Employer Story

Apprenticeships in Management support work of The Bristol Port Company

The Bristol Port Company was formed in 1991 when entrepreneurs Terence Mordaunt and David Ord purchased the Port of Bristol from Bristol City Council. Since privatisation over £475 million has been invested to create a modern, thriving business, offering shipping, transit storage, distribution and associated logistics services.

The Port contributes more than £1billion to UK GDP and directly employs 550 people, with 7,500 employed throughout the entire 2,600-acre Port Estate. Every year it handles 25% of all UK aviation fuel imports, six million tonnes of dry bulk goods, 25% of all animal feed imports, 800,000 motor vehicles and 10% of UK coal imports for electricity generation.

Skills Training UK has been working with 40 employees on a range of Apprenticeships including Business Administration Level 3, Management Level 3 and Team Leader Level 2. The bespoke training focused on several aspects to support the Port’s business objectives, including resource management, problem solving and conflict management. Other modules focused on how to create productive working relationships, planning, workload allocation, encouraging innovation, procuring supplies and delivery of improved customer service. It has helped staff to have a greater understanding of The Bristol Port Company’s commercial needs – allowing them to grow in confidence, develop new ways of thinking and manage their teams more effectively.

Everything that we do at the Port is safety critical. It’s crucial that we have a strong workforce who really understand their roles. That’s especially true of supervisors and team leaders. Skills Training UK have helped to develop that. They dovetailed with our business objectives and created bespoke training that was exactly what we asked for.

Nick Venn, Training Manager, The Bristol Port Company

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For further information about Skills Training UK and how we can create tailored Apprenticeship training for your business, email apprenticeships@skillstraininguk.com or phone 0800 048 9370.

Their staff are very professional and they are very well organised. The trainer assessors work closely with everyone and the feedback from learners has been very positive. The training was directly relevant to what they do, so they’ve been able to see some big improvements and real benefits

Nick Venn, Training Manager, The Bristol Port Company

Working with Skills Training UK has been very good. The course was set up in a very structured way and brought the team closer together because we were all sharing a common goal. In particular it helped staff to understand their roles and see how they fitted in to the bigger picture. Skills Training UK brought that to the fore.

Operations Administration Manager Mike Harris, who has been working at The Bristol Port Company for 23 years, completed Level 3 Management

found the course very interesting. At times it was a challenge – but that’s what I enjoyed. The tutors were very helpful and always encouraging. I’d definitely like to do another. We’re a large site and quite unconventional in how we operate compared to other businesses, but Skills Training UK was able to adapt their material and make it relevant. There was a lot of useful information that I’ll definitely be able to use in the future.

Operations Administrator Alex Williams, employed at The Bristol Port Company for four years, who completed Level 3 in Business Administration

My main task is to supervise the team and to make sure that we load the vessels in a safe way that is as efficient as possible. We have to work to tight deadlines, so there can be quite a lot of pressure. But the training has helped. I definitely feel like I’m managing the team better. I know how to deal with stressful situations and I can work effectively to minimise conflict – allowing the team to maintain the productivity that we’re looking for.

Supervisor Filip Tutak, employed at The Bristol Port Company for four years, who completed Level 2 Team Leader and is now enrolled on Level 3 Management

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