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The trainee program brought Karolina to Korea

28 December 2017

Back home from Korea, Karolina Malmek says that the Lighthouse trainee program makes her a better Naval Architect and, at the same time, recommends other newly examined Naval Architects to search for the next season's trainee program.

Lighthouse trainee program is a one-year program where newly graduated naval Architects from KTH and Chalmers get a unique opportunity to work at several different maritime workplaces in one year.
Each season, two trainees are employed, and this year's trainees Karolina Malmek and Claes Tretow are currently on their first workplaces. Karolina will during the season work at TTS Marine, SSPA and Floatel, while Claes will work at Alfa Laval, Stena and the Swedish Transport Agency during the same period.

Working with vessels
At TTS Marine, Karolina started at the company's structural department, where she worked with calculations of ramps for roro vessels. After one month at the structural department, she spent one month at TTS office in South Korea, following the construction of a RoRo vessel, as part of the trainee program.

- Our role was to inspect and support the installation work. It was very fun that there were products that I worked on just before I left. For example, I had calculated where to put the fastening points and if a specific wire would handle the strain of a similar ramp. Then it was fun to see the same ramp in reality and you realize that 20 meters is quite far, says Karolina Malmek.

A normal working day could be to test different parts of the installation. For example, that a ramp is properly installed and can be hoisted and lowered properly. Sometimes problems arise and then it is important to identify the problem and find a solution.

- It's a lot more versatile work than I thought before. It was exciting to see that there are so many parts involved during an installation.

Have you become a better shipbuilder?

- Yes absolutely! I think I've gotten better at understanding the context, how big things are and at the same time that some things are actually quite easy. It's fascinating to see how a ship are built up in front of you.

Once back at TTS Marine in Sweden, Karolina continues to work with structural calculation and design and can apply many of the things she experienced in Korea.

Time to apply for next season
In December, the recruitment period started for the next season's trainee program. The deadline for applications is 31 January 2018 and the actual trainee program runs between late August 2018 and September 2019.

- I absolutely think you should apply. I myself have a broad interest in shipping and this is a good chance of gaining experience in several parts of the (shipping) industry, says Karolina Malmek.


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