Ben Ellis is a Port Management Graduate based in the Humber. He is predominantly based within operations but currently undertaking a placement within the Marine team. He started the scheme in October 2023 and has worked across communications, operations and marine.
He applied for the Graduate Scheme as he liked the wide breadth of things it would cover, the size and scale of the business and the chance to get involved in real projects from day one compared to other programmes he had seen.
What has been your role in the Humber?
I am part of the operations team, and I started in the container terminal for three months working in Immingham and across at Hull. I then went to dry bulks at Immingham Inner Dock, which was completely different, but I saw the similarities. I was there for four months before heading to the Port of Garston. That was the opposite to the Humber and really put it into perspective.
On a quiet day in the Humber, you might have two or three vessels compared to Garston where you might have two to three vessels across a week. It was a different type of busy. It gave you the other side of things. Garston is on a smaller scale, so they have fewer operatives and can be busy with their workload without a vessel even being in whereas in the Humber it is a bigger scale meaning a higher headcount and a bigger demand of vessel operations. It gave me a good overview to understand the challenges of both ports. In Garston there might be a breakdown, and the other port would be miles away so you cannot just borrow equipment you have to find other ways to handle the problem and still deliver the service to the customers. It gave me a really good view of the different challenges and made me appreciate both areas are busy in their own right and just face different challenges.
I then went to Head Office for the communications placement and was involved with the CEO briefings and then went to Marine in the Humber. It is good to get back to the Humber to see where I am at, compared to when I left.
Where do you see yourself when the scheme finishes?
I officially finish October 2025, but anytime from April/May I will have conversations to see where I want to go and where the job opportunities are within the Humber.
I would like to continue to work in operations. The main two I have done so far are containers and dry bulks. I am trying to keep options open and remain in touch with the areas of the business I have worked in so far to hopefully help when in comes to transitioning to a permanent role next year.
What has a typical day been like?
It’s 24/7 and I’m with Assistant Operation Managers (AOMs) most of the time and they’re doing 6 to 6; I tended to vary my hours to fit around the placement as getting in at the start of the day around 5:30am is important as you’re seeing the setup, reading the briefs and getting operations underway. If operatives are starting up a piece of the kit, then the problems will happen in the first few hours. It is an exciting time to be around early morning. Day to day is shadowing the AOMS as they will be managing multiple vessels and operations, speaking to the managers about meetings you can attend as well as getting involved in projects.
In ICT I got involved in a project to get emails generated from pre-user checks and allow communication between operations and engineering to be made simpler and increase the efficiency of plant and equipment issues and defects being handled. This project allowed me to speak to many stakeholders and improve the system over my placement. It has also allowed me to look at this project across other placements which has now seen this process looked at from a Humber wide or potentially Group wide perspective with the IT team, which I can hopefully stay involved with.
Other day to day tasks in Immingham Container Terminal (ICT) saw me sending daily reports to customers, attending customer meetings, and I also helped with labour planning, completed safety audits, and workplace inspections. For In-Dock I also completed workplace inspections and helped with labour requests as well as getting the opportunity to step up and act as an AOM for points during my time there which involved delivering safety briefs, TBT's and then completing vessel Blu codes and actually supervising the vessel operations themselves which allowed me to develop some people management skills and enabled me to build relationships with the AOM's and the Operatives.
What advice would you give anyone?
Do not worry if you do not know anything specific to a placement, most people coming to the scheme have no specific industry experience and do not pretend you know everything. There is no stupid questions, ask and you will get people willing to help and answer. The best things I have learnt is sitting with different people as there are many people who have been here 20 + years including operatives, AOM’s and managers and they’ll share their experiences if you show genuine interest and want to learn. You will get more out of it accepting they know more about it then you do.
The important things are not pretending you know things. At the end of the day when you go up against people that have been doing it for years, you are going to stand out or catch yourself out if you pretend. Show interest and willingness to learn and that is usually reciprocated and that’s’ the best approach. You want to get as much as you can out of a three-month placement so show willing and appreciate the people around you are the best opportunity to do this.
What did you do before the scheme?
Before the scheme I did a sport management degree – business management specialising in sport. Because of the pandemic I ended up doing a placement, nothing to do with sport, and I realised it was the management principles I enjoyed. That made me look more widespread and through this came across the scheme. I knew of ABP through being local to Hull, but I had not realised the size and scale, I was more interested the more I looked.
What are your three key takeaways?
Take the opportunities that are there as it is so widespread and different from day to day – get involved.
A willingness to learn – it is not going to happen if you’re not eager.
Try to be positive as it can easily be different day to day, one day busy and another day might be quieter. You need to have a proactive and upbeat outlook.
If managers go to a meeting, it is standing up and asking to tag along. You might not talk at the meeting, but you will learn things. They are very accommodating and if you do not ask you will not know. Do not feel you are being annoying as they know that you are on the scheme and want to support your development.
