Tag Archive for: Barcelona Talent Logistics

FNG Fornes Logistics Joins the Forma’t al Port Programme

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The Escola Europea has signed a new collaboration agreement with FNG Fornes Logistics, a company specialised in comprehensive logistics services, which joins the Forma’t al Port educational programme as a partner organisation.

Eduard Rodés (Escola Europea) and Javad Valinuri Fotovati (FNG Fornes Logistics) during the signing, marking the company’s entry into the Forma’t al Port programme.

This agreement reinforces the shared commitment of both entities to promote logistics training that is closely aligned with the professional reality of the sector, with a strong focus on young talent and sustainability.

FNG Fornes Logistics, headquartered in Palma de Mallorca, has strategic branches across the Iberian Peninsula, including Barcelona, and provides personalised, efficient solutions across the supply chain. Its integration into the Forma’t al Port programme helps strengthen the links between the logistics ecosystem of the Balearic Islands and the port communities of the Western Mediterranean.

“It is an honour to join this project and contribute to the development of young talent entering a sector that is becoming increasingly digitalised and constantly evolving,” said Javad Valinuri Fotovati, Business Development Director at FNG Fornes Logistics.

The Forma’t al Port programme is a mutualised initiative led by the Escola Europea with the support of the Port of Barcelona. It brings together public institutions, sectoral associations and private companies in a joint effort to connect port-logistics environments with vocational and university-level students. Through hands-on and collaborative training experiences, the programme aims to inspire careers, professionalise the sector, and bridge the gap between education and industry.

“We especially value the addition of FNG Fornes Logistics to the Forma’t al Port community. Their commitment to young talent and the development of the logistics sector strengthens the core mission of this collaborative programme,” stated Marta Miquel, Deputy Director of the Escola Europea.

The support of sponsor companies makes it possible to keep the programme affordable and to offer high-quality training. In turn, collaborating firms gain access to a pool of motivated young talent aligned with current sectoral needs.

In the coming weeks, the Escola Europea will announce additional partnerships that continue to strengthen the cooperative ecosystem of the Forma’t al Port programme.

Students from the Forma't al Port Talent 2023 course

The second edition of Forma’t al Port – Talent concludes, the high-performance training for the future talents of the Port of Barcelona

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This week marked the conclusion of the second edition of a high-performance training programme called Forma’t al Port Talent. This training is tailored for the top students from professional training centers in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. Eleven institutes from the Barcelona area participated in this edition, which was funded by various collaborating companies in the local logistics and port community. The initiative aims to train the best students on their path to becoming future employees of the companies involved in the programme.

Students from the Forma't al Port Talent 2023 course

BARCELONA, NOVEMBER 8, 2023 – The second edition of the Forma’t al Port Talent training programme concluded this past Tuesday, November 7, with the participation of 41 students and 11 teachers from various professional training institutes in the metropolitan area of Barcelona including: Institut Jaume Mimó, Escola Técnico Profesional Xavier, Instituto ECAT Barcelona Lluïsa Cura, Prat Educació, Stucom, Institut Estela Ibérica, Centro López Vicuña, Instituto La Salle – Gràcia, Fundación UAB, Barcelona Logistics Institute, and Institut Carles Vallbona.

Thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Port of Barcelona, the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport, the Diputación de Barcelona, the City Council of Barcelona, the Consorcio de la Zona Franca, port community associations, and a conglomerate of sector companies, all committed and interested in education, come together to make the Forma’t al Port programme possible. This initiative, driven by the Escola Europea, allows sponsoring companies of the Programme to address one of the most significant issues in the industry, identified within the framework of the Training and Employment working group of the Board of Directors of the Port of Barcelona: namely the shortage of qualified talent.

The President of the Escola Europea and the Port of Barcelona, Lluís Salvador, along with Catalina Grimalt, the Deputy Director General of Internal Resources, expressed this sentiment during the welcome reception for the selected participants at the beginning of the course. Montse Nomen, CEO of CargoClub Forwarders and CargoWine, and Jesús Martínez from Tecnocampus de Mataró also participated in the course’s commencement to share some inspiring experiences with the students to help them in their future in the industry.

This high-performance programme aims to identify the most talented candidates from the leading institutes in Barcelona through a rigorous selection process. Students had to surpass a series of tests and interviews to be chosen and invited to participate.

Those selected to participate had the opportunity to experience the components that make up a logistics and port community firsthand. Additionally, they received a detailed report of their professional profile, enabling them to become part of a specialized job pool for the companies involved in this training.

Similarly, accompanying teachers also received specific training aimed at identifying profiles based on behavioral patterns for better guidance of their students.

The entirely in-person and English-language programme unfolded over five days during which both participants and teachers had the opportunity to cultivate cross-cutting skills such as teamwork, communication, and organization through the resolution of an operation using the a case study. The course, conducted on board a Grimaldi Lines Ro-Pax vessel, along an SSS route between Barcelona and Civitavecchia, is designed for participants to acquire technical training. They get to witness the management and execution of maritime intermodal operations and observe how different actors in the logistics and port community of Barcelona interact. Additionally, participants learn the technical vocabulary of the sector and navigate an international port environment.

An increasing number of companies are participating in the programme, benefiting from access to a job pool featuring candidates specifically chosen through meticulous testing and selection processes. These candidates are trained to become the future professionals with the most talent from their institutes. Some of the companies that are already investing in the future talents of the sector include the Association of Ship Brokers of Barcelona, the Official College of Customs Agents and Customs Representatives of Barcelona, the City Council of El Prat, the Association of International Forwarders and Shippers, GCA, Port Transport S.A., CIMALSA, Condeminas, the Propeller Club Barcelona, Cosco Shipping, ZAL Port, and the recent addition of Balearia.

In this way, the Forma’t al Port Talent programme proves to be a reflection of the evolving needs for talent and training in the logistics and port sector. It provides participants with the knowledge, skills, and latest trends necessary to succeed in the transportation and logistics industry, benefiting both the participants and the companies by supplying the best qualified talent in Barcelona.

Inauguracion de la primera edición del curso Forma't al Port - Talent

The first edition of the Forma’t al Port – TALENT begins

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A high performance programme for specialised training in the transport, logistics and port sector

On Thursday the 3rd of November the opening ceremony of the first edition of the Forma’t al Port Talent programme took place at the premisses of the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport. The course is a high-performance training in which participants have had to pass assessment tests and professional interviews before being selected to participate. During the training, candidates will be able to see elements that make up a logistics-port community first-hand. They will also obtain a detailed report on their professional profile at the end of the course which will allow them to be a part of a specialised recruitment database for the companies participating in this training.

With this initiative, the Escola Europea, together with the Port of Barcelona, Barcelona City Council, Barcelona Provincial Council, the Zona Franca and the companies sponsoring the Forma’t al Port programme in its TALENT edition, seeks to solve one of the most significant problems in the sector identified within the framework of the Training and Employment working group of the Port of Barcelona Governing Council: the lack of qualified talent.

The opening ceremony was attended by Eduard Rodés, the director of the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport; Agustín Oleaga, non-executive president of DHL Supply Chain Iberia, who shared his experience with the students, giving them advice and recommendations to continue their professional career. In addition, Catalina Grimalt, the deputy director general of the Port of Barcelona gave a speech in English, the language in which the training will take place, encouraging the participants and explaining the role that the Escola Europea has played in the development of qualified professionals in the sector.

Grimalt highlighted the long trajectory that Escola Europea has travelled in technical and specialised training: “For 15 years, like the sector, Escola Europea has constantly evolved, like an organism that follows the Darwinian laws of the survival of the fittest. It has grown, spread its influence along the Mediterranean and Atlantic shores and strengthened its relations with international training centres”.

The training will take place in the Barcelona port area and at sea during a SSS route between Barcelona and Civitavecchia. In addition to technical training, trainees will have the opportunity to develop transversal skills such as teamwork, communication and organisation. This will enable them to learn the technical vocabulary of the sector and to function in an international port environment.

The creation of this programme has been possible thanks to the collaboration between public entities, private companies and the academic sector. As a result, the sponsoring companies will have access to a pool of qualified talent, facilitating recruitment processes and giving access to the most qualified young people in the sector within the region. This will ultimately facilitate a solution to the recruitment processes of highly qualified personnel within the sector.

To this end, the Escola continues to collaborate with public and private entities. Professionals of all levels of experience contribute to the design and implementation of all of its courses, so that what students are taught reflects the reality of the sector.

Talent is our organisation’s main asset

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The world of employment has always seemed daunting to young people. Having completed either higher education or specialised training programmes, young people frequently lacked the technical know-how that was expected of them from the get-go. Traditional educational models haven’t focused on practical experiences to prepare the youth for the challenges of the future. Nevertheless they have always represented talent – a sea full of potential for companies to seek new talent from. In recent years, and in particular following the technological advancements of the 21st century and the shifting employment environment after the Covid-19 pandemic hit, employers now began to focus on seeking true potential from new employees – and have begun to value life experiences and other soft skills over technical experiences that mattered so much more in the past – changing the aspects of their employability. As the Escola has been focusing on improving the employability of youth in recent years, in particular in light of the YEP MED project, we wanted to understand the approaches used by companies to source their talents.

In the following article, José del Moral from the Barcelona Talent Logistics company, talks about the evolving approaches of companies seeking new employees.

José del Moral

Written by José del Moral, CEO, Barcelona Talent Logistics

“Talent is our organisation’s main asset”. Apart from an absolute truth, this is one of the most recurring statements in the speeches of CEOs and business leaders when addressing employees in the frame of meetings and events’ celebrations.

However, how does the activity look like when it comes to Talent Acquisition and Management in the Logistics industry? Thorough studies on this subject, platforms like Glassdoor and several public/private institutions in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region seem to agree on certain trends and scenarios:

  • The average time from the moment a white collar vacancy opens up until new talent is in place is around 90 days.
  • Staff turnover in the first 3 months from start date is nearly 22%.
  • Regarding the level of satisfaction with their role, survey metrics show a range between 60-70% of detractors/neutrals out of all employees in the sample, 3 months after joining.

The above, along with massive other data and indicators, reflects an immense cost in terms of productivity, work environment, staff turnover/burnout and employee’s lack of trust, while the financial impact for the organisation is ultimately enormous.

“Talent is our organisation’s main asset” should not be just a declaration of will, but serve as the kick-off for a well-developed plan to acquire and nurture talent to the highest level according to the business needs. No excuses, no appeals. Logistics enterprises need to further develop their vision towards this subject and make a commitment to upgrade their levels of professionalism so as to improve competitiveness in the market.

Making logistics enterprises increases their competitiveness, by upgrading their acquisition and management of talent. This is the exact goal companies like Barcelona Talent Logistics focus on, while delivering excellence in 5 key stages along the way:

  1. Talent Needs Analysis: This is where one of the main problems usually lies. The lack of in-depth understanding regarding the exact need that the business requires makes the purpose of acquiring the right talent unfeasible. A clear insight into the role, its requirements, work environment, organisational culture, reporting lines, department’s structure or company’s concept must be the base line for each single process to acquire talent.
  2. Talent Mapping and Segmentation: This activity should always be conducted before the need to do so comes up. A proper identification of all potential candidates for a particular role is a work to be done upfront, not to delay the process for the acquisition of talent later on. A thorough knowledge of the logistics talent community and powerful software for talent segmentation and lead nurturing is crucial for the success of the strategy in Talent Acquisition.
  3. Candidate Assessment: Behavioural patterns are far better predictors of future performance than any other indicators in most of the roles in logistics. However, are we assessing behaviours properly, along with traits, qualities, hard skills, cognitive capabilities, expectations, motivations, financial needs,…? Once again, a great part of this activity must be performed before the need for new talent, to avoid losing efficiency afterwards throughout the process. Additionally, technology and artificial intelligence need to be applied within this stage, as we will need massive amounts of data to be exchanged with leads and candidates, all the while avoiding setting time-consuming tasks for them.
  4. Decision-Making Process: hiring managers and business leaders are the ones to decide what exact talent will be hired for a particular role. However, decisions made in this stage may lead to losses/profits in dozens of thousands of euros. Therefore, this is actually the stage where Talent Acquisition experts must provide valuable and structured information to the business more clearly, so as to maximize the chances of making the right choice.
  5. Appraisal and Performance Management: certainly, acquiring the right talent, at the right moment, in the right place is a great advantage to make the business succeed. However, employees life-cycle is influenced by a wide range of factors, which need to be assessed on a regular basis by experts in talent management. Thus, managers will have access to up-to-date data and thorough analyses concerning the talent under their scope, for them to lead their teams appropriately and create, consequently, a positive impact on the financial performance of the business.

 Logistics is one of the most added value activities across companies, thus it must be left to logistics experts. Talent, on the other hand, is the most valuable asset in any company, and thus its sourcing must be brought to talent acquisition experts.

José del Moral

Chief Executive Officer

Barcelona Talent Logistics