Forma't al Port Management - December 2021

Discovering the Port and Forma’t al Port: teachers and students get to know the Port of Barcelona in the final weeks of the year

/in , /by

The Forma’t al Port programme managed to recover the numbers of students trained pre-pandemic and trained 590 students in a single year; while the “Discover the Port” initiative was born to give visibility to the port professions to educators.

The Discover the Port initiative has been born with the help of the Port of Barcelona, the Escola Europea and the actors of the training and occupation board of the logistics-port community of Barcelona. Through this programme more than 40 teachers and educators of institutes of Barcelona have been able to learn about the new strategic plan of the Port of Barcelona, along with the update of the study of professional profiles of the port community of Barcelona and that of the infrastructures and companies that accommodate new job opportunities for young people in the area.

This programme aims to inform teachers of the professional profiles that are most in demand and difficult to cover, in order for them to be able to identify and guide potential candidates for these jobs and advise them in their academic and professional career.

Similarly, for students already familiar with the sector, the Forma’t al Port programme was reinvented in a hybrid format to bring the Port of Barcelona and its activities closer to students of Transport and Logistics and International Trade, and to students of the Logistics and Maritime Business Degree, both virtually and in person during the year of health-crisis related restrictions.

In the first half of the year, 530 students attended the Forma’t al Port – Introduction course, which consists of lectures by the different players in the port logistics community, as well as virtual visits to the Port of Barcelona. The students also got to know the Port’s facilities in person through a visit scheduled during a pandemic-safe period of the year.

At the end of the year, in November and December, the Forma’t training returned to its original 100% classroom format and two editions of the Forma’t al Port – Management course were held on board GNV and Grimaldi Lines vessels with a total of 60 participants. The experience proved to be very enriching, as the students were able to interact with their peers from different institutes and the trainers in a safe space.

In view of the success of the programme in recent years, several training centres have applied for partnership in order to be able to offer their students this specialised training. The Escola Europea, the organiser of the courses, is looking for new local sponsors to increase the number of centres and students who can take the courses.

In 2022 the Escola’s team plans to restart face-to-face activities, if the situation permits, and to continue the work of bringing the Barcelona port-logistics community closer to its future professionals.

For more information about Forma’t al Port courses, please contact the programme manager: Marta Miquel – marta.miquel@escolaeuropea.eu.

Escola retains popularity with 1700+ students in 2021 despite the pandemic

/in , /by

Distance learning, digitalisation and online courses marked the evolution of the Escola Europea’s courses despite the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, as was outlined during the bi-annual Executive Committee meeting of the institution held on the 29th of November 2021.

The meeting brought together representatives of the 5 founding partners of the Escola – Catalina Grimalt from the Port Authority of Barcelona, Luca Lupi from the Port Authority of Civitavecchia, Silvio Ferrando from the Port Authority of Genoa, Mario Massarotti from Grimaldi Lines and Mr Antonio Pedevilla from GNV. Representing the Escola Europea, the director Eduard Rodés and the Escola’s Chief Operating Officer Concha Palacios attended.

During the meeting, the Escola’s milestones throughout 2021 were highlighted. The global pandemic has had a toll on the organisation, resulting in an overall drop of courses and students in 2021, as well as in changes in staffing. Nevertheless the pandemic did result in some positive outcomes – with the nation-wide health restrictions the organisation was forced to rethink its course strategy which evolved into a more digitalised approach centering around a Virtual PortLab.

The Escola’s team looked at the evolution of the Escola’s courses and noted that although the organisation has not quite recovered from the drop in 2020, the number of courses has increased to nearly pre-pandemic levels – boding well for the prospects for 2022. In-person courses also restarted in the summer of 2021 as a response to the high demand from partnering universities and educational institutions. This bodes well for the Escola, and the forecast for the coming year is to double the number of courses offered to satisfy this demand.

Towards the end of the year the first edition of the GLIPS (Management of Integrated Logistics and Shipping Processes) course took place as part of the MOST Italy series – which brought 35 professionals from Civitavecchia to Barcelona during the course-workshop and further strengthened the Escola’s commitment to vocational training. Throughout the pandemic the Escola successfully managed to offer Forma’t al Port and the Formati al Porto courses to both Italian and Catalan youth, ensuring the institution’s resilience to unforeseen crises.

During the Committee meeting, a review took place of the projects that the Escola is currently involved in and has planned for 2022. Two ENI CBC Med projects were summarised – YEP MED, in which the Escola is a lead partner, and TechLog. The projects aim to revolutionise the training methodologies offered to young people wanted to enter the port-logistics sector in an increasingly digitised world. Any other new projects under preparation were then presented in advance of their submissions to the European organisations.

2022 looked even brighter in the now newly digitised world of the Escola as the meeting came to a close. The PortVirtualLab platform – initially developed to help support the YEP MED courses as digital learning took center stage in 2020 – will continue to be developed in the coming year with the addition of training profiles of Ship Consignees and Trucking companies. As the platform nears its completion, it will become essential in simulator training for port logistics professionals. The platform serves as a digital copy of real-world port operations, allowing users the flexibility of carrying out transport transactions without the fear of impacting real trade.

The Executive Committee meets twice a year to review the progress and achievements of the Escola Europea’s operations. Its next meeting will take place in the first quarter of 2022.

Icon for the SURCO Operations course

The Escola Europea to kick off 2022 with a course in railway intermodality

/in , /by

Between the 24th to the 28th of January 2022, the Escola will bring back the in-person railway intermodality courses with the newest edition of the SURCO Operations II course. The course offers advanced training in intermodal logistics and international and national railway freight transport.

The training is directed at professionals linked to companies involved with freight transport, shippers and/or port authorities.

The course analyses the different elements required for the provision of rail services and gives the necessary training and information to those who manage logistics chains in which the railroad is seen as a cost-effective alternative for services, cost or time. It also promotes the use of rail transport by exploring its characteristics.

The lecturers of the course are provided by relevant companies in the railway transport sector:   Viia, TMZ Zaragoza, Port de Barcelona, BASF, LFP Perthus, Puertos del Estado, Renfe and Adif. Taking place over 5 days, the course will combine both theoretical lectures on the state of the art of European railways with practical visits to terminals in Barcelona, Zaragoza, and Perpignan (France).

This SURCO course marks a shift back to the Escola’s signature experiential courses following the drastic changes that took place in 2020 and 2021 to help mitigate the effects of the global health crisis.

For more information, you can head to the programme website: https://escolaeuropea.eu/calendar/surco-operations-ii-2022/.

Participants of the MOST Italy GLIPS course

Escola Europea gets back on board with MOST Italy “GLIPS” course

/in , /by

Between the 6th and the 11th of November, the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport organised an innovative course with 35 participants to celebrate the first edition of the MOST Italy – GLIPS course.

The group was mainly composed of professors and students from the programme in “Management of Integrated Logistics and Shipping Processes” (or GLIPS according to its Italian name). The programme, of which the Escola is founder together with the Autorità di Sistema Portuale del Mar Tirreno Centro Settentrionale and the ITS Fondazione “G. Caboto”, is based in Civitavecchia (Italy).

The class met in Civitavecchia to undertake a 6-day course on sustainable intermodal logistics, EU environmental policies, the motorways of the sea, and above all to expand their professional and human networks. During the navigation of the Ro-Pax ferry “Cruise Roma” of Grimaldi Lines along the crossing that connects Civitavecchia and Barcelona the participants were able to share knowledge, experiences and exchange views with experts in the field throughout the course.

The students were accompanied by a group of expert teachers including the Director of the Escola Europea, Eduard Rodés, Escola Europea’s Country Manager for Italy, Marco Muci, the CEO of ILP Consulting, Andrea Campagna, the Deputy Director of ALIS, Antonio Errigo and experts from the AdSP of the Central and Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, Sacha Campo and Luca Lupi.

The course included educational visits between Italy, Spain and France, thus giving the opportunity to learn about the different management and logistics models in the European countries visited. In particular, the participants were given guided maritime visits to the Port of Civitavecchia and Barcelona, a visit to the logistics-port area of Barcelona (ZAL, APM Terminals and Autoterminal); the intermodal freight village and the railway junction of Perpignan (France); as well as visits made to the vessel itself during the journey, such as to the bridge or to the loading area.

To conclude the course, participants solved a real case study of short sea shipping feasibility, applying direct and external cost calculations to evaluate alternatives from an economic, environmental and social point of view. It was a “very interesting and well organised course, more experiences like this should be done,” as attested by one of the participants who successfully completed the training.

It is now possible to visit the web page completely dedicated to the project: https://www.italia.escolaeuropea.eu/

Stakeholders of the “Formati al Porto” project meet to review the academic achievements of 2020-2021

/in , /by

The annual meeting of the Formati al Porto Academic Committee was held via videoconference on the 22nd of October. The meeting was convened by the President of the project, Prof. Andrea Campagna, and the Country Manager for Italy from the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport, Marco Muci.

The “Formati al Porto” project, strongly supported by the AdSP of the Central-Northern Tyrrhenian Sea and the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport, aims to make it easier for today’s students – who will be the professionals of the future – to learn about the professions of the port-logistics sector, with a specific focus on maritime activities and sustainable intermodal transport.

The stakeholders of the project participated in the meeting, including: Eduard Rodés, Director of Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport, Gianni Marinucci representing the AdSP of the Central-Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, Francesco Benevolo, Director of RAM, Antonio Errigo, Vice-Director of ALIS, Lidia Rossi for Confitarma, Luca Brandimarte for Assarmatori, Leonardo Picozzi for Ports of Genoa, Enrico Mosconi for the University of Tuscia, Mauro Adamo for ITC “G. Baccelli”, Clemente Borrelli, Director of ITS “G. Caboto”, Martina Trincia also of ITS “G. Caboto”, Laura Castellani, Director of ITSSI, Biagio Provenzale, Director of ITS Logistica Puglia, Marco Grifone of ITS MO.ST and Marco Muci, Project Secretary of Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport.

The videoconference brought together for the second time some of the main entities of the Italian maritime cluster and the intermodal logistics sector. During the meeting, the results obtained from the courses held during a difficult period were presented.  In spite of the various restrictions linked to the global health crisis, it was possible to achieve great results, as witnessed by the large number of participants. In addition, the new online courses have enriched the training offers, and new partners and training centres have joined. The international YEP MED projet and the many opportunities it will offer were of great importance and were also highlighted during the day.

The Academic Committee is committed to supporting the project, investing above all in the human factor, i.e. young students, and thus enhancing the educational offer of the local territories.

The primary objective of Formati al Porto is to create and strength a well-prepared logistics community, capable of facing future challenges and strategically placing Civitavecchia at the forefront of Mediterranean logistics activity.

The role of the project is to bring students into direct contact with the community and port-logistics activities and to learn, through first-hand experiences, the characteristics of port-related professions. The project will also improve the alignment between the qualifications required by companies and the skills offered by the local educational system, thus favouring the creation of quality employment through the possibility of alternating school-work.

The training, in line with the Escola’s signature teaching approach, is delivered by experts and professionals from the Italian and international sectors, ensuring participants receive high quality educational content. The teaching team of each course is composed of representatives of companies and institutions directly involved in the management of short sea shipping and the sustainable logistics sector in Italy.

For more information, you can always head to the website of the project: https://www.italia.escolaeuropea.eu/

Medports Training Programme

The Escola Europea takes one step closer towards sustainable transport

/in , , /by

From 13 to 15 October, the Escola organised the first edition of the course “LNG in ports: port systems, its rates and operational management” – a specialised training course in sustainable transport on the role of natural gas in Spanish ports. The training, specifically designed for personnel from the Enagás company, welcomed members of the company’s logistics and commercial departments, as well as staff from plants in Barcelona, Huelva and Cartagena.

The training covered the organisation of the Spanish port system, with a particular focus on the system of port charges, the establishment of the new customs regulations and, in great detail, their application in the use of natural gas, the typology of natural gas-fuelled vessels and the bunkering processes from application to supply.

A second edition of the training is planned for November.

Continuing in providing training in sustainable transport, on the 19th of October the Escola will start a new training course on Energy Transition, designed within the framework of the MedPorts Association, which brings together the ports from all around the Mediterranean. This training will cover topics related to legal regulations and the decarbonisation of the port system, energy transition tools in terminals and port areas, energy transition tools in transport, and the role of port authorities in this transition.

The speakers in this course will include experts from the port and energy sectors from companies and administrations such as DG Move, the Port of Barcelona, ESPO, IREC (Institut de Recerca de l’Energia de Catalunya), the Energy Efficiency Cluster of Catalonia, Cenit, Cefiner, Schlaich DAUSS SLP, HolaLuz, Solve Consulting, the Port of Antwerp, as well as other members of the association such as the Valenciaport Foundation, the Arab Academy and the Port of Marseille.

This training will be the first of a series of trainings developed for this partnership.

Group Photo - Participants of the September MOST course

Autumn courses bring a hint of normalcy back to the Escola’s MOST courses

/in , /by

It has been a difficult 2020-2021 for most of us – with many having to completely reshape and rethink their operations in a newly virtual environment. The Escola has spent a big part of last year and the first half of 2021 offering our signature courses through the Google Classroom lens – hoping to try to bring the Escola’s signature experiential approach to the net. The longing for the traditional approach has not disappeared, however, and both the Escola and the centres have waited for the health crisis to diminish and for on-board courses to be deemed safe again. This moment has arrived in the second semester of 2021.

Having completed one on-board MOST course in the summer, the Escola started the autumn courses with a hybrid MOST courses for students of the Master in Supply Chain Management from the EAE Business School which took place between the 10th and the 16th of September. The course offered online lectures in intermodal logistics and transport operations, as well as had in-person visits to terminals around the Port of Barcelona and a stationed Ro-Pax vessel to visualise the operations first-hand. In total, 13 students could attend the training both online and in person.

“Very well organised and dynamic course. It was very interesting to be able to focus on new proposals for the future and new trends. – Juliene Maksene de EMSUR – EAE course”

This course was then followed by an on-board traditional MOST course that took place between the 18th and the 21st of September. 29 students from the Polytechnic University of Catalunya and Nautical Faculty of Barcelona took part in the training that took place on board of a Ro-Pax shipping vessel between the ports of Barcelona (Spain) and Civitavecchia (Italy). Following the Escola’s signature approach, the students got the opportunity to witness an intermodal transport journey first hand, whilst also learning about the concepts of intermodal transport, transport costs, sustainability, and new technologies. The teachers of the Escola Europea on this occasion were Marta Miquel, the Chief Operating Officer, Antonio Vargas, representing Grimaldi Lines and Eduard Rodés, as course director.

The next month will see the Escola, together with the council of the Prat de Llobregat and Barcelona Activa, organise 3 courses in intermodal transport and port administrations. These courses, which will be carried out online – with an inclusion of some in-person visits to the local port terminals – will provide an all-encompassing overview of the port logistics community and the administrative processes that surround transport operations within a port environment – and will be offered for free for young people and women wishing to find employment in the local port sector. They form part of the training offered under the YEP MED project, which is co-funded by the ENI CBC Med instrument of the European Union.

Diploma ceremony held on the 3rd of July 2021

Escola’s restarts its MOST courses

/in , /by

Last Saturday, on the 3rd of July, the intermodal transport course “Motorways of the Sea training – MOST” started in Barcelona. In total, thirty five students from 11 different nationalities studying Master’s programmes in Logistics and International Trade, Internationalisation of SMEs and Customs Law and Management at the University of Barcelona participated in the 4-day long training.

The day began with a solemn ceremony to present diplomas to some 100 graduates which, exceptionally and due to health safety measures, was held outdoors in front of the Escola Europea’s headquarters, at Placeta de l’Areté, Terminal Drassanes on the Moll de Barcelona.  On behalf of the Port of Barcelona and the Escola, its director, Eduard Rodés, welcomed the participants.  On behalf of the University of Barcelona, Dr. Oscar Mascarilla, director of the Master’s programmes, spoke. The Honourable Ramon Tremosa, Minister of Business and Knowledge of the Generalitat de Catalunya until a few weeks ago, supported the event and addressed the students, encouraging them to put their knowledge at the service of the competitiveness of their respective countries. Afterwards, the participants and their accompanying family members made a maritime visit to the Port of Barcelona.

The MOST course started early in the afternoon on the same day, and the group departed for Civitavecchia – the port of Rome – on board of the Grimaldi RO-PAX vessel “Cruise Barcelona”. The teachers of the Escola Europea on this occasion were Marta Miquel, the Chief Operating Officer, Antonio Vargas, representing Grimaldi Lines and Eduard Rodés, as course director.

Simultaneously, the first two weeks of July saw the start of the Escola’s annual Summer School in Port Operations for Vessels and for Goods. The course is held in classroom in-person format with the participation of 16 students from Egypt, Yemen and Somalia.

The MOST course is the first on-board course that the Escola was able to hold since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. It is a promising sign showing the ability of the Escola to begin to bring its unique experiential courses back into play.

The panel at the press conference

The Escola Europea and Click&Cargo develop a virtual port to be used in simulation exercises

/in , , /by

In the framework of the European YEP MED project, the agreement between the Escola Europea and the software development company Click&Cargo has been presented to the public on the 26th of May 2021.

Logos of the entities involved in the project

Participating in the event from the Escola Europea were its director Eduard Rodés and its Chief Business Officer Marta Miquel. The Project Manager from Click & Cargo, Valentina Salinas and the head of development Alex Rodriguez, alongside Marisa Clavero – a teacher from the Institut Lluïsa Cura, and Guillem Sardañés, CEO of the freight forwarding company eGlobe, also joined the press conference to explain the details of the agreement.

Eduard Rodés presented the YEP MED project and the PortVirtualLab.com platform, which will be used for the development of the training applications foreseen in the European project. YEP MED, funded by the ENI CBC Med programme, has a budget of 2.97 million euros and a planned duration of 30 months.

One of the main characteristics of the development of the project has been the close and fruitful collaboration of different organisations in the Barcelona Port Logistics Community, including: the Barcelona Port Authority, ATEIA, Institut Les Salines, Institut Lluïsa Cura, Click&Cargo and various private companies in the sector such as eGlobe.

Marta Miquel of the Escola Europea has highlighted that the agreement has already enabled training in the use of the platform for trainers from institutes and training centres in the 7 participating countries from the project: Spain, France, Italy, Tunisia, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. A total of 38 teachers specialised in International Trade from 12 training centres have been prepared to deliver the practice sessions in their respective centres and countries in the coming months.

Since last week, some of these trainers have already begun putting into practice what they have learned in a course that is being conducted online. 148 trainees from Spain, Italy, Tunisia and Lebanon are currently simulating project operations in the first course of this kind for students.

Valentina Salinas emphasised that the use of Click&Cargo as an ERP platform for the freight forwarding sector was the result of a public tender in which it obtained the best score for its technical features and ease of use. The proposed platform is fully accessible online and in English, which eliminates the barriers of distance and language in a sector where English is the lingua franca. The platform aims to integrate digitalisation processes, facilitating and automating the usual tasks of freight forwarding companies.

The co-founder and director of eGlobe, Guillem Sardañés, highlighted the speed and efficiency of the training that students receive in a relatively short time – achieving the same results in just a few weeks -something that normally require months of training. Sardañés highlighted the rapid process of digitalisation of freight forwarding companies and the need to have personnel prepared to face the challenges and changes that these processes entail. He also affirmed that the similarity of real-life operations to the simulated ones is amazing and proposed that the tool could also serve professionals active in the sector as an aid in digital transitions.

On behalf of the training institutes Marisa Clavero emphasised that the YEP MED programme and the PortVirtualLab.com platform have made it possible to go to the most minute levels of details in operations for the first time, which in practice means a simulation of the activities carried out in all levels of a company. She further emphasised the value of the students’ relations with the teams from the other countries, who act as corresponding agents in their respective countries during the exercises. The management of these relations, with the added complexity of dealing with different cultures, different languages and different visions, is a very valuable experience for the profile of a worker in a freight forwarding company, who is also a citizen of the world by the nature of his or her work.

Eduard Rodés pointed out that contact with other software companies in the sector has already begun, with the goal to extend training to other groups from the Port Logistics Community in the coming years and that the Escola Europea will work to facilitate the digitisation processes of all the actors involved in operations.

For more information on the YEP MED project you can contact Concha Palacios from the project office at concha.palacios@portdebarcelona.cat.

Port of Civitavecchia : a new classroom named after Raffaele Meloro

/in , /by

Eduard Rodés, director of the Escola Europea, celebrates the inauguration of the Port of Civitavecchia’s first classroom named after Raffaele Meloro

In spite of the difficulties caused by the pandemic, six months after the start of the advanced technical course “Management of integrated logistics and the shipping processes” – a training jointly organised by the G. Caboto Foundation and the Escola Europea – the 28 students discovered that they could for the first time attend classes in in person in the new classroom set up in Civitavecchia at the offices of the Port Authority of the North-Central Tyrrhenian Sea (AdSP).

To date, all of the training activities of this course have been carried out remotely using the e-learning platform of the ITS Giovanni Caboto Foundation, which has enabled the students to follow the lessons virtually, as well as made access to the necessary teaching materials possible.

The official inauguration of the classroom on the 11th of May was attended by the President of ITS G. Caboto, Cesare D’Amico, the President of the AdSP, Pino Musolino, the Maritime Director of Lazio, Francesco Tomas and the daughter of the former President, Professor Maria Domenica Meloro. Eduard Rodés, the director of the Escola Europea, was present through a virtual connection. Together they unveiled the plaque of the organisation’s new classroom named after Raffaele Meloro, the president of the Autonomous Consortium for the Port of Civitavecchia between the years 1973 and 1994 – a particularly important figure for the port and the city of Civitavecchia.

“It is no coincidence that today we have dedicated this hall of the AdSP to training, naming it after a character as important for the port and the city of Civitavecchia as President Meloro” said Pino Musolino, the current president of the AdSP. “And it is also by following his example of continuous involvement and collaboration with all port realities that we will be able, thanks to highly professionalised courses such as this one on logistics, YEP MED and Formati al Porto, to train the new port managers who will be able to face and overcome the challenges of the real world.”

The event was further celebrated by Eduard Rodés, who said:

“To be able to be here today and see so many students finally in attendance is a source of pride for all of us. The partnership we established last year, at a particular moment in history, has proved to be a strategic choice for the future. This is all part of the celebration of Escola Europea’s fifteenth year of activities, and having this new classroom, fully dedicated to training, is a great gift.”

The participants of the course listened to the panelists during the inauguration

The advanced technical course, promoted by ITS  G. Caboto and financed by the Ministry of Education and the Lazio Region, aims to prepare students to manage logistics activities in the market segments of port-centric supply chains. Following the summer break, the trainees will start participating in project work together with representatives from local logistics partner companies. These companies will also provide 5-month long internship positions for the students, an essential part of the overall training. Thanks to the collaboration between ITS Fondazione G. Caboto, AdSP and the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport, the students will have the opportunity to participate in courses under the umbrella of the European project YEP MED, co-financed by the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) of the European Union with about 2.9 million euros and led by Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport.