Meet Jan Kees, Container Terminal Planner and Project Manager

Understanding port operations worldwide

“At the beginning of my career at Haskoning, I was mainly involved in port master plan projects. Because our projects are located all over the world, this meant that I often went on short assignments abroad. I have visited, for example, Indonesia, Zanzibar, Senegal, Ghana, and Mauritius. Being present at the client's location gave me a good view of how a port operates. This helps you as a junior tremendously in imagining what the problem entails and what realistic solutions might be possible. These projects gave me a good insight into the complexity involved, which elements and aspects are at play, and how various types of stakeholders look at port projects, from port users to political stakeholders.”

A focus on container terminals

After working on various port master plans for a few years, Jan Kees became increasingly involved in advising the development and improvement of container terminals. “I have been part of a PIANC working group for the automation of container terminals. I worked on various container terminal simulation projects, either as a simulation engineer or as the reviewer of simulations prepared by others. I also led a project where we, in collaboration with a partner, developed a simulation suite for container terminal simulation. As project lead, I was responsible for ensuring the tool had the right functionality and could solve the right questions from clients.”

“A good example of a project where we used the simulation suite is a study for Napier Port. Napier Port has an operational container terminal and was interested in learning about promising options for how the container terminal could be developed in the future. They contracted us and our sub-consultant, Talumis, to perform terminal planning and subsequent simulations for Napier Port’s current container terminal operations, as well as various development scenarios. This resulted in a high-level development plan for Napier Port’s container terminal.”

Personal development within a dynamic role

Even after over ten years, Jan Kees still enjoys working with Haskoning. “One of the reasons I still enjoy it here is that the role I have has grown with me over the years and that you can steer it yourself based on your own skills and ambitions, of course matched with the needs of our clients and the company. Even when you come in as a junior, you are given the trust and responsibility to operate at a higher level than you might have thought beforehand. This sometimes means that you have to step out of your comfort zone, but it leads you to grow significantly.”

“Another thing I appreciate within our team is that we really try to consider a project from all angles relevant to the client and look closely at the challenge, the context, and conditions that play a role. On that basis, we give our client actionable insights and suggest solutions that are tailored to their situation.”