Professional Development Courses & Seminars

Expectations of the course:

• Create awareness of what Project Management is, how it can be implemented, and what the benefits are;
• To provide the MEL students with an overview of the best, most high end and latest Project Management tools that are being used in the industry today;
• To learn Time Management Skills that can be applied to managing your workload at MEL as well as managing your workload in the work place after graduation;
• Carry out diagnostic assessments to recognize improvement opportunities;
• Introduction to LEAN 6Sigma (Lean Management, Change Management,  DMAIC & DMEDI) & live project exercise on Lean;
• Introduction of SCRUM Agile framework for completing complex projects.

Course Instructor:

Mr. Thomas Chaidas 

In this seminar, you will learn about networking, and the way you can use it to find work in the Netherlands. The lecturer uses a lot of practical examples and adds a portion of humor to help you enlarge your network. Also, he educate you on all the processes involved in how networking ‘works’ in the Netherlands. All students can ask their questions during the seminar, it is a very interactive session and it even includes a genuine networking exercise. Be prepared for an inspirational session!

Seminar Instructor:

Mr. Richard Engelfriet

On October 8th, the Erasmus Center for Maritime Economics and Logistics (MEL) and YoungShip Rottedam (YSR) signed a sponsor contract at the campus of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Part of the contract is the enrolment of all MEL students to the Rotterdam branch of the international network community for young professionals and students. This provides the students with the opportunity to meet people who are working in the maritime industry in and around Rotterdam.

The two organisations will work closely together on organising seminars and networking events aimed at developing the next generation of maritime professionals. The majority of the MEL MSc programme participants are international students, for example the current class has 35 students with 17 different nationalities. The membership base of YSR is also very international with members from all over the world. “Therefore it was obvious that we should  combine forces, and not only provide social activities, but also work on knowledge sharing and enhancement.” as YSR board member Frederic Løvenskiold explains.

From the early establishment in Bergen, YoungShip has experienced a booming growth. Today, YoungShip provides access to 2.500 young members in 16 central maritime clusters spread all over the globe. The Rotterdam branch was established in November 2014 and has proofed to be a suitable platform for meeting equal minded maritime professionals and students. A broad mix of international attendees usually find their way to the monthly gatherings.

• The Seminar starts with a chronologic overview of the growth of the capacity and dimensions of container vessels since the 1950’s
• It explains the limitations of growth due to ‘barriers’ such as the Panama Canal and how these were tackled after which the TEU capacity increased from about 4,000 TEU to the Ultra Large Container Carriers of today with capacities up-to 20,000 TEU
• Next the seminar lists the issues that ports and terminals, wishing to receive these very large vessels, were required to take
• In conclusion, the seminar points at the fact that smaller (than the ULCC) container vessels are being pushed out of the main trunk routes such as the Asia-Europe route and diverted to North-South and Inter-Asia routes. As a consequence ports in Africa, Latin America and in Asia are now also forced to take measure to receive these larger vessels. This is commonly known as the Cascading Effect.

Seminar Instructor:

Mr. Bert Kruk, Port Consultant of the World Bank