We need to get moving

Oct 6 2008 by jez Davison, Evening Gazette

A MIDDLESBROUGH company has called for the creation of a dedicated logistics training centre to capitalise on “two or three generations of work” in the Tees Valley.

Gary Smith, joint founder of Global Transport Logistics, claims the area lacks sufficient skills to carry out high-value logistics projects expected on the back of major developments at Teesport. A £50m import centre - the new base for supermarket giant Tesco - and PD Ports’ deep sea container terminal project will create more than 6,300 jobs.

Mr Smith, whose fast-expanding business is expected to turnover more than £3m in only its second year, is drumming up support among local employers and organisations to develop a local training infrastructure for the region’s logistics sector.

He said: “I want people to come into my business at a young age and have the skills to work on major projects. With the new import centre and deep sea container terminal at the port, there is scope for thousands of extra jobs and we need to be equipped to carry them out.

“Very few structured training programmes are available in our sector. There may be NVQs in warehousing available but we need more than that to produce competent junior and senior managers.”

Martyn Pellew, group development director at PD Ports, welcomed the initiative and said the sector needed to address a chronic skills shortage in key areas such as maintenance engineering.

“Logistics will be the primary job-creating sector for the next one to five years in the Tees Valley,” he said. “It will provide opportunities to help people back into employment. To some extent, larger organisations have their own training programmes in place but small companies need additional help.”

He also backed a drive by sector skills council, Skills for Logistics (SfL), to establish a National Logistics Academy and academies in each English region by October 2009.

Under the plans - which are part of a wider Government drive to create national academies in key industry sectors - regional academies (or hubs) will deliver of industry-backed training locally.

SfL is seeking funding for the project from the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), which said a decision is expected “sometime this week.”

Neil Thompson, account manager for Business Link North East, welcomed attempts to upgrade regional training provision and said he was helping Mr Smith to target “big decision-makers” in the region.

He said: “Projects from developments at the port will be coming on stream in the next year or two so we need things in place sooner rather than later.

“I’m trying to get Gary in front of people who can get the ball rolling, including local authority representatives and TVEP (Tees Valley Engineering Partnership).”