InTrans June 2009

Visiting address:Visiting address:Visiting address:Visiting address:

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Room H12-05

Burgemeester Oudlaan 50

Postal address:Postal address:Postal address:Postal address:

Room H12-07

P.O. box 1738

3000 DR Rotterdam

Year 2008/2009 - Number 4– June, 2009

InTrans

Travel broadens the mind

Thesis dossier

Studytrip to Venice

Port Day: excursion to ECT and Odfjell

page 8

page 4

page 7

How’re you doin’? page 14

Trucking around the world page 12

What is that green stuff floating in the

canal? page 6

InTrans June 2009

Travel broadens the mind

This issue is dedicated to travel in the broadest sense of the world:

Travels to places, such as our Studytrip to Venice or a visit to the port of Rotterdam.

Sentimental travels, as the Studytrip in our memories.

Time travel to the moment the thesis if finished and we can go on holidays.

… And all other kinds of travel you can think of.

InTrans Redaction

Master Speeddate Event � by Hans Visser

On the 20th of May Transito and Star Supply

Chain Management organized the Master

Speeddate Event. It has become one of our

most recognized events therefore the location

was also special - Hotel New York . The follow-

ing companies were present: MTBS, Ecorys,

Tempo-Team, Samsung, Philips and Movares.

In total 38 students attended this event! Even

the weather was great (even in The Nether-

lands you might be lucky and catch some sun).

The day started off at 11:00 sharp with a train-

ing on applying for a job, CV building and as an

extra we had some information about salary

negotiations. I think especially the last part

caught everyone’s attention. I will share the

most important rule: Do NOT accept the first

offer. After this training we had lunch with vari-

ous sandwiches and we started with the speed-

dates.

For me, that was the moment when we had to

put most of our effort in. We had to make sure

the time schedule was respected, students were

on their place and companies had all the infor-

mation they needed. In total we had 10 rounds

of 15 minutes each, with a 30 minute break in

between, where participants could have a drink

or a snack. I was lucky enough to be selected

by Ecorys and MTBS and I really had a great

time, though I was anxious at the beginning,

stress levels went down once we get into the

conversation. Other UPT students were also se-

lected for interviews with Movares and Sam-

sung.

After the speeddates we had a social drink with

‘bitterballen’ and sate, which was really nice af-

ter a long and stressful day. As everyone was

happy (both students and companies), I left

with a great feeling, together with Angelique,

InTrans June 2009

Joost (Supply Chain) and Dirkjan (Supply

Chain). I’d like to thank everyone present and a

special thanks to the companies for making the

event possible. If you haven’t been there this

year, I’d like to invite you to the next one!

Transito Soccer Match: a revanche? by Wai Jie Lung

On the 25th of May, the third

Transito soccer match took place.

Usually it was UPT students play-

ing against UPT teachers: the first

match was won by the students,

the second match by the teachers.

You probably think that now the

winner in the third match will be announced.

But it is not that easy, as this time we had so

many players that we had two mixed teams:

Team 1 consisted of UPT staff: Erwin, Bart and

Piet and students: King and Carlos. In Team 2

played teachers Leo and Gerard and students

Wilfred, Ilse, Joost and Maurits. The guys really

did their best to show their soccer skills. In the

end it was Team 1 that won with 6:4!

Will there be a final match between the UPT

students and the teachers? Are we ever going

to find out which team is better? Do you want

to know? Join us next time!

InTrans June 2009

Studytrip to Venice by Sebastiaan van der Vliet

Pictures by Derya Kayali

It has become a tradition – the yearly Transito Studytrip. For this year, the destination was Venice in Italy.

It was a nice Tuesday morning when we left. The flight was fine, but unfortunately, the Transavia chairs in the airplane were so small, that a lot of tall Dutch guys (including myself) had problems to sit comfortable. When we arrived in Venice, the weather was not as good as in The Netherlands (what a surprise).

After a bus trip (which was as long as the flight itself) we arrived in the centre of Venice. What a beautiful city, what an experience! Buildings are wonderful, but what is interesting is that Venice doesn’t know road transport, so everything goes by boat. We observed bus boats, TNT parcel boats, ambulance boats, police boats, even funeral boats. For a transport fan it’s a true paradise!

After the keys to the apartments had been collected, we went to leave our luggage. The

apartments were very beautiful, located in the old centre of Venice. Our apartment had a splendid view over a Venetian Canal. After having our first dinner in Italy, we had a very funny introduction quiz organised by Max and Ruud.

The next morning, we went to the university, where Professor Van der Borg introduced the program of the coming days. The university is also located in the old part of Venice. In the meantime, the whether had become wonderful and it stayed very warm (compared to Dutch standards) for the rest of the day. From the university, we walked to the urban redevelopment zone, via some interesting places as the Rialto Bridge and the famous San Marco Square. When we arrived at the zone, we saw an enormous old marine base, which is under reconstruction to become a cultural centre. We were guided trough the area by an architect. He explained that everything is totally different in Italy than in the Netherlands. They are able to calculate the costs of small parts of the project, but it was impossible to say what the whole project will cost. It was even harder to say when the project will be finished. After the visit to the redevelopment project, we had some free time and we discovered other parts of Venice. After that, we made a very tasty Italian pasta in our apartment (which is not as

expensive as in a Venetian restaurant).

The next day was a day with rain, especially in the morning. Fortunately, we had a morning college in the university about port redevelopment in the Venetian and Adriatic region. After the lecture, we went to the port of Venice. Together with some Greek students and representatives of the Venetian port Authority, we had a cruise to the whole port. No bigger contrast is

Quiz-night, team bandana vs. team bath cap

Koekhappen > Wai Jie against

Wil...Wai Jie looks very hungry

InTrans June 2009

possible between beauty and ugliness! We have seen only one container ship loading. No further activities were observable. Only a big shipping wharf was very impressive. There they are constructing enormous state-of-the-art cruise boats. The rest of the port complex was very outdated and seems of not much economic

importance anymore. After we have retuned to the centre, we had a little tour by Professor Van der Borg, who showed us some wonderful places of Venice.

The next day – the weather improved – we started with a lecture again. This time professor Van der Borg explained us that Venice was one of the worst managed cities in the world. The city lost many inhabitants. Some twenty years ago, there used to live some 160.000 people in the old city of Vencice, these days only 67.000 remained. This is because the city is too crowded and it doesn’t satisfy the needs of its citizens, for example in terms of facilities, so many people moved away. Only elderly people still live there. The solution seems to be to get rid off the half of the tourists, and especially of the people who do not stay in Venice for longer than couple of hours and do not tend to spend a lot of money. This brings enormous problems. After the lecture, we went to the municipal department which was responsible for the

budget to improve the quality of the city of Venice. Unfortunately, they were not able to tell us the real amount spent. In the evening, we had a great last diner, in a special local restaurant. The dinner consisted of many kinds of fish, served in a lot of courses. Unfortunately, in my dish something was wrong, which lead to a little accident on the San Marco square, later that evening.

The next day, we had to return home, but not before we had eaten some of the wonderful Italian ice creams… With the same airplane – but with more space for legs, as we could sit at the emergency exits – we had a comfortable flight back.

It was a great Studytrip! It was not only very informative, but it was also a very gregarious week! From this place I would like to thank the organising committee for all the work. Everything was perfect! Only the weather could be better sometimes.

Restaurant Dalla Mari-

sa, present for Pro-

fessor van der Borg

Dalla Marisa, group picture, food was delicious!!!

Program Studytrip

Tuesday 21/04:

11.30 Meeting at Schi-

phol Airport, Flight to

Venice

Shopping with the mem-

bers of your apartment

21:00 Introduction Quiz

Wednesday 22/4:

09.30 Meeting at the

University of Venice, Pro-

fessor van der Borg

11.00 Sightseeing in Ven-

ice & urban redevelop-

ment, Professor van der

Borg

Site Arsenale, Dr. Ambra

Dina

Thursday 23/4:

09.30 Lecture port of

Venice, Professor Soriani

14.00 Visit port of Venice,

Venice Port Authority

Friday 24/4:

09.30 Lecture Venice

and its Economy Profes-

sor van der Borg

13.00 Visit European Af-

fairs Municipality Venice,

Dr. Ravenna

19.00 Dinner @ Dalla Ma-

risa

Saturday 25/4:

Sightseeing and shop-

ping

Group Pictu-

re: forgot the

name of the

bridge :D, but it

was a very

warm day...

InTrans June 2009

What is that green stuff floating in the

canal?

Venice’s beautiful canals and the Saint Mark’s square attract tourists from all over the world (some may say too many), but for Transito members Wilfred Mak and Ewa Paluszkiewicz, it is the green stuff in the canals – algae -that really catches their attention. Winners of this year’s Rabobank Mainport Innovation Award, Wilfred and Ewa will co-write their thesis on the subject of sustainable innovations in Rotterdam.

InTrans: What is your idea for the Mainport In-novation Award?

E: The main idea is to grow algae in the port of Rotterdam using the pollutants produced by the port. Algae are small plants that live in or near water (e.g. swimming pool). They have many applications, one being a type of biofuel. There is a Polish say-ing: to roast two pieces of meat with one flame. In our idea, reducing pollu-tion and producing the fuel are the meat, algae are the flame.

W: There are also supporting elements to the main idea— an incentive scheme and a biomass trading platform, something like London Metal Exchange.

InTrans: How did you come up with this idea?

E: We started with several other ideas, but none of them survived the scrutiny of our coach Wouter Jacobs. We then switched our focus to the environment, specifically the Rotterdam Cli-mate Initiative. After some research, voila! Out comes the algae idea.

InTrans: What can you do with algae apart from producing bio fuel?

W: They can also be processed into fertilizers, food stabilizers, medical and pharmaceutical products. You can even eat them! The seaweed

used in sushi is a type of algae. They are yummy.

E: They can also be used in cosmetics. I have done a full body algae treatment once, a very smelly process but very ef-fective. Look at my silky smooth skin;

they used to be as coarse as sandpaper.

W: yeah, a really really coarse piece of sandpa-per

E: Stop it.

InTrans: What has it got to do with Venice?

W: Venice’s port authority announced recently that they are planning to build a power plant fueled by algae. The plant aims to produce enough energy for the port and the ships docked at the harbor. It is still early stage but it is a very exciting project and we hope it works out well.

Semi-finals, as 1 of 5 finalists

we presented our idea to the

jury

And the winner is…

Deltaliqus Yearly Din-

ner, 19.01.2009. Ewa

and Wilfred with Mini-

ster van der Hoeven

and President of Del-

taliqs Mr van Sluis

Algae

InTrans June 2009

Port Day: excursion to ECT and Odfjell by Wai Jie Lung

On the 9th of April, Transito together with UPT teachers organized the Port Day. During that day, we vis-

ited the terminal operator ECT and Odfjell tank terminal in the port of Rotterdam.

The Port Day is an obligatory part of the semi-nar Advanced Port and Transport Economics for UPT master students. In the morning (9am!) we left with the bus to visit these two compa-nies. We first visited ECT, where we had a meeting with the staff of the marketing and sales department. Mr Erik Nijhuis gave us a presentation about ECT. After that he gave the floor to the students to present their ‘out of the box’ ideas for the assignment they had formulated: ‘Find a way for ECT to add value to its customers with commercial, operational and/or logistical concepts.’ The assign-ment was to give a 10 minutes presentation which is to the point and invites for a relevant discussion.

The UPT master students presented some inter-esting ideas during that day. Some of them were really out of the box. Examples are the introduction of a Customer Loyalty Program for ship-ping lines based on container vol-ume and call frequency, the crea-tion of a Deep Sea Terminal Lock and the integration of a Priority Containers Appointment System (PCAS). It was very interesting to exchange knowledge and thoughts about the concepts with ECT, teachers and the students them-selves.

We asked Erik Nijhuis from ECT and two teach-ers Martijn van der Horst and Wouter Jacobs who were also present at ECT how they experi-enced the day and what they think of the out-of-the-box ideas for ECT developed by the stu-dents. This is what they said:

‘On behalf of ECT I must say that we were happy to see a wide variety of ideas and con-cepts in technical or operational solutions as well as strategic or marketing ideas. My compli-ments to all students for the creativity and high level of concepts, given the limited amount of time for preparation. As we already indicated during our meeting some of the concepts are more realistic to implement than others and some of the ideas are already used by ECT. That means that the students are clearly aware

of the factors which are important for a terminal operator to stay competitive (Erik Nijhuis).’

‘This year it was the first time that the

Transito Port Day was part of the education program of the UPT-Master. As lecturers we find it important that students understand the different dynamics in the port sector and under-

stand the interests and strategies of port actors. With present-ing the ideas for ECT, the students showed their ability to under-stand the business environment of ECT and to develop new

concepts. Moreover we are glad with the to-the-point presentations and the answers given by the students in response to the critical remarks of the Marketing and Sales department of ECT.

InTrans June 2009

It could be said that the ideas were diverse and creative. Thinking about new ideas is always a trade-off between what is desirable and what is possible in the short run. This should always be done through argumentation. The presentations and the business case reports showed this to a large extent. We are looking forward to com-bine the Transito Port Day with the seminar Ad-vanced Port and Transport Economics in 2010 (Wouter Jacobs & Martijn van der Horst).’

In the afternoon we visited Odfjell, which is one of the largest single tank storage terminals in

Europe. We got a bus round tour of the tank terminal. Our guide was Mr Robert Kok who is a Human Resources Officer. Because of the secu-rity reasons we were not allowed to go out, as tankers are full of chemicals and one has to wear protective clothes. After that, there was a presentation about possible jobs at Odfjell and what we as UPT students can offer to Odfjell. All students were asked to talk about their big-gest challenges in life.

It was definitely a fun and educational after-noon!

Thesis dossier

As InTrans is with you for good and for the

bad, we want to support you even in the hard

times like writing your master’s thesis.

First, as a responsible and professional helping

hand, we have to make the gravity of the situa-

tion clear to you:

From today (21 June) you have exactly

8 weeks and 4 days = 60 days =

44 weekdays

to hand in your thesis if you want to graduate

in the academic year 2008/09.

(How did we calculate that? 20 August 2009 is

the last day to submit your thesis.

http://www.wolframalpha.com/ helped us the

math)

Oh no, we didn’t mean to scare you! Calm

down. InTrans mobilized best resources to help

you out. Here are some tips how to write a

good thesis from UPT teachers.

Choose a subject you like! Ask yourself a

question that you really want to know.

Which subjects triggered you during the

Master UPT?

InTrans June 2009

1. Start with a personal brainstorm/mental

map of your topic. Write all your ideas and is-

sues on a big white (or brown) paper. Repeat

these brainstorms a number of times during

your thesis writing and hang the results on your

wall.

2. Communicate your thesis ideas; of course

with your supervisor, but also with other stu-

dents or even your mother of little sister: ex-

plaining what you are doing helps you to think

about the subject. A clear story helps and dis-

cussion or clarification is always good.

3. Produce a very good problem statement:

"What's the problem?" And ask yourself often

in relation to your problem: "so what?" Inter-

modal Innovation? So what—what is it good

for? Etc.

4. Make a very good plan of your writing: de-

fine tasks and define the time you want to de-

vote to the tasks, like: desk research: 10 days--

week 33 en 34. Write interview protocol: 1 day:

August 24, etc....

5. Start writing immediately. Don't wait with the

writing of your thesis until the last month or

week.

6. Make a structure of the thesis: first chapters,

second paragraphs and finally sub paragraphs.

The start of the structure is your brainstorm/

mental map.

7. Work in a regular pattern: start each day at

the same time your thesis activities—start with

a little bit of writing or reading.

8. Reading scientific articles is often a very

good way to produce new ideas and to stay

motivated for your subject.

9. Clear writing is often the result of clear think-

ing. Don't write without a proper idea—do not

produce just text, but start thinking, produce

mental maps and produce a structure, etc. Dis-

cuss your ideas...

10. Live a good life: go to bed early, be moder-

ate with your alcohol and drugs consumption,

running is very good to clear your mind (or get

new ideas)—but sporting in general is good, eat

healthy: no junk food, but freshly made pastas

and a good breakfast! Do not isolate yourself

for a number of months: socialize! Don't work

all the time, relax in the weekends and in the

evening, try to do a bit of yoga every day, con-

tinue reading the newspaper, be nice, etc. etc.

I wish you all lots of success with writing the

thesis and producing your research and am

very interested in reading the results!

Dr. Bart

Top 10 tips for how to write a good thesis from Dr. Bart

Don’t forget to check the website of the Department for Exam Administration:

http://www.eur.nl/english/ea/degree/master/economics/

You can find there deadlines for handing in your thesis, formal requirements and information

about graduation ceremony.

Practical advice

Use besides your supervisor other UPT-staff members as a

peer/ an expert on a specific topic. The UPT staff members

are besides scientific research and teaching also involved in

research for governments and market parties.

InTrans June 2009

Let me start that there's not a blue print for

writing a thesis. The way you approach the re-

ality about whatever you study should be driven

by your own interest. There are however some

steps to secure a good thesis:

ensure your support from an expert/ in-

ternship/ student partners

write a good research proposal: don’t worry

about what you write, you are not graded by

the stuff you write along the process but what

comes of out it ultimately. And the staff is here

to support you in it. But the staff will always be

the advocate of the devil: training you to the

max. it is our job, that’s what we are paid to do

so. We want to train to you. Do not be afraid of

the staff on whatever you propose: use any

skills in your direct environment: its this about

what ultimately will optimize your

research and your career.

Be original: I did "exactly what the profes-

sional world expect me do to do" does not dis-

tinguish yourself in the current international la-

bor market. So be original and critical.

Be critical: Is the world organized as the way

you think it should be? Is it unethical or does it

provide opportunities?

Read and get inspired! Academic books,

popular journals and magazines (the interna-

tional herald, the FT, The Economist) and go to

the library (search first on internet, but then

READ!!!!!).

In the end: be yourself, distinguish yourself

and be curious. That’s the most important

thing: to create an independent view about the

world. After that you can go on with your life

making profits for other companies, or perhaps

you are a cosmopolitan or perhaps nationalist?

Its all fine, but always you need to realize why

are actors doing what they are doing and what

is backing up your argument. That in the end

makes you a MASTER.

Therefore: Use the advice/ knowledge on meth-

odology of the staff otherwise you will get lost

in this world of exploration, but get experienced

by whatever you do and the world around you.

As an example: this is music which helped me

to shape my ideas and think about the world in

societal dynamics (whether individuals, seaports

or cities in a certain time and age) when I stud-

ied just like you. This has never been send out

at MTV because it is too critical to the empire of

MTV

and associate social infrastructure because the

clip is at odds with the very global discourse

MTV represents. Read: "Jihad vs. McWorld" of

Benjamin Barber of 1996 (advisor of Bill Clinton

administration) and you realize that 9-11 is

more an outcome than an event. Am I a global-

ist and for freedom? Yes! Is the West just rep-

resenting what the world market wants or does

at it act as an Empire like the Romans? Well,

seeing this clip?)

It dates back to the late 1990s:

h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ?

v=gAaog6PHZrY

Good luck, be yourself and stay critical!

Best

Wouter

Be yourself and stay critical!

by Wouter Jacobs

InTrans June 2009

Preparing a research question is like a "good wine....it needs

time…". Don't be afraid to rephrase and/or to rethink your

research question.

The mtbs 2009 MEA – Maritime Entrepreneurship Award

Maritime & Transport Business Solution — mtbs— is looking for master

students in economics with a heart for the port and maritime sector

and the with ambition and skills that match the profile of an mtbs

analyst.

For the mtbs 2009 MEA we like to challenge you to be a true Entre-

preneur. We would like you to develop an entrepreneurial solution for the Port and Mari-

time Sector in Rotterdam based on at least one of the three components of entrepre-

neurship Growth, Innovation, Competitive Position.

Please present your Entrepreneurial Maritime Solution by email to

[email protected]

Deadline 25th June 2009

The winner of the mtbs 2009 MEA will receive a Prize of € 1000 & consulting hours at mtbs.

The winner will be announced on 30th June at 5.00 pm on the ground floor of the mtbs

offices in “Het Witte Huis”- Wijnhaven 3 - Rotterdam at “Het Bolwerk”. We would be

happy to see all of you there!

Thesis writing: a few tips

The thesis is a crucial element in your MSc pro-gram mainly for two reasons. First, it’s the final step in order to get your degree and, second, it’s the opportunity to apply the concept you have learnt to something you like.

A thesis can be defined as “an original, logically arranged collection of data, arguments and conclusions which may be challenged by an ex-pert, professional audience”. What you need is simply a good concept, a set of indisputable data, a sound reasoning and a healthy dose of self-critique.

When you select the topic of your thesis re-member to choose a topic you like and/or a topic that could be related to your future job. For example, if you would like to work in the tourism sector you should write a thesis about

tourism. This will definitely help you when ap-plying for a job. If you don’t have a clear idea of what you want to do, you might get inspira-tion by reading other thesis.

Finally a few tips for the writing:

• Not everything you write will be useful for your thesis;

• Don’t write everything at once, your ideas need time to come out;

• As soon as you use a reference, write it down!! It will save you plenty of time at the end of the thesis;

• Be flexible: if necessary you should reor-ganize your argumentations (a different research question or methodology…).

Good luck!

Giuliano Mingardo

InTrans June 2009

Trucking around the world by Maarten van der Westen

It is early morning and the weather is nice. A truck is driving on a highway in France. The truck driver, René, is on his way to the south of France, where he will deliver his cargo. He drives from Holland to France two or three times a week.

René enjoys driving his truck, a brand new DAF with a curtainside trailer. It is the 105XF SSC, the top of the line model. Still, René would pre-fer the Scania; the cab is a bit smaller but he would enjoy hearing that V8 engine! But still, the 510 horsepower he has now is more than enough for him: even the Alps are no chal-lenge.

Then René gets stuck in a traffic. Cars and trucks move slowly, and after 45 minutes René can see why: a Polish truck is lying on its side on the side of the road. René shakes his head and mumbles: “These Polish guys really can’t drive.”

But soon traffic is moving again, and René speeds up to 85 km/h, the speed the truck is limited to. A BMW overtakes him at great speed, only to swerve off direct in front of René’s truck and take the exit. A short swear leaves René’s mouth. But traffic isn’t bad today, only around cities it is busy.

He hopes he will get a parking spot at the truck stop later, when his driving time is over. He can only drive a couple of hours, then he needs to rest. The police enforces these rules very strictly.

But these are problems for later. René puts a new CD in the CD-player and starts singing. To-morrow he will unload his goods in a town at the seaside where other people go on holiday. Life isn’t bad as a trucker…

It is early morning and the weather is nice. A truck is driving on the highway in Utah. The truck driver, Gary, is on his way to California,

where he will deliver his cargo. In a week or two he’ll be back in Illinois, where he lives.

Gary enjoys driving his truck, a brand new Freightliner with a box trailer. It is the Cascadia model, the newest aerodynamic model. Still, Gary would prefer an old-style model, like a Pe-terbilt or Kenworth, with a lot of chrome, a 500 horsepower CAT-engine and a large sleeper be-hind it! But his Freightliner also has a comfort-able sleeper, and is very fuel efficient.

Gary speeds with 110km/h on the four lane highway. He hopes there aren’t any “smokeys” around. Suddenly a Toyota with a huge spoiler overtakes the truck on the right hand side and swerves into the fast lane. Gary shakes his head and mumbles “Damn imports, these ricers can’t drive.”

Fortunately it’s not very busy and he’s making good time. Tonight he will pull into a “Flying J’s”, one of the largest truck stops. It’s like a city of its own, with restaurants, a barber shop, clothing shops etc. He sure deserves after a day of driving!

But he has to get there first. For now, Gary is enjoying the country music on the radio. Driv-ing through the beautiful American landscapes is just like holiday. Life isn’t bad as a trucker…

It is early morning and the weather is nice. A truck is driving on a dirt road in the outback of Australia. The truck driver, Mike, is on his way to Perth, where he will deliver his cargo. He’ll be there in a week, if everything goes well.

Mike enjoys driving his truck, an old Mack Titan “Roadtrain” with three trailers behind it. The combination is almost 50 meters long. Still, Mike would prefer one of those newer European models. Especially the Volvo FH-XXL has a lot more space inside.

Mike drives with a speed of 100km/h on the dirt road. Two days ago he saw the last truck, and

InTrans June 2009

he saw only a handful of cars. Suddenly Mike sees a kangaroo on the road. A thump follows. Mike knows he can’t break at these speeds, and this is why he has a “roo bar” to protect the front of the truck. Mike shakes his head and mumbles: “Damn kangaroos!”

Mike has been driving for 13 hours without a break. He’s tired. In about 30 minutes he should pass one of the few roadside bars, where he will stop and have a beer. Fortu-nately, Mike has some pills to keep him awake. He has to keep moving in order to earn any money.

The trucker’s cab is very noisy but Mike doesn’t care. He’s driving his truck through the endless Outback and nobody bothers him. Life isn’t bad as a trucker...

It is early morning and the weather is nice. A truck is driving on the road in India. The truck driver, Sanjeev, is on his way to Mumbai, where he will deliver his cargo. He has no idea when he will come home, it depends how much work there is, and if his truck will not brake down. Last week, his gearbox broke and he spent a week fixing it.

Sanjeev enjoys driving his truck, a Tata 5-ton truck that is almost 40 years old. It is his pride. Of course, Sanjeev would prefer a newer truck

but only big companies can afford those. San-jeev made his truck look really pretty.

Sanjeev drives slowly in between the holes in the road. Cars, motorcycles and a lot of bikes constantly swerve around the truck. Suddenly, Sanjeev sees a truck driving on the wrong side of the road. He drives around it as if it was a usual business.

Later he passes a burnt-out truck wreck. Appar-ently, the truck got into an accident, and local people set fire to the truck in an act of revenge. Sanjeev shakes his head and mumbles: “Hopefully the driver could flee in time.”

After delivering his cargo, he will keep waiting outside the factory for return cargo, together with other truckers. While waiting he can do some repair, or paint his truck, or sleep in a hammock under his truck. But he hopes he has cargo soon, so he can drive back home.

Using his horn almost constantly to move through the forest of motorcycles and bikes, Sanjeev carries on. Next to the road he sees people begging for money on the edge of a slum. Fortunately, Sanjeev's family lives in a real house. He's happy he has his truck, and makes money for his family. Life isn't bad as a trucker...

Maarten van der Westen

InTrans June 2009

How’re you doin’?

When I graduated in 2006 from Erasmus after

an intensive 15-month internship with Air Traf-

fic Control the Netherlands, I didn’t jump right

into my current job. Rather, I left for Argentina

to properly learn Spanish and to figure out what

career I would like to pursue. I came up with

two basic requirements: the work I was sup-

posed to do needed to be “relevant to the soci-

ety” and I would prefer a strong international

component. Eventually I chose to work with

ECORYS Transport & Mobility. As a whole

ECORYS NL, UK and our international subsidiar-

ies provide advice in virtually every aspect of

public policy.

In September of 2007 I started to work as a

junior consultant on an European research pro-

ject. I quickly learned that working at ECORYS

implies having quite some responsibility right

from the start; I was managing and executing

my own project from the first day. Although it

was a

challenge,

I took on

the job

and suc-

cessful ly

c o m -

pleted the

p r o j e c t

only a

f e w

m o n t h s

later. Part of the deal is that I was able to travel

to various beautiful European cities for meet-

ings with partner companies from all around

Europe. Actually, my first trip took place only 6

weeks after I

j o i n e d

ECORYS!

At the level

of each divi-

sion, (junior)

consultants

are encour-

aged to work

in the various fields covered by that division.

Some fields and projects are aviation

(evaluation of aviation safety), maritime trans-

port (port development), sustainability

(Emissions Trading Scheme) and passenger

transport (road pricing or Amsterdam metro).

There is also the opportunity of working for a

wide variety of clients, including Dutch minis-

tries, the European Commission or the World

Bank. Personally, I very much appreciate the

mix of clients and topics with which you are

dealing at the same time. However, some col-

leagues chose not to work internationally.

Within that broad range of topics and clients,

we provide a variety of economic consultancy

services to support policy makers in developing

policies aimed at realising the goals determined

by the politicians.

ECORYS is not just about working or completing

a task given to you by your manager. Rather,

all of us aim at enjoying our work and the time

with our colleagues, as well as creating your

own opportunities. I have been enabled to re-

vive Young ECORYS, which organises a variety

of activities for young employees – which actu-

ally combines both. The latest challenge I have

In this part of the InTrans, we ask Transito members to tell us something about their job. In this issue: Robert Ossevoort, President of Transito in 2004/2005.

Svalbard, the most extraordinary pla-

ce I ever visited (for business!)

InTrans June 2009

taken up is working in India for some 10

months – which is quite a unique opportunity.

This story is juts to tease you. If you are inter-

ested in working with ECORYS, you are wel-

come to send me an email to

[email protected]

Robert Ossevoort

Train your brain with SUDOKU!

Remember 27 June

More information on www.transito.nu

InTrans June 2009

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Visit us @ www.transito.nuVisit us @ www.transito.nuVisit us @ www.transito.nuVisit us @ www.transito.nu

The editors of the InTrans are: Ewa Paluszkiewicz Katarzyna Kurek Heidi Mauritz

The next InTrans is coming out in Sptember 2009 Would you like to write something for the us? You are invited to send your input to [email protected]

Bart Kuipers Wouter Jacobs Martijn van der Horst Giuliano Mingardo Maarten van der Westen Robert Ossevoort (Ecorys) Erik Nijhuis (ECT) Robert Kok (Odfjell) Wai Jie Lung Hans Visser Sebastiaan van der Vliet Derya Kayali Wilfred Mak

subscribe to the Transito SIN-Online channel and join the UPTE ’08-’09 Facebook group to

get up-to-date information. Let’s keep in touch!

Remember to regularly visit our website www.transito.nu for news, carrier and thesis oppor-tunities and information about activities.

You can always contact us by sending an e-mail to [email protected]

Keep your finger on the pulse!

Transito is a study association for the students of Urban, Port and Transport Economics. Transito tries to bring the theory of the classes alive in practice. That can be by visiting companies and institutions ‘in the

field’, but also via the articles in the InTrans. If you would like to be a member, please visit us at H12-05, or download the subscription form from the webpage www.transito.nu. If you would like more information about us, you can contact us at our addresses that are stated on the right.

Visitor address Room H12-5 Burgermeester Oudlaan 50 3062 PA Rotterdam T: 010 - 408 2070 F: 010 - 408 9156

Mail address Room H12-5 P.O. Box 1738 3000 DR Rotterdam www.transito.nu

The editors would like to thank for this issue:

InTrans June 2009

Documents

Transcript of InTrans June 2009