Connections and changes

Sandra De Mey from North Sea Port on the importance of relationships with customers and colleagues Tank Storage Magazine’s Women in Tanks series has covered a variety of roles and industries relating to the tank storage industry, and in this edition, we turn to the vital port industry. Sandra De Mey is the commercial manager at North Sea Port (the Dutch-Belgian cross-border port), with responsibility for liquids, chemicals, food (non-containerised) and agri-products. Her role has two main concerns – trade and investment. ‘Trade relates to account management, so that means that you have to be very close to your clients to help them to find new trade or to help them overall. The other part is investment. This means trying to seek new companies for North Sea Port. That can be going to conferences, exhibitions, trade fairs and roadshows, and visiting potential clients and so on. That’s my job in a nutshell,’ says De Mey. The commercial department at North Sea Port splits the segments – containers, break bulk, ro-ro, liquids and dry bulk – between a number of staff, but De Mey’s interest and expertise, not to mention her contacts, are in the liquids and agri side of...