Small and medium-sized ports in parts of Europe and the Black Sea region are being offered new digital training and certification to help cut their environmental footprint while staying competitive, according to the European Commission’s BLUE PORTS project description.
The BLUE PORTS project is supported by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), an EU funding programme for maritime and fisheries-related initiatives, the Commission said in a release on Tuesday.
Partners in the project come from Greece, Spain, Italy and Georgia, bringing together education and research bodies, industry, public authorities and civil society groups.
The project is developing a cross-border training and certification scheme for port authority staff and port operations service providers, designed to meet ISO/IEC 17024 — an international standard used for certifying people’s professional skills.
The training material is fully digital and available in five languages: English, Greek, Spanish, Italian and Georgian.
Course topics include climate change, the energy transition, alternative fuels, the circular economy, environmental protection, and port-related digitalisation and automation.
Certification exams and preparatory sessions are offered after the training for participants who want to obtain certification.
Targets for port workers and young entrants
The project team plans to certify more than 150 port professionals and engage 200 young people through courses and career-focused events, the Commission said.
More than 1,600 certified workers could be reached by 2030 through use of the scheme in other parts of Europe, particularly in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions.
National Technical Committees set up in the four participating countries are involved in designing the training and certification scheme, with representatives from employers, employees, training providers and relevant authorities.
