CARGO BUSINESS 3-08.indd - ZSSK Cargo

We introduce: product manager for transitMartina SurmíkováThe workload of a product manager in charge of transit MartinaSurmíková includes various analyses, statistics and monitoring oftransportation flows in transit. Apart from analyses, the managerprepares proposals of price levels for related transportations, whichare later used by business managers as basic documents in themeetings.As Martina Surmíková says, the field of transit transportations isdiverse; their structure is constantly changing, so it always bringsalong something new. Detailed orientation in this market segmentrequires a wider scope of knowledge in the field of transportation,mainly outside the territory of Slovakia. Transit transportations startand end outside Slovakia, therefore they have a higher potential toacquire the new customers, but on the other hand there are morefrequent changes of forwarders, transport parity – At the same time,they are a very good target for private carriers, mainly long-termtransportations, in higher volumes and in block trains. Therefore,the cooperation with neighbouring national carriers as well as withforwarders, in particular when creating the block trains and relatedlogistics, is of high importance, explains Martina Surmíková.Transit transportations have and will definitely have a prospect andpotential for development in the years to come. The current trend,even though it is much stronger in Western Europe, is ecologicaltransportation and particularly railway meets the demandingenvironmental requirements. Its infrastructure and connection toother traffic modes in whole Europe are improving. Connection of railnetwork to seaports in the north and south of Europe is crucial for theglobal transportations.Besides transit, Martina Surmíková is also responsible for commoditywood. – Because I have been dealing with transportation of wood fora long time, I do have better experience in relation to transportationflows and detailed knowledge of the market among the woodprocessingcompanies. In these transportations, I frequently comeacross the issues of wagon shortage and strong competition of roadtransport. Therefore, it is not easy to know this field in detail, - saysmore about her job M. Surmíková, who has been working in railwayssince 2000. She started in the express parcel department, then shemoved to trade department in 2002, first to market analysis andlater to the position of business representative. In 2004, she becamea commodity manager, or a product manager for commodity woodand foodstuffs and two years ago, she took over transit and handedover the agenda of commodity foodstuffs.And because we wanted to have a more complete profile of theproduct manager, we asked about her hobbies. –I was dancingfolklore for thirteen years; today I am more into endurance sports.I come from Poprad, I grew up beneath and in Tatras and my hobbiesare connected with the mountains – skiing, ski mountaineering,mountain biking. I have climbed almost all peaks, gone to all valleys,channels: Gerlach, Lomnický Peak, Kriváň, Rysy, Vysoká, - talks abouther love for mountains M. Surmíková.Apart from mountains, she loves mountain biking – forest paths,meadows. As she says, - comfort in the woods and feet stripped tothe skin. Routes, she has been choosing, are not the easy ones – 50to 110 kilometres long. For the third time, she participated in a 110-kilometer marathon on mountain bikes in Austria beneath Dachsteinwith 3800-metre exceeding. And recently, her dream has come true –to see the Himalayas, from a close distance. – I went trekking aroundthe mountain range; I set off in April this year. The highest point wecould reach was the summit pass Thorung La, which is located 5 416metres above the sea. It was beautiful. Vast spaces, endless views,ray of lights, refracting on the icy fields of the mountains. You couldsee the massifs of Annapurna, Gangapurna (7 454 m) and otherdistant peaks covered with snow. Only the snow, rocks, two yaks,tourists and carriers..., - remembers the Himalayas M. Surmíková.During her journey, she had a possibility to see the towns and villagesin Nepal, to get in touch with local Buddhist and Hindi culture. – Rightat the beginning, we spent two days in the capital Kathmandu andits surroundings. We visited Patan, a beautiful historical town witha lot of temples with architecture so distant to Europeans. AlsoBoudhanath, which is, with its Great Stupa, one of the biggest sacredsites for Buddhists. People spin their prayer wheels and send their