Marjo Swinkels
Marjo Swinkels lives with her husband in Blitterswijck and together they have two older daughters. She has held many different jobs in her life. She worked in a hair salon, a drugstore, and a catering company, but also in retail and healthcare. When the workload in healthcare became high a few years ago, she decided to look for something else. Her eye fell on a vacancy at Ton Paulus Veerbedrijf and that seemed appealing to her. She has been working with great pleasure on the ferries of Arcen, Lomm, Velden, Steyl, and Kessel for over a year and a half now.
"All my life I have been connected to the Maas. My parents had their own yacht and together with my entire family, we sailed through Europe in the summer, to cities like Paris, Berlin, and Strasbourg. They also had a piece of land by the Maas. In the summer, we would tow a small caravan there. We spent many summer days there by the water."
"When I think back to sailing, I remember the relaxed feeling that prevailed on the boat. My parents had a construction business and were actually always very busy. However, they could relax on the boat. Because you are in a different place every day, there was something new for us to discover every day while sailing. We played around the water, windsurfed, waterskied, and enjoyed fishing. I have always looked back on it with great pleasure. We also have a boat, with which I still sail a lot on the Maas with my husband and daughters."
"I have always found shipping very fascinating. I'm really in my element on the ferry now. I love working outside all day. The cold in winter didn't bother me much. You just dress for it, and the wheelhouses are heated. Many day-trippers pass by, but there are also those who have to cross the ferry every day. It's always nice to have a little chat with guests in between."
"There aren't many women working on the ferry, most of my colleagues are men. Sometimes I see a guest looking surprised at the wheelhouse. They won't say it out loud, but they find it special that there's a woman at the wheel. Personally, I don't mind at all, and I don't find it special either. There are so many women who have a profession that's more associated with men. I don't think my job is typically male. It's not very physically demanding, so it's quite doable. In terms of maintenance, it can get a bit technical sometimes, which I usually leave to the men. Not because I couldn't or wouldn't do it, but because they like to take it on."
"Besides the contact with people, I also love the nature on the water and along the Maas banks. Every day I take it in and watch how the Maas behaves. I look at the water's flow, the wind direction, and the behavior of the birds. I also keep an eye on the other ships in the Maas. I chose to work on all the ferries because I love the variation in the environment."
"My work hasn't really made me see the Maas differently. The river has always been a very important part of me. I've known the Maas for so long, it feels like an old acquaintance to me."
