TOS at 30 years, a milestone to celebrate!
What a special year 2022 is for TOS, its employees and its clients. Thirty years ago Kees set up TOS with his then business partner. As he often says himself, he ‘was a maritime academy student with hippie-like tendencies with no business plan at all who started a company. That company, TOS, is now known nationally and internationally in the nautical and maritime world as a professional service provider with crewing & ship delivery activities. Bravo!
My relationship with TOS may be more recent, but as far as I’m concerned it is no less warm. I first sat at the business table with TOS at the end of 2020, first with Marleen and Ivan. Kees pulled up a chair in the next meeting. My colleague and I realised straightaway that TOS was not an average company. The ambitions and professionalism combined with the wonderful feeling of a real family company made an impression on us. The contagious enthusiasm, the sincere dedication to social challenges such as the labour market, as well as Kees’ entrepreneurial spirit on top of the qualities mentioned above, meant that we soon put TOS at no. 1 on our shortlist😉.
flexible workforce in ports and logistics
For a short while, the threat of a takeover of the Kloosterboer Group, on whose behalf I came into contact with TOS, made things shaky, but we had found each other. Our vision on the development of the strategically flexible workforce in ports and logistics perfectly matched (and still match, luckily). My network in ports and logistics was added value to TOS’ port logistics activities. Furthermore, the location of C-Port in Vlissingen also matched both companies and became the reason to start a well-considered new adventure with TOS in Vlissingen.
We started in October 2021, without the C-Port activities which only started at the beginning of 2022. But we were both convinced of success and had confidence in the business case and in each other! For me, a year on, it still feels like this. Even more so, that confidence has been confirmed and has grown even stronger. Kees & Ivan, thank you for your trust in us to jointly build up the TOS Port & Logistics business as part of the TOS Group and to meet our goals in the wonderful family company with all the colleagues and with Tanguy now in a prominent position!
Enjoy this fabulous anniversary year!
Roel Latuheru
Managing Director TOS Port & Logistics