Rising through challenges in Taiwan

WILKO DE JONG, GENERAL MANAGER, TAIWAN, HEEREMA MARINE CONTRACTORS

Wilko de Jong, General Manager, Taiwan, Heerema Marine Contractors, talks to Atlas about his work and how the job teaches him something new every single day

After a successful stint in Texas, Houston for four years, it was time for Wilko de Jong to move back to the Netherlands. But as destiny would have it, the moving van was sent packing off to Taiwan. With the offshore wind investments seeing a shift from Europe to Asia, the new fulcrum of offshore opportunities lies in Taiwan. For Heerema, this was an opportunity to send Wilko to the island nation.

Currently working on the Greater Changhua offshore wind farm project as a General Manager stationed in Taipei, this is one of the most challenging projects he has worked on. “I have been with the company since 2004 and have been to many different countries. This has been one of the toughest jobs in my career and every day is a new challenge. Taiwan doesn’t have an offshore history, they are at a budding stage and the culture is entirely different,” he shares.

Bridging the gap

The Taiwanese government has set the target to source 20 per cent oft electricity from renewables and offshore wind by 2025. Aiming to be a market leader in the APAC region, Taiwan’s booming offshore industry comes with its own set of challenges and opportunities. Breaking into the offshore wind industry and navigating cultural challenges on a day-to-day basis means adapting to situations constantly. Wilko is learning to tackle each day with patience striving to deliver his best on time.

Having local talent onboard is key in the long run, Wilko shares. “Things in Taiwan are different, and they are not used to our way of working and change is slow. We have hired a lot of Taiwanese people into our team, and they are keen to learn. What I love about this culture is people are quick learners, they are extremely hard-working and have decent English skills. The main obstacle is the experience in offshore industry but that’s a growth process and they are now building onto it.”

Picture courtesy: Heerema Marine Contractors

A helping hand on-board

Supporting Wilko in this journey is Atlas, who he agrees has been with him since day one. From white-collar recruitment to blue-collar placements – Atlas has provided Offshore Field Engineers, QHSE Site Representatives, Storekeepers and many more positions.

He shares, “Atlas was the first recruitment and manning agency that I connected with here in Taiwan and when I arrived, John (Atlas Professionals’ Business Development Manager) was among the first people I met within Taiwan and they have been supporting all of our searches since then. Atlas have delivered a couple of capable candidates — people that we’re very happy to have on our team.”

Due to the pandemic, things are slower than usual and having a reliable, local partner has been crucial, “Working in Taiwan requires a lot of patience, and we are happy to have this support. It’s quite easy to talk to Atlas as they understand the ground situation well. The cultural barrier is probably bigger than the language barrier here in Taiwan and we have been trying to bridge that together,” Wilko says.

Riding the wave of change

To meet its ambitious goals, Taiwan also needs competent professionals. The dearth of competent human capital is a significant challenge. Accelerating education about the industry is the first step towards overcoming this hiccup. “It’s important to educate people at institutes, universities and colleges to increase popularity about the offshore industry. It’s important to get youngsters curious to study those kinds of subjects, create a community of like-minded people and give them opportunities to meet industry insiders. This will ensure that experience that develops in Taiwan is retained in the country and is not diluted in any way,” he asserts.

Atlas Professionals recently delivered a successful lecture at the National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) about working in wind. We are open to hosting lectures at institutes all over Taiwan.