Archives
Feature, Freight News, Logistics, Sea
Shadow Transport Sec hears issues at first hand
[ July 2, 2018 // Chris ]PD Ports welcomed Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Andy McDonald to Teesport recently.
As a Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough, Mr McDonald is a strong supporter of Teesport, which has seen over £1bn of infrastructure investments in the last decade.
The visit, hosted by PD Ports’ portcentric logistics director and former Road Haulage Association chairman, Jim French was an opportunity to raise serious concerns about the future of the logistics industry. Mr French highlighted the chronic shortage of drivers and the image crisis badly affecting the numbers of young people wanting a career in the industry.
He said: “For the last four years we have aggressively pushed to raise the visibility of the logistics industry amongst young people and demonstrate the many career opportunities available to them spanning a broad range of job roles and skill sets. This led to the launch of the Tees Valley Logistics Academy run with our colleagues at Stockton Riverside College and supported by national charity Career Ready and Think Logistics; focussing on inspiring young people to explore the logistics sector as a viable and valuable career choice.
“Despite road haulage accounting for 76% of UK freight distribution and the industry as a whole contributing around £121bn to UK GDP, supporting over 2.5 million jobs, there remains a distinct lack of visibility both within government and amongst the public as to the vital importance of the logistics industry to UK trade.”
McDonald added: “I’ve been hearing today about initiatives including the Logistics Academy and it’s abundantly clear that the industry and PD Ports, in particular, are really focused on the deficits in bringing people into the industry and making careers in logistics a realistic offer for people.
“I’m excited about the programmes I’ve been hearing about and I think if people can see the opportunities the industry has available then they would be attracted to it. It’s a question then of retaining them in the industry and letting them progress their careers as they develop.
“It’s a really exciting agenda but it’s critical as the logistics sector is so absolutely fundamental to everything we do in this country. If we don’t address the shortage we’ve got a real problem, so it’s a question of urgency as well. Today has really sharpened by focus and I want to carry on the conversation.”
