In the port of Ghent, employers are more often looking for Dutch personnel

Tut tut. Edwin Eggebeen (48) steps aside for a passing forklift truck. The driver honks. At the moment, the forklift is still manned, but with difficulty: forklift drivers are hard to find, says Eggebeen in the warehouse in the port area of ​​Ghent. He is regional director of all branches of the Danish logistics service provider DSV in Flanders.

Due to the shortage of forklift drivers, DSV automates various processes. Eggebeen shows a video in which a robot drives pallets with medical supplies around the warehouse. “No Belgian or Dutch person wants to do that anymore. There is now more appreciation for higher-skilled work.”

He notices this not only in the shortage of forklift drivers, but also in the staff shortages throughout the factory. Time is limited for Eggebeen. In a year and a half, a fourth warehouse of about 120,000 square meters will be added, in addition to the 130,000 square meters that the company already covers in this port area. Eggebeen needs at least 350 people to start up that location. “That’s one of my biggest concerns,” he says. “The supply in Belgium is drying up.”

DSV is one of the 550 companies in the port area of ​​Ghent. The port authority there merged with the port operators in Terneuzen and Vlissingen in 2015, resulting in the umbrella organization North Sea Port. Although the national border runs right through this port area, it functions as a single economic zone. This merger of several ports was a world first. Since then, the Netherlands and Belgium have been working together to facilitate the activities of the mostly industrial companies there, for example by improving the infrastructure. Two thirds of the companies are Flemish, one third Dutch. It employs a total of 102,000 people.

Like the Netherlands, Belgium is experiencing severe shortages on the labor market. Especially in the port area of ​​North Sea Port, where business is constantly growing and there is a great need for technical personnel, it is difficult for employers to find the right people. This year, they expect more than 3,000 vacancies on the Belgian side alone – an increase of 60 percent compared to six years ago, according to a survey. survey by the Flemish business association Voka|VeGHO among employers in the Ghent part of the port area.

Flemish companies in the port area of ​​North Sea Port therefore recruit abroad more often. In 2017, only a quarter did so, this year it was more than twice as many. And those companies are looking in particular at the Netherlands: at least 40 percent of employers are now also recruiting staff there.

Car builder

Volvo Car Gent, also active in the Ghent port area, is actually constantly recruiting employees, says spokesperson Barbara Blomme (44). She stands in orange-blue work clothes next to a tire over which the car skeletons pass. “This year we have already hired more than 500 new people,” she says. But that is not enough. The company is especially struggling to find technical staff. Sometimes someone from the office or a manager in the factory has to stand on the line and assemble car parts to compensate for a hole, says employee Marco van Hermon (43).

Although Volvo Car Gent is the only car manufacturer in the area, recruitment remains difficult: other industrial companies, such as steel producer ArcelorMittal and logistics service provider DSV, are also looking for logistics and technical personnel and operators.

DSV offers storage space for pharmaceutical companies, among other things. Due to the aging of the population, the demand for medicines is growing and therefore for storage space for them. That makes the upcoming expansion necessary, says Eggebeen, despite the tightness on the labor market. Now, with some puzzling, it is still possible to make room for new customers who come knocking within a few months, but the warehouses are gradually filling up. Eggebeen: “So we have to build a new hut.”

In the warehouse he shows rows of racks with colored packages where artificial skin is stored. “If someone is in hospital with burns and needs surgery, the artificial skin comes from here. That is why good staff is essential for us. We cannot afford any mistakes: there is a patient on the table.”

He now sometimes solves staff shortages by bringing employees from DSV branches in the Netherlands to Ghent. Recently, a team leader from Venlo filled a gap for four months. “They could miss someone in that location. We then put them in a hotel. He went home on weekends. This was done in good consultation with the managers in the Netherlands.”

The DSV branch, which will open in 2025, will be closer to the Flemish-Dutch border than Ghent already is. “We will recruit even more in the Netherlands.” Not that it is easy to find staff there: the shortages are just as great. “But you double the possibilities.” DSV currently employs twelve Dutch people in Ghent.

What makes recruiting for Eggebeen more difficult is that many companies in the industrial park are members of the metal collective agreement, which is more favorable than the transport collective agreement that DSV falls under. For example, people leave for Volvo Car, which is also affiliated with the metal collective agreement, where the salary is usually higher. Eggebeen must therefore do his best to make the work in logistics ‘sexy’. After all, few people get excited about the idea of ​​picking orders day in and day out in a dark and cold warehouse, he thinks. “Not that it’s dark and cold here. But that’s what people think.”

Just like DSV, Volvo Car Gent also looks across the border more often than before. And then the focus is mainly on nearby Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, says HR employee Peter Huybreghs (61). The native of Antwerp has been living in the Netherlands for 36 years, in Putte in North Brabant. “In Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, the industry is much smaller,” he says. “The youth there is therefore often interested in work in the Ghent port area.” Vlissingen does have a port, he says, and it also belongs to North Sea Port. But it is more focused on ‘real’ dock work – loading and unloading ships, which is often more demanding than production work in a factory. And the port of Rotterdam is a lot further away for Zeeuws-Vlaanderen.

Volvo started “fishing in the Dutch pond” seven years ago. It now has 233 employees living in the Netherlands, out of 7,233 employees in total. Huybreghs: “In the long run, we have expanded our radius of action.” In addition to the Netherlands, Volvo also works in Antwerp, West Flanders and even around the border with France. “But the Netherlands is easier. No language barrier.”

DSV looks at the Dutch branches as an example for recruitment strategies: DSV has more name recognition there, which means that suitable candidates may respond more quickly to vacancies, says Eggebeen. He released part of his budget for marketing and social media. In Flanders he hopes to make his branches just as popular as those in the Netherlands, for example by taking part in company days more often.

Because it is difficult to find trained personnel, DSV Gent has set up its own training centre. “What we do is none rocket science”, says Eggebeen, “but it is very important that the work is done carefully. If we are late with an order, lives are at stake.”

Bert van Waes, equipment engineer

Bert van Waes (45) from Hulst is equipment engineer at Volvo Car Gent: he checks the technical installations of new car models. Van Waes started 25 years ago at Volvo in Ghent as an intern. At the time he was one of the few Dutch people. “I was the Dutchman. In the beginning I had to get used to the hierarchy in the workplace, which is very common in Belgium. It was customary in many teams to shake hands with the manager every morning. Years later, when I became a manager myself, I abolished that in my team that very morning. Over the years that went out, and since corona no one has done it at all. More Dutch people have been working here in recent years. I notice that the Flemish are more direct these days, like the Dutch. The differences are getting smaller. Flemings also really dare to give their opinion.”

leon baker, team supervisor

Leon Bakker (50) from Terneuzen is a team supervisor ‘on the line’ (the assembly line) at Volvo Car Gent. In this case, car chassis are fitted with exhausts and engines, among other things. His desk is in the middle of the factory next to the band. He notices that the labor shortage means that younger and younger people are coming to work in the factory, mainly school leavers. “They can easily get started here.” He has been working there for almost twenty years and notices that his employer is looking abroad more often. “I am here with all kinds of nationalities.”

Marco of Hermon, reserve

Marco van Hermon (43) from Axel is ‘reserve’ at Volvo Car Gent. In case of illness in the logistics department, for example of a forklift driver, he fills in. Soon he will use the forklift truck to prepare batteries at the assembly line so that a colleague can assemble them. “How nice to hear a Dutch voice,” he says to reporters. After his contract with a Dutch car garage expired twelve years ago, he started looking for work in the port area of ​​Ghent. He would like more Dutch colleagues, he says, so he is pleased that his employer is actively looking for them. He is now the only Dutchman in his team. “It is a bit ‘own people first’ here. My colleagues joke among themselves more.”