READY FOR THE FUTURE
My first contact with TOS was when I was still working at my previous employer. During that period (around 2016), I was responsible for the Indonesian manning office. After a first meeting with Marlena Holdermans at the TOS HQ in Rotterdam, she mentioned that they wanted to expand their Indonesian Branch and asked if I might be interested in this position, which of course I was.😊 A few weeks later, it appeared that Kees and Marlena were in Jakarta at the same time that I was, so it was a great opportunity to catch up and see if there was a match between Kees Wagenaar and me. At the time I had never met or spoken to Kees.
We met on a Sunday morning at a coffee bar, where we immediately had a good connection. A month or so later, we finalised the employment details, which is now almost six years ago and still counting.😊 When we signed the contract, Kees spoke his famous words: Sander, when I looked into your eyes, I knew in 2 minutes that everything was fine and that you fit TOS. He probably didn’t see (at least I hope not) that I had had an event the night before and only got 2 hours of sleep. It took a lot of effort to make a good impression and not fall asleep.😊
I think we can call the decision a success. In 2017 we had around 50 Indonesian crew members and seven office staff. Today we have 250 crew members on board daily and more than 25 office employees, and recently moved into a brand new office ready for the further growth of TOS Indonesia.
Sander van der Meer
Commercial Manager PT. TOS Indonesia Crewing & Ship Delivery