Damietta Port: Youth in the Heart of the Maritime Industry
Damietta Port is one of the leading Egyptian Ports in the Mediterranean. It acts both as a gate for local imports and exports and as a hub for the transshipment trade in the East Mediterranean. It is a place also for many petrochemical industries; including LNG, methanol and propane. The port handles an average of 40 million tonnes of containerized goods and general cargo per year. Damietta Port is well connected to its hinterland through a multimodal network that includes roads, rail, river and pipes, and this is why the port is able to serve almost the whole Egyptian market of more than 100 million people. To meet the expected increase in demand, the Damietta Port Authority is implementing an expansion plan by establishing the 2nd container terminal and a new multipurpose terminal with a total capacity of about 5.3 km of quays.
Damietta Port has a large community of partners from public and private sectors, all working closely together to provide the best services for our clients. In fact, Damietta is the lead between Egyptian ports in the fields of Information Technology, safety & security, environmental protection and social responsibility. The Port Authority is committed to play an effective role in community development and social participation. Human resources development is an essential part of our sustainable development plan. The port sees the youth as the pulsating heart of the maritime industry and its vision is to create a base from young men and woman qualified to work in port-related activities in the future. To achieve that, the port authority implements a yearly plan for youth training with the aim of building their capacities and giving them opportunities to acquire new skills and competencies in fields related to maritime transport and port operations.
To that end, Damietta Port Authority provides training courses to an average number of 1000 trainees of young males and females every year. Training is offered from both theoretical and practical sides for academic students and fresh graduates from the Damietta governorate and other neighboring governorates. Our training courses cover many fields like basic business skills, English language, port management and operations, occupational safety and health, IT, marine services, environment protection, engineering…etc. It harnesses its assets from trainers, classrooms, marine units, and workshops to provide students with a fruitful learning experience. In addition to that, we have built a long-term partnership with professional training providers like the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport. Despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, we continued our training plan for youth through online channels.
In a culmination of our efforts in that field to date, the Damietta Port Authority (DPA) and the Port Training Institute (PTI) have participated in the YEP MED project “Youth Employment in the Ports of the Mediterranean“ which is co-financed by the European Neighborhood Instrument (ENI) of the European Union. The project aims to build the capacities and develop the skills of young people from participating port communities, which includes the Damietta governorate, helping them be qualified for work in logistics and port-related activities with training courses in 3 main areas: foreign trade, sustainable development and port logistics. On the 28 March 2021, DPA and PTI have started successfully the training activities with the 1st vocational training course. The port is currently preparing to launch the 1st occupational training course by November 2021.
On Monday, July 12, 2021, Damietta Port Authority and Port Training Institute have signed an institutional agreement with Damietta Port Community for cooperation under the YEP MED project. The MoU has been signed by Rear Admiral/ Waleed Mostafa Awad – DPA Chairman with a number of 12 partners, representing all port sectors; terminal operation, stevedoring & warehousing, inland transportation, shipping agency, customs clearance in addition to academic education and dual training. The project’s local partners will help provide the practical side of training and internships to students in order to increase their opportunities for getting jobs in the field of logistics and port operations in both public and private sectors.
Damietta works with the Escola and all other YEP MED partners from other countries to share experiences and best practices together in order to maximise the project’s end results as professional and efficient as planned.
Finally, as youth is the backbone and future of maritime industry, the port will continue working with our partners to build its and their best possible future.