Finance Management Trainee Vopak Logistics Nordic AB

Background
I have a Masters Degree in ‘Management of growing businesses’ from the Business School of Gothenburg. During my studies I did an internship at one of the most profitable bakeries in Sweden. My main project for them was to develop and implement ABC (Activity Based Costing). After my degree I have worked at a few different companies. Mostly in the retail/fashion industry, which you probably can imagine is different in many ways from Vopak. The most interesting project I have worked with before starting at Vopak was an IPO (Initial Public Offering) for a big Nordic clothing company.

Vopak experience
I have now been employed by Vopak for 9 months. In the beginning I worked 2 weeks as a shift operator. Then I was one week on the Customer Service department. I have to say that it was a privilege to be able to start in the more operational departments, because I got the possibility to learn a lot about the business and the people working here. After these weeks of introduction I started to work at the Finance department. My work here so far has been focused around three major tasks;

• Routine finance work
  Working with the monthly routines in the finance department. Everything from reconciling bank accounts to follow up our main operational projects.

• Divestment of a company
  Vopak Logistics Nordic owned a company that was working with tank cleaning. Since Vopak´s strategy is to focus on tank storage, Vopak wanted to sell this business. It was very interesting to be part of the divestment process.

• ABC
  I am also responsible for implementing ABC for Vopak Logistics Nordic AB. This is also a very interesting and challenging task. The main goal is to understand more about what drives the costs in our business and to see if some parts of the business is more profitable than other.

My general opinion about Vopak is that it definitely is a company that is eager to pick up ideas and dare to invest if the business case seems OK. A lot of investments are also done in safety which off course is important in this type of business. It is a company that is very active in many ways. Sometimes I get the feeling that we try to do everything- and at the same time. So, never a dull moment!

Future
My future within Vopak is basically unknown. All I know is that I will leave Sweden and Vopak Logistics Nordic AB in about a year to find new challenges within another Vopak company. There are many interesting jobs within Vopak. Business development, business controlling or project controlling are all jobs that I could imagine as the next step in my career. We’ll see what happens, one thing is for sure- It will happen in a warmer and sunnier place than Sweden. That I will make sure!

I recommend you to send in your application to Vopak because it is a dynamic and interesting company with an optimistic view on the future.

/Jonas Bengtsson   Gothenburg 2007