My job takes me fur­ther

I was first an in­tern at HPA, be­fore start­ing my ap­pren­tice­ship as port skip­per. Now I’m one of three women on the job and even work to train today’s ap­pren­tices. I am ei­ther on ships for pa­trolling the port or on tug­boats – some­times also on night shifts. We tug barges or other float­ing ves­sels, help to load and un­load ships and per­form main­te­nance work.

I like that I can work in­de­pen­dently and take re­spon­si­bil­ity. A high­light was when I got to op­er­ate a cable dredger for the first time – help­ing to move peo­ple safely from point A to point B. It cost me a lot of nerves, but it worked out. At HPA, we all re­spect one an­other. This is re­ally great, be­cause it makes sure the work is fun. My de­vel­op­ment at HPA it not over yet: I would soon like to train to be a ship’s mas­ter.