Technological advances are profoundly changing the multiple work processes that take place in the "port world". It is a singular intersection of private and public disciplines where the interests of a plurality of subjects are gathered: public bodies in the port and maritime sectors in their various forms, loading and unloading companies, carriers and shippers, industrial companies and other users, port workers, and of course, the entire national community, becouse the economic and social importance of the ports themselves. In this context, work in ports requires even greater professionalism, specialization, safety and stability. Ports are an asset of vital importance for the European economy. In fact, over 70% of goods crossing European borders travel by sea and ports really represent the commercial gateway to Europe. European ports employ 1.5 million people and manage goods for a total value of 1,700 billion euros each year. A port is not only consist in breakwaters, dams, docks, dockyards, wharves and piers but it also consist in technological networks able to communicate with ships, trains and goods lorries. The port labour demand has fundamentally changed its characteristics due to technological innovation and the high degree of automation processes. This demand is reduced in terms of number of units of workers, but at the same time this raises the level of skills and training required for the port operations being carrying out. This level can only be guaranteed by high quality on going and refreshing training systems that are able to identify the needs of companies and motivate, listen and involve port workers in port work changes. The objective of the project is to define the basis for a European training plan in ports that, while respecting the individual national regulations, identify common applicable elements throughout the European Union. The project will focus on the exchange of best practices on continuous training for the development of innovative professional skills on the following topics: 1) New port skills: training systems to update the skills of the workers in the perspective of the increasing automation of the port terminals. Optimization and sharing of plans for continuous training. Retraining themes: - Digitization - Automation 2) Port government bodies, entrepreneurs and managers in project partner countries: exchange of best practices from application of the European law on the guidance and management of ports to the organization of port in relation to new European legislation on privacy. 3) Port system organization: - Environmental sustainability of the ports - Ports integration in the urban area - Energy from renewable sources in port areas - Safety and security: best practices for involving companies and organizations working together on transversal issues in the port system. Exchanges of best practices will include meetings in partner countries for 3 to 5 days maximum. A maximum of 72 pupils (participants + accompaining person), divided between partner countries, may be involved during the project time. They will be selected in each partner country among port workers in port terminal, port authoryties, port companies, marittime authoryties depending the topics of the meetings. One of the results of the project is a network creation with the partner of the project and other institution not partners in this project building a cooperation to set up a technical board aimed at develop the many initiatives including: a) build and consolidate a cooperation network; b) build and share criteria and methodologies to realize new projects for validating and certifying professional skills in the port, logistics and maritime sector; c) build criteria and operational modalities to encourage the mobility of human resources in the port and logistics sector; d) cooperate in matter of learning and skill certification, development programs as per premise; f) involve respective territorial networks disseminating the objectives of the project in the areas of interest in order to extend the multiplier effect and promote networking. The impact of the project at the local, regional, national, European levels is the develop of the skills and competences of port workers (manager, enterpreneurs, chiefs of personell, trainers, tutors, etc...) concerning: -- new professionals profiles discussed in meetings - transferrable analysis of units of learning outcomes in the port sector using procedures related to evaluation, transfer, validation and adding of learning outcomes in formal, informal and not formal contexts - information and diffusion to stakeholders and wide public - increased employability and social inclusion in the port sector
The main project goal was to establish the basis for a European training plan in ports that, while respecting national regulations, identifies common elements applicable throughout the EU. The project intended to foster the exchange of best practices in continuing education for the development of innovative professional skills. In particular, the project, through the methodology of the best practices exchange and direct visits to the ports involved in the project, dealt with the discussion, study and comparison of the impact that digitization, automation and energy transition will have on the skills and knowledge of professionals working in ports, including on safety, in the short, medium and long term. In addition, each of these topics covered in depth about structuring shared training paths at the national and European level on the skills, knowledge and abilities that at the managerial, technical and operational level will need to be deepened and/or developed to safeguard the work, avoiding incurring obsolescence of the professional skills required.
Technological advances are profoundly changing the multiple work processes that take place in the "port world". It is a singular intersection of private and public disciplines where the interests of a plurality of subjects are gathered: public bodies in the port and maritime sectors in their various forms, loading and unloading companies, carriers and shippers, industrial companies and other users, port workers, and of course, the entire national community, because the economic and social importance of the ports themselves. Ports are an asset of vital importance for the European economy: 3.5 billion tonnes of freight were handled in EU ports in 2021. In this context, work in ports requires even greater professionalism, specialization, safety and stability. The port labour demand has fundamentally changed its characteristics due to technological innovation and the high degree of automation processes also highlighted by the Covid19 pandemic. It raises the level of skills and training required for the port operations being carried out, that can only be guaranteed by high quality on going and vocational training systems able to identify the needs of companies and motivate, listen and involve port workers in port work changes.