POINTE BLANCHE:--- Port St. Maarten continues to enhance its Commercial and Operational divisions by the promotion and hiring of young professionals within the Port Sint Maarten Group of Companies.
Lela Simmonds, a former student of St. Joseph primary school, attended the Milton Peters College (MPC) – HAVO before leaving the island to attend Yeats College. Simmonds also did one-year in Fashion and Branding at Amsterdam Fashion Institute (AMFI) - Hogeschool of Amsterdam. To round off her studies, Lela obtained her Bachelor’s in International Hospitality and Business Management from Euro College (Dutch International Management University – DIMU) in 2011.
Simmonds has been promoted to the position of Business Development and Marketing Manager, where she is tasked with the responsibility to increase the port’s business through various marketing and business relation avenues.
Craig Greene is a graduate of the Sint Maarten Vocational Training School and has a Mechanic and Maintenance/Welding Diploma. Currently, Greene is the assistant mechanic for Port St. Maarten’s specialized new generation Gottwald Cranes.
Greene’s employment with the port has given an added boost to the specialized Gottwald crane maintenance team, and he is aspiring to become a Gottwald crane engineer with the objective of keeping the cranes optimal and supporting the port’s overall operational excellence platform that is part and parcel of the training outpost activities.
Kontar Concincion, has been working at Port St. Maarten since 2014 as a Security Officer. In 2019 he received the Port Facility Security Officer (PFSO) training and was promoted in January as the PFSO. Concincion attended the Regional Education Center (ROC) of Amsterdam, where he received his level three degree in Marketing & Sales and received a level three degree in Security from ROC in Hoofdorp, the Netherlands.
The PFSO is required by the International Ship & Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code which is a statutory security regulation and certification of measures to enhance the security of ships and port facilities.
The certification is required when ports receive cargo ships with a gross tonnage of 500+ making international sea voyages; and ports catering to passenger ships on international voyages, thereby making Port St. Maarten ISPS compliant.
“Port St. Maarten Management is steadfast in ensuring that we continue to elevate and promote young professionals especially as the industry changes. Keen focus continues to be placed on business development and operations, the core in continuing to move Port St. Maarten forward and reaching greater heights, all the while hiring and promoting of locals to make this happen, therefore, making certain that our operational excellence platform is always at the forefront. We continue to persist in looking at trends within the market and ensuring that we stay abreast of all changing dynamics within this industry.
“We have been successful in this approach by looking out for young dynamic persons coming from local educational institutions who are willing and ready to continue to hone their skills and develop within the Port St. Maarten Group of Companies,” Port St. Maarten Management said on Tuesday.
