Chantal de Boer Ver Voorn
Administration Support

Chantal is keen to learn so she can progress in her logistics career. Thermotraffic, she says, is the perfect place to do that.

I joined Thermotraffic in October 2021. I was working at another logistics company when a colleague who is now in my department told me that Thermotraffic was looking for people. I wasn’t very happy at my previous employer because promises were made but not kept. I wanted to learn things and they didn’t keep those promises.

Perhaps unusually, I had my own hairdressing business before working in logistics. But I don’t miss it,
certainly not the working hours. My current job gives me more rest and I like my work.

An early start and essential administration

We are in Administration Support. Everything that comes in, including all the mail, comes through us. We create and prepare the dossiers for the declarants so they can proceed with them.

I usually start at 7 am, and I like that. Then I look at what needs to be processed first. The mail often arrives in the morning. It could be three envelopes, or thirty, and it all has to be processed. Four times a day someone from our department drives to customs at Reeweg. There, they physically submit papers and have them signed off.

Monitoring and learning

Another important function our department performs is to check the ETAs (Estimated Time of Arrival) of incoming ships in the Rotterdam port area. An accurate ETA makes it so much easier to better coordinate all the processes that follow the arrival. The ETA often changes so we monitor that carefully. And sometimes we need to finalize documents from our declarant. I don’t have any client contact yet, but that will happen when I’m more advanced.

We work with food and I find that very interesting. Figuring out where the products come from, and how to put together the corresponding dossier including all the the health and hygiene certificates. Why certain choices are made. I learn a lot every day.

Helpful colleagues

The team in which I work consists of four colleagues. The atmosphere in the team is very positive and informal, and the same applies to the whole company. If I have a question I can always walk up to someone for an explanation.

We are supposed to start between 7 and 9 am, which suits me. I like to start early, but if that’s not possible I can start later, so there is flexibility in how you approach your work. Everybody knows their role, and then everything works. And that gives me peace of mind.

Rapid progress

In terms of my development, we have agreed that when I have learned to keep the entire front office under control, I can step up to another role. I have already done the basic declarant training, but I want to be completely on top of this role before I move on. And I have already noticed that if you pick things up quickly, you can progress.