We have seen many articles lately that are dedicated to the lack of expertise left in the project freight industry and where this is going for the near future.
While many companies are offering training programs to the industry and shippers, very few are actually training for real expertise.
We had a look at a few programs and what we noticed is that a lot of them are more an introduction training/course then anything else. There are a few good ones too, like the one for Heavy Lift loading and listing which is provided by Mr. Richard Krabbedam. Being a good training program we have to admit that this program is more for in the field and is more for the practical side of the business and not really for managing project freight and or logistics as a whole.
We look at other training programs and we see that they are not much more then a very nice introduction course where heavy lift cases are shown and where it consists more of pictures then actual training material. They may be good for new people entering the industry, they do lack real contend and tools to manage projects and to deal with the processes, compliance issues, requirements for health, safety, environment and security (HSE&S) policies and practices.
What the industry is looking for is real project freight management courses at a mid-level and master-class level which brings more in-depth know how. Having seen heavy lift being loaded is nice, having a certain level of inside and understanding of how listing, lashing and loading is done is great, but ho
w to prepare for this, project plan, schedule, pricing, budgeting, best cost management (BCM), total landed cost (TLC) as well as total cost of ownership (TCO) in combination with monitoring are just a few of the aspects that each and every project freight forwarder and shipper should know in order to really understand the project freight industry and to cope with the complex environment we are dealing with every day.
We see a number of network organizations offering training programs but with all the good efforts in the world, most of the content can and should be obtained on the job. Focusing on heavy lift shipments is great and every freight forwarder wants to have lots of them, but any project or shipment has issues because of lack of planning, wrong pricing, not understanding the difference between pricing and cost, not understanding project contracts, liabilities, compliance, or just not speaking the language of the customer in general.
Another aspect is that training programs perhaps need to be certified by reputable industry organizations that are represented by shippers, forwarders, riggers, and carriers and other industry institutes. Perhaps certification should be linked to university credits and make the industry more attractive for students to enter in to.
One thing is for sure and that is that any and all training programs should be accessible for shippers for their understanding, for forwarders to learn, and for carriers and other related project freight companies to gain additional know how.
Let us know what you think of this subject and where you believe this is going.
HLN Team
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