EP 1: Meet Wilco van Tiggelen
The next couple of weeks, Wilco van Tiggelen (44 years old) shares what it’s like to be a technical superintendent at Boskalis and takes us along on a work trip to the United Arab Emirates. “The balance between regular work weeks in the Netherlands and hectic trips abroad is perfect for me.”
Wilco has been working as a technical superintendent at our dredging division for the past two years. Besides remote technical assistance and some administrative tasks, he spends most of his time planning and preparing for (major) maintenance. All of that planned maintenance is essential to keep the vessels up and running on our dredging projects: from smaller tug boats and work boats to impressive cutters and suction hopper dredgers.
With safety and reliability in mind, every single ship has to be docked for maintenance every five years. Wilco uses these moments to take the floating equipment to the next level with smart investments. For him, this usually means an ordinary 40 hour work week at the Fleet departments office in Papendrecht. “But when it comes to major repairs, I prefer to be on-site, wherever in the world I have to be. Depending on the situation, I’ll be abroad for periods of one to six weeks. I really like the combination of a regular office rhythm and getting out there to see what’s going on with my own eyes.” For the idea: Wilco spent a total of 16 weeks abroad last year. In return, he gets a lot of time off when he’s back in the Netherlands. “So yes, you do miss out on some private occasions, but there’s plenty of time to catch up afterwards.”
Wilco didn’t have a maritime background to begin with. “I started as a truck mechanic after my education in automotive engineering. But the four walls of the workshop quickly started getting to me and I started gaining an interest in the maritime world. The impressive (engine) technology really appealed to me and I wanted to see more of the world.”
Wilco then learned the tricks of the trade during several jobs in the maritime industry. After a while, he went ashore and changed his focus to planning, managing and the financial picture. During that period, he got into frequent contact with technical superintendents on large vessels. “Their job really stood out to me, both the technical side as well as the can-do attitude in the dredging business. That’s when I applied for a job at Boskalis and was welcomed with open arms.”
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So far, Wilco has spent a lot of time abroad for Boskalis in countries such as Angola and the Philippines. He’s in the United Arab Emirates at the moment. “I’m responsible for the maintenance on seven of the seventeen ships the cutter division is working with here. These next six weeks, my focus will be on the five yearly maintenance on the Multicat BKM 104. I’m excited to tell you more about that soon.”
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