Written by: Eduard Rodés, director of the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport

Twenty years have passed since we began training new generations of transport and logistics professionals at the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport. Two decades in which we have witnessed the sector evolve at a pace that, not long ago, would have seemed unimaginable. And throughout these twenty years, one lesson has repeated itself again and again: logistics changes — and training must change with it.

Today, we find ourselves in the midst of a true shift in era. Geopolitical dynamics are reshaping global supply chains; digitalisation and artificial intelligence are redefining entire professions; the energy transition is accelerating; and sustainability – once an aspiration – has become an operational imperative. In this context, infrastructures adapt, companies transform, and ports redefine their role. But none of this is possible – or sustainable – without one essential element: the people who train the people.

The Real Engine of Change: The Educators

At the Escola Europea, we have always believed that knowledge is not built from theory alone, but through experience. Our constructivist approach — which today feels so contemporary — was born from something simple: accompanying students and professionals to see, touch and live logistics firsthand. This philosophy gave rise to programmes such as MOST, SURCO, and the training stays aboard Ro-Pax vessels and in terminals, where learners observe, handle and understand logistics operations in the field.

What was once a distinctive option has now become an absolute necessity. The growing complexity of the sector demands professionals capable of interpreting data, making quick decisions, operating in digital environments, communicating clearly, and adapting to constant change. These competencies – the so-called soft and power skills – can only be developed through active, collaborative, scenario-based methodologies.

This is where educators come in. Far from diminishing with the arrival of new technologies, their role is becoming more central than ever. Technology will not replace teachers, but it is profoundly transforming their function. The 21st-century educator is no longer a transmitter of information; they are a designer of experiences, a facilitator of learning, a creator of contexts that connect theory and practice.

And it is precisely to support them in this evolving role that we created Chiron.

Chiron: A Necessary Companion for the Educators of the Future

Chiron is a natural step in our evolution as an institution. After twenty years accompanying thousands of students and professionals, we have also observed up close how the role of the educator is changing. Technology advances, methodologies shift, and the classroom – physical or virtual – is no longer a static space but a living environment that demands constant adaptation.

This is the context in which Chiron was born: as a way to support the educators who work with Port Virtual Lab and who, every day, search for new ways to bring logistics, international trade and administration closer to their students. Many are already innovating, testing active methodologies, designing realistic scenarios or exploring how to integrate AI into their classes. But they all agree on one thing: teaching in this new environment requires time, practice, and a space to exchange ideas and feel supported.

Chiron’s mission is simple yet essential: to provide support to the educators who are part of the PVL Open Lab community, offering them a framework where they can develop their work with greater confidence and more tools.

AI and Advanced Simulation: A Key Combination for Port and Logistics Learning

The debate is no longer whether technology – including AI – should enter ports or training centres, but how to integrate it responsibly, meaningfully, and with educational purpose. In many of our recent courses – such as Energy Transition in Ports: Build Your Port Energy Transition Plan – it is clear that learners expect training to incorporate tools that bring practice closer to operational reality.

In this context, advanced simulation has become a cornerstone. Today, students work with environments that allow them to personalise learning paths, analyse data, recreate complex scenarios and visualise the consequences of decisions within a safe, controlled environment. AI helps accelerate certain processes – from pattern detection to the automation of basic cognitive tasks — but it is simulation that truly transforms learning. It makes port, intermodal and energy operations comprehensible, tangible and experienceable even before reaching the quay.

Tools capable of recreating real-world operations – from maritime–rail coordination to energy or customs scenarios – enable students to make complex decisions and see their consequences in real time. AI enhances these simulations, yes, but it is the realism of the operational environment that turns the experience into deep and meaningful learning.

Technology, however, also brings new challenges: more sophisticated digital competencies, new ways of assessing learning, and even the need to rethink the educator’s role. This is why, at the Escola Europea, we speak of applied humanism: integrating AI and simulation without losing sight of the fact that the centre of the learning process remains the person.

Over these twenty years, our evolution has been constant. Port Virtual Lab is perhaps the best example: a simulation ecosystem that enables learners to execute real logistics chains, work with real documentation, respond to unexpected events and understand the complexity of intermodal transport from the inside. Its growth — from the initial maritime model to newly added rail, customs and energy modules – mirrors the transformation of the sector itself.

Twenty Years of Building Logistics Talent – And What Comes Next

Celebrating our 20th anniversary is not about looking back, but about reaffirming something we have practiced since the beginning: educational excellence is born from dialogue with the sector. Our MOST and SURCO programmes, the energy transition courses, Port Virtual Lab and the upcoming deployment of Chiron all demonstrate this conviction. We evolve because we listen – to ports, to companies, to educators, to students.

And at a moment when the sector is undergoing profound transformation – energy transition, digitalisation, new regulations, geopolitical tension, shifting supply chains – the training we provide must accompany that change, anticipate it, and help drive it.

That is why, at this milestone moment for the Escola, we want to highlight the role of educators. Without them, no talent strategy, digital transition, or sustainability agenda will be possible.

Logistics will change even more in the next twenty years. And we will continue to change with it. Because our job is not only to train – it is to prepare people for a future that is already here.