ER.I.C. Academy consolidates the results of its first year of activity and awards qualification certificates to the first Terminal Operators and Intermodal Terminal Managers

The event “Logistics and Intermodality training, skills and professionalism to support the sector” was held on Wednesday, November 27th at the Auditorium of the Emilia-Romagna Region. This was the subject of the round table promoted by ER.I.C. (Emilia Romagna Intermodal Cluster) coordinated by the ITL Foundation, attended by experts and representatives of the intermodal logistic nodes in the region, outlining critical issues and development prospects for rail transport, and defining the skills and competences for employment in this specific market.

The initiative marks the end of the first year of activity of the ER.I.C. Corporate Academy, a network of operators representing the main intermodal nodes in the Emilia-Romagna region. Under the auspices of the regional administration, the Academy identified internationalization and training as priority areas of work. These aspects are of common interest in promoting a sustainable and competitive transport system and increasing intermodality.

This topic is of primary interest to regional planners, as it centres on creating new professional profiles capable of meeting the needs of an increasingly dynamic and evolving market such as logistics and transport. In the region, the sector has experienced the highest growth trend in employment between 2011 and 2018 (+22%). This sector is increasingly oriented towards the dissemination of efficient and advanced transport models, where knowledge of the specific sector is complemented by the implementation of new technologies and interaction with the global market, all of which require a necessary qualification of the skills system.

The feature of the two training courses launched by the Cluster’s Academy in the first year of activity, and funded in part by the region, was to create two new professional profiles in the technical-operational (Terminal Operator) and managerial (Intermodal Terminal Manager) fields, with specific knowledge of the rail logistics, the development of new intermodal services, and a keen eye on the dynamics of evolution and integration of business in this market. These figures are capable of integrating themselves into business processes and supporting the management of interactions with clients/suppliers and market competitors.

The day, in addition to being a summary of all the work done, was a celebratory moment of awarding qualification certificates to the students who successfully completed their training experience. Of the 24 students, around 60% of the trainees have already received job offers in their specific area of specialization, little over a month after completing their classroom experience.

The Vice President and Councilor for Transport of the Emilia-Romagna Region, Raffaele Donini, intervened at the end of the proceedings and also presented the certificates.