It started with a propeller foundry in her hometown and an internship on a Belgian shipyard. Nearly 30 years later, Christel Pullens has worked across 60+ countries and almost every vessel type imaginable, from major ship repair and conversion projects to highly sensitive military transport operations, with contracts reaching €200 million. She's held senior roles at Damen, Alewijnse, and MeteoGroup (now ABB), served on the Rotterdam Maritime Board, the World Maritime Academy advisory board, and Breakbulk Europe's advisory board, and led WISTA The Netherlands as President. Today, as Director a.i. at PortXL, she bridges the gap between maritime innovators and major industry players.
In honor of International Day for Women in Maritime, we reached out to Christel to hear about the career moments that shaped her, where she sees the industry heading, and what nearly 30 years in the industry has taught her.
I’ve been working in the maritime industry for almost 30 years now. I grew up in a small town, close to a propeller foundry. I watched the transports of large propellers going to massive ships that sailed the oceans. The foundry had branches all over the world. I applied for an internship and started on a shipyard in Belgium. The first time I walked into the yard, I saw a large ship on the slipway, smelled the steel in the workshop and felt: ’this is where I belong’.
Since then, I have closed contracts and executed projects involving almost every type of inland and oceangoing vessel across more than 60 countries, while leading sales teams, serving on boards and building an international maritime career.
My work has ranged from major ship repair and conversion projects to highly sensitive military transport operations, including the movement of submarines and other classified cargo, with contracts valued at up to €200 million. Along the way, I’ve held senior roles at Damen, Alewijnse and MeteoGroup (now ABB), and served on the Rotterdam Maritime Board, the advisory board of the World Maritime Academy and the Breakbulk Europe advisory board. I was also a board member and President of WISTA The Netherlands.
I currently help to bridge the gap between innovative companies and major industry players. I’m successful in doing that because I understand both worlds.
Across my home was a monastery with nuns who returned from their mission work in Africa and Latin America. They were my teachers in elementary school and showed me pictures of their activities with children abroad. It made me long to see the world. The maritime industry, with its international character, seemed the perfect way to do that, with the foundry as a logical starting point.
The biggest opportunity for growth in the maritime industry is not in generating more and more new ideas, but in successfully implementing them. Many companies see innovation as a side project or something that is taken care of by the R&D department. In today’s rapidly changing world it’s essential to embed it into daily operations. Every organization needs to have structures in place that allow new ideas to become best practices, and a culture supporting that.
That’s a tough question, but let me pick an experience that is related to weather forecasting. Years ago, I was on board a Dockwise semi-submersible heavy lift vessel for the loading operation of a Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ship in a bay in Ferrol, Spain. The vessel had 2 different weather providers, both of them forecasted too much wind to carry out the loading operation. So we waited. But after a couple of days, everyone got nervous. The heavy lift vessel had other commitments and the shipyard wanted to deliver the LHD to its customer. The forecast said the wind would still be too strong in the coming days. Local people on board said they sailed in the bay when they were young and remembered that every day around 14.00h the wind would drop for a few hours. We decided to take the risk and bring the LHD with tugboats alongside the heavy lift vessel. The locals were absolutely right, at 14.00h the wind dropped and we had just enough time to carry out a smooth loading operation.
