working life - Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics

managIng
hIghER cOSTS
n who: Konrad Kurz
n what: Ready to meet
change
n where: Germany/Europe
strict european union (EU)
rules protecting workers by limiting
the time a truck driver can spend
on the road threaten to drive up
the cost of transported goods, but
WWL is geared up to meet the
challenge.
“We’ve equipped our trucks with
costly new electronic equipment to
monitor driver hours,” says Konrad
Kurz, Managing Director WWL
Germany. “A bonus is that monitoring
work time online will help us to
plan transport logistics better than
ever before.”
According to Konrad the regulations
pose the biggest threat to
Europe’s transport industry today.
“Cutting the work week from
today’s 60 hours to 48 will theoretically
mean increasing the number
of drivers by 25 percent. We
believe the new rules could lead
to a knock-on nine percent cost
increase for road transportation.”
Germany is the latest EU
country to adopt similar recommendations
for drivers, albeit less
restrictive than in France, setting
minimal standards for working time,
driving and rest periods.
dEvElOpIng TOp TalEnT
n who: Eivind Garshol
n what: Developing future
management
n where: Oslo, Norway
when wwl launches a new
15-month global trainee programme
for nine young talents,
it’s with a very clear agenda.
Eivind Garshol, head of Global HR
Policies and Practices explains the
main objective in the programme:
“It’s very important for a
company like ours to develop
future management and expert
candidates with a global mindset
and network.”
The nine trainees, six women
and three men, come from all
four regions as well as the central
office and they will work their
way through the organisation
and product areas. The goal is to
offer employment to everyone at
the end of the programme and to
retain them within WWL long term.
The first traineeship was successful.
Valuable lessons were
learned and are applied in this
second program.
“One main improvement for this
second traineeship is that we have
expressed clearly the ambition levels
we have for each trainee – and
what kind of position we want to
offer them afterward. The trainees
will be designated roles and tasks
throughout the programme that are
in line with their targeted future
position,” says Eivind.
With companies fighting for
talent around the world, it’s vital
to be an attractive employer,
says Eivind:
“A traineeship programme is
a way to position ourselves in the
labour market and in the minds of
young talent.”
aTTRacTIng
cUSTOmERS
n who: Fabio Mello
n what: Customer
networking
n where: Sao Paulo, Brazil
for three days in April, the
Brazilian city of Sao Paulo was
the focus of the global logistics
industry, hosting the InterModal
Trade Fair, now in its 12th year.
WWL – one of 400 participating
companies – had a particularly
successful time, attracting record
numbers of customers to its
stand, according to Fabio Mello,
Manager South American Sales.
“InterModal is Latin America’s
most important trade show for
logistics and transport markets.
It is a great opportunity to network
with customers and meet
new contacts. It also provides a
great opportunity for our customers
to meet WWL team members
working in operations, customer
care and management.”
Over 1,000 people a day visit
the InterModal trade fair. WWL’s
main goal at InterModal is to communicate
and market its brand
and promote its five products
– Ocean Services, Terminal Services,
Technical Services, Inland
Distribution and Supply Chain
Management – to customers.
Fabio is ecstatic about WWL’s
showing in 2007: “It was our best
effort ever with between 70–100
customers visiting the stand
every day. We got to meet new
customers and develop fresh
business opportunities, all on the
relaxing environment of the stand
and helped by the WWL staff.”
ROUTES 2 2007