A director who knows what it's like to be on a bike himself and therefore knows all the ins and outs. That's how Nick Vreeswijk describes himself. This finalist walked an unconventional path within logistics. He studied to be a gym teacher in Zwolle and worked alongside his studies as a bicycle courier at Cyclone Post & Fietskoeriers. Now, 11 years later, he is operations director at Cycloon Post & Fietkoeriers and Fietskoeriers.nl. He manages six hundred postal workers and two hundred bicycle couriers.
Vreeswijk knew early on that he would "work for Cycloon for a very long time". He made it known to the owners that he was keen to grow with the company. At the time, Cycloon was still a local bicycle courier company that within five years grew into a national logistics provider with 22 postal and nine bicycle courier branches. "We soon realised that this could not continue, because we were growing with mail in a shrinking market. The parcels market was growing very much though. Then we founded Fietskoeriers.nl and that's how I became co-director of two companies."
Fietskoeriers.nl is now the only parcel delivery company by bike with national coverage. Nineteen partners with 600 bicycle couriers cycle together in 33 cities for companies such as Futurumshop, Girav and Dille & Kamille. Vreeswijk started there as business manager and, he says, had to drink a lot of cups of coffee to get any partners on board. "It was quite a turnaround for existing companies. The partners we started with were traditional bicycle couriers: companies that cycled a parcel from one company to another. In the partnership, they would provide larger parcel rounds for large customers. Sometimes at more competitive rates. We had to convince them that, despite those rates, this would earn them more in the long run. That they would end up getting a lot more work in."
Those partners will be glad in retrospect that they entered into the partnership with Fietskoeriers.nl after all. After all, the company's turnover has been on the rise for years. "We are growing very fast. In three years, we went from zero to one million parcels a year. For 2019, we expect more than a doubling in growth," says the finalist. "We started with B2C deliveries for online shops, but are now increasingly profiling ourselves as a first and last mile carrier, working with hubs on the outskirts of cities. This ties in with our initial goal of making cities cleaner."
Why the Fietskoerier.nl director should win the Young Logistics Talent title? "Because of the way I manage people," says Vreeswijk. "It helps that I have gone through all the steps in the company. When I started here, I was given a lot of freedom and I give the employees the same now. I make sure they challenge themselves and take that freedom. That really doesn't always go well, but by giving them trust and responsibility, people can really surprise you and rise above themselves."
You can read about the achievements of the Logistic Manager of the Year finalists here. On 28 March, all finalists will climb onto the stage to convince the professional jury and the public one last time. The final day will take place in Media Plaza, Jaarbeurs Utrecht. More information about the programme and (free) registrationfind here.
