (from 01 November) and then four with effect from 11 November. The airline has also rationalised its timings and all flights will now arrive in Gibraltar 11.10am returning at 11.55am. This marks a change from the previous mix of morning and evening services. In a separate announcement, the airline has confirmed that the operation of its three weekly flights to Manchester will remain unchanged.

Ándalus Líneas Aéreas (EA/ANU)

Although operating a growing fleet of regional jet airliners and a disparate network of flights within the Iberian peninsula and to North Africa, Ándalus has made significant changes to its Gibraltar schedule. Despite initially announcing an increase in the service, from 27 September the airline cancelled its flights to Barcelona citing weak demand. Additionally, from the beginning of September the route to Madrid has also suffered considerable reductions, with the morning return from Madrid and early evening flight to the Spanish capital being cut. This trend looks set to continue with the Winter schedule. More positively, from 25 October the morning departure to Madrid is an hour earlier at 7.25am, arriving at 8.45am in good time for the day’s meetings.

Brian T Richards is a freelance air travel consultant. atc@briantrichards.com