Intern Jay Agard gives the OV an 8
13-11-2019
byBeau van den Berg/November 13, 2019/atFamily News
He always wanted to do something in the port. And that's why Jay Agard is now an intern at Neele-Vat. Neele-Vat organizes transportation, warehousing, ocean freight, air freight, warehousing and physical distribution worldwide. In the Netherlands alone, the family business currently has 12 branches, most of them in and around Rotterdam. Like the one on the Maasvlakte, where the 16-year-old Rozenburger works.
Four days a week he enjoys his internship there as a logistics employee: loading and unloading trucks and scanning in and out. From solar panels to Segways, from beer to barbecues and chemical soil products, everything passes through his hands. On Mondays he goes to school, in the Waalhaven. Nice, Jay thinks: "Nice to be busy, nice and varied. "Alex Dikhoff is Branch Manager Maasvlakte at Neele-Vat. He is in charge of three branches at Maasvlakte and one at Rozenburg, with a total of 110 employees. Among them many trainees. The company offers young people many opportunities, even if they have not completed their studies or have stopped school. Dikhoff: "We don't look at diplomas, but at what you can do and what you want. Anyone who is motivated can learn a trade with us."
By bus to the port
Jay is one of those motivated youngsters, so he travels four days a week from his hometown of Rozenburg to the Port of Rotterdam. And as a 16-year-old, you naturally take the bus for that. That goes fine, explains Jay: "The bus to Brielle stops almost in front of my house. I transfer at Seggeland to the bus to Transferium Maasvlakte. That's fifteen minutes, then I transfer to a small bus of EBS to Madoerastraat. All in all, I'm on the road for three quarters of an hour. "Alex Dikhoff adds: "The Maasvlakte is far. We sometimes jokingly call it the end of the world. Most permanent employees therefore come by car, the temps sometimes with a van from the employment agency. Of the trainees, most come by public transport. But we also have one, who comes by bike every day."
Satisfied with OV
His travel expenses are reimbursed to Jay through Logidex, which arranged his internship and helped him choose the best public transport connection. He spends it on a season ticket: "It's cheaper than putting money on your OV card all the time. "It's not usually busy on the bus, in the EBS van he often meets a fellow intern at Neele-Vat. He gives the OV to and from port a big 8. "There are plenty of buses, if you miss one you just take another. You sit nice and dry and they arrive on time. Only a little less waiting time between connections would be nice. "Alex Dikhoff sees positives, but also areas for improvement: "Until a year ago there was basically no public transport. Now there is at least a bus, but changing at the Transferium remains a barrier. Directly to the Maasvlakte over the Groene Kruisweg or from Spijkenisse, that would make it a lot more attractive, but for that more companies need to hook up."
