YEP MED by the Escola Europea wins the WestMED Best Project 2025 Award in Tunis

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On the 28th of November, the YEP MED – Young Employment in Ports of the Mediterranean project, led by the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport, received the prestigious WestMED Best Project 2025 Award in the category of Blue Skills & Ocean Literacy during the ceremony held in Tunis. This award recognises Mediterranean initiatives that significantly contribute to the development of blue skills and ocean literacy.

Alessia Mastromattei, Country Manager for Italy, and Marta Miquel, Deputy Director General, accepted the award on behalf of the Escola Europea.

The ceremony took place within the framework of the 5th WestMED Stakeholder Conference (WestMED Conference 2025), organised by the WestMED Blue Economy Initiative and supported by the European Commission through the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) on behalf of DG MARE. The event gathered key regional actors to advance cooperation, innovation, and sustainable development across the Mediterranean.

Funded by the ENI CBC MED programme of the European Union, YEP MED has transformed the way young people, teachers, and professionals access maritime and port training. The project was particularly recognised for democratizing education through innovative tools such as the Port Virtual Lab, an immersive platform that allows users to simulate real port logistics chain operations. This hands-on methodology has helped develop essential skills related to digitalisation, sustainability, environmental management, international trade, and teamwork.

YEP MED connected eight Mediterranean ports – including Barcelona, Valencia, Marseille, Rome, Tunis, Beirut, Damietta, and Aqaba – creating an active collaborative network that has boosted youth talent in the port and logistics sectors. Thanks to this joint effort, the project achieved remarkable impact: 3,683 trained students, 161 courses delivered, 72 trainers trained, and over 1,093 internships and job placements across 514 companies, ensuring gender-balanced participation throughout.

Although the project officially concluded in 2023, YEP MED remains alive through the work of PLIKA – Port Logistics International Knowledge Academy, which continues to strengthen and expand the community created by the initiative. A recent example is PLIKA’s participation in the Mediterranean Day event on 27 November, where regional stakeholders exchanged experiences and reaffirmed their commitment to blue education and sustainable maritime economies.

Receiving the WestMED award reinforces YEP MED’s position as a regional benchmark in training, port cooperation, and blue talent development, demonstrating that transnational collaboration can generate long-lasting and replicable results across the Mediterranean basin.

The WestMED Stakeholder Conference 2025, where the recognition was presented, brought together government representatives, academic institutions, ports, companies, and international organisations from across the region. The event focused on strategic areas of the blue economy – including energy transition, sustainable aquaculture, maritime spatial planning, and especially training and blue skills – and served as a key platform to foster new synergies and projects that support the sustainable development of the Mediterranean.

The Escola Europea strengthens its growth in 2025 by training students, teachers, and professionals

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The Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport shared today the main conclusions and developments from the Executive Committee meeting held in Barcelona on 17 November 2025. The meeting highlighted the remarkable growth of training activity during 2025 and approved the work plan and objectives for 2026, with a special focus on consolidating in-person courses and strengthening the Port Virtual Lab (PVL) and its complementary tools, such as the Chiron programme for educators.

En la foto (de izquierda a derecha): Eduard Rodés, Director de la Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport; Catalina Grimalt Falcó, Subdirectora General de Organización y Recursos Internos del Port de Barcelona; Matteo de Candia, General Manager de GNV España; Luca Lupi, Secretary General de la Autorità di Sistema Portuale del Mare di Sicilia Occidentale; Mario Massarotti, Consejero Delegado de Grimaldi Logistica España; y Marta Miquel, Deputy Director General de la Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport.

Training growth in 2025

During 2025, the Escola Europea delivered 229 training activities that brought together 7,431 participants, consolidating its practical training model oriented towards a sustainable port and logistics sector. These activities include vocational programmes in all its ports: the Forma’t al Port and Talent programmes and the Port Academies in Italy; university training carried out on board vessels through the MOST Management programme; and professional courses, including specialised courses on Artificial Intelligence for port-logistics communities, as well as a wide range of tailor-made courses and technical visits. Added to all this are the distance-learning courses based on the Port Virtual Lab simulation tool, which is increasingly attracting training centres to join the network.

The Port Virtual Lab (PVL) showed sustained and significant growth in 2025. The platform now includes 31 training centres across 11 countries. Throughout the year, the CHIRON programme, designed for teacher training, has been launched and has consolidated specific capacity-building sessions for teachers and educators. Multiple training-of-trainers activities were developed, bringing together dozens of institutions from different countries to train educators in the pedagogical use of the simulator.

New functionalities and products have also been introduced within the PVL ecosystem, including: a new insurance module, an inland waterway navigation module, and the creation of new port nodes within the Port Virtual World.

Among the new additions in 2025 is the first pilot edition of the SHIP course (Short-Sea High Efficiency Intermodal Planning), aimed at nautical and naval engineering students and opening the door to a new audience.

The diversity of the student body is reflected in the participation of 78 nationalities, and in the commitment to teaching in English across the entire catalogue. The Executive Committee highly valued these results and approved the 2026 growth plan and strategic lines, which include the consolidation of the international expansion of the PVL, the creation of logistics communities within the Port Virtual World, and the launch of the “Education Beyond Intelligence” programme to mark the Escola’s 20th anniversary.

The Escola Europea expresses its gratitude for the ongoing collaboration of its institutional and corporate partners and reaffirms its commitment to practical training, educational innovation, and capacity-building for more efficient and sustainable intermodal logistics and transport.

Escola Europea and DLTM Join Forces to Promote International Mobility and Maritime Education

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Signed in La Spezia on 29 October 2025 by Eduard Rodés, Director of the Escola Europea, and Giovanni Lorenzo Forcieri, President of DLTM, the memorandum sets the foundation for joint initiatives under the Erasmus+ programme. These initiatives will support the development of training pathways and professional exchanges designed to promote sustainable transport, port logistics, and intermodal operations and maritime education.

The agreement reflects the shared commitment of both organisations to strengthen ties between the Liguria region – home to a vibrant maritime cluster that includes the ports of Genoa and La Spezia – and Barcelona’s thriving port and logistics community. By connecting clusters of enterprises and universities in Liguria with the Escola’s network of training programmes in Barcelona, the partnership aims to boost knowledge exchange and professional mobility across the Mediterranean.

“This agreement reinforces our educational bridge between Italy and Spain,” said Eduard Rodés, Director of the Escola Europea. “Through cooperation with DLTM, we can create new opportunities for students and professionals to experience intermodality in action, share best practices, and strengthen the future workforce of the maritime and logistics sectors.”

As part of this collaboration, the partners will also explore synergies with the Port Academies initiative in Italy – inspired by the Escola’s Forma’t al Port programme in Barcelona – which brings port operations and logistics education directly into vocational classrooms, helping to connect young learners with real-world port environments.

“The agreement with the Escola Europea of Barcelona strengthens DLTM’s international focus and opens up new growth opportunities in this sector for our companies,” added Giovanni Lorenzo Forcieri, President of the Ligurian District of Marine Technologies. “The memorandum of understanding just signed offers the chance to acquire advanced skills in the maritime and logistics sectors and to develop European projects of high innovative value, contributing to the competitiveness, sustainability, and internationalization of the Ligurian region.”

The agreement marks another important milestone in the Escola’s mission to empower the industry through education, expanding its footprint in Italy and contributing to a more connected and sustainable Mediterranean logistics ecosystem.

Energy Transition Barcelona 2025: Advancing the Green Transformation of Ports

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The Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport has announced the second edition of its specialised training programme Energy Transition Barcelona: Build Your Port Energy Transition Plan, which will take place from 1 to 11 December 2025 in a hybrid format (online and in Barcelona).

Designed for professionals in the port-logistics and transport sectors, the course explores the strategies and technologies driving decarbonisation and sustainable innovation in port communities. Participants will work in groups and use a simulator to design and test their own Port Energy Transition Plan, bridging the gap between theory and practice.

Expert lecturers from the Port of Barcelona, Enagás, Balearia, CENIT, Ricardo, Hutchison Ports BEST, Vilaseca Consultors, Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) alongside the Escola’s lecturers will guide the sessions. The programme also includes technical visits to key energy facilities such as the Iberdrola Hydrogen Plant, the Regasification Plant, and the BEST Container Terminal.

A distinctive feature of this year’s edition is the continued integration of the Port Energy Transition Simulator, developed by the Escola Europea in collaboration with Portwise under the Green Marine Med project, co-financed by the European Union. This innovative tool allows participants to experiment with strategic decisions related to the decarbonisation of port ecosystems. Through group work and practical exercises, trainees will use the simulator to design and test their own Port Energy Transition Plan, exploring how different operational choices impact energy use, emissions, and sustainability outcomes.

This initiative continues the Escola’s mission to promote environmental sustainability and knowledge exchange across Mediterranean ports.

Learn more here ➡️ Energy Transition in Ports.