A group of employers from within the UK’s freight forwarding and logistics industry has been given approval by the UK Department for Education to develop the standard for a specific International Freight Forwarding Operative apprenticeship. For many years interested parties in the supply chain have been asking UK government to address the chronic shortage of skilled workers in the sector.
The employer group, known as a ‘Trailblazer’, submitted an Expression of Interest (EOI) in January and now needs to produce standards and a plan detailing what a freight forwarding apprenticeship will include. This Trailblazer group from the freight industry consists of 38 companies.
Robert Keen, Director General of the British International Freight Association (BIFA), which has been actively encouraging the group, added:
“There is still a lot of work to do, but BIFA will continue to support the group wholeheartedly, and provide resources to help develop an apprenticeship that is relevant to the day-to-day work of a freight forwarder.”