Shippers’ Academy Colombo completes two years

For Asia and its shippers, the implications of globalisation are far reaching. By plugging into the global economy, Asia has been able to transcend the limits of its size. It has also managed to attract capital, enterprise and talent which are flowing to countries where the governments have pursued policies to create an environment that is stable yet competitive in the shippers’ industry locally, regionally and internationally.

Realising the need for a training institute to plug the gap between conventional business schools, training and shipper-related programs, the Shippers’ Academy Colombo was established in 2011, to uplift and enhance skills and knowledge of the global commerce environment by providing capacity building programs to large, medium and SME sector, where affordability and creative techniques are used as tools to plug in knowledge gaps and share knowledge.

The Shippers’ Academy Colombo was the first of its kind opened in South Asia. It was the first post conflict educational institute setup in Sri Lanka to promote capacity building in global commerce and logistics. Since its launch in 2011, the Academy plays a pivotal role in the shipping industry locally as a unique training organisation which has developed short courses and conducted the highest number of industry seminars in related fields which was not available before.

Scope of work

Shippers’ Academy Colombo functions to support the rising demands for training for local and overseas companies. The Academy is well-suited to meet the needs of shippers and shipping community who want to acquire new skills or further enhance their existing knowledge in the field of commerce, transport and logistics.

Tailor-made courses for corporate clients are a key tool of the academy and it also offers consultancy services, and undertakes shipper-centric R&D to understand the industry changes and requirements.

With the ever-changing demands the industry face in the global platform, the Academy is designing courses to support latest developments and sharpen international competitive edge of local companies. The SAC is developing and delivering new curricular to increase professional courses related to global commerce, logistics, transportation and supply chain management.

The Academy has developed a five month 5s program and a three month audit for service companies and manufacturers, exporters and importers. The idea is to help increase productivity of those institutions. In addition, an English language course also has been introduced along with new Customs and port related training among other existing programs.

PPP and local talent

The Shippers’ Academy Colombo has joined hands with the Sri Lanka Foundation to introduce transport courses and also conducts classes at other Government institutes on shipping and related subject areas. The Academy also introduced for the first time the prestigious Governor’s Challenge Trophy quiz for global commerce and logistics and the global commerce excellence awards for corporate sector along with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). The objective is to build interest in the logistics, exports and commerce industry among the employees and to uplift the industry standards and image.

By joining hands with the public sector, the Academy hopes to expand its wings to other parts of the country and to popularise exports, international transport and other global commerce activity among the youth as the demand for skilled persons in these fields are continuously increasing in Sri Lanka as well as in Asia.

The other unique feature is that the Academy has created a pool of faculty from both private and public sector to develop curricular that matches to any international training organisation. Whilst working with global and regional bodies to bring in and share latest information and teaching methods, the home grown model has seen the local talent uplifted in the subject areas and have given faculty to be an inclusive part of the Shippers’ Academy.

Mode of delivery

The SAC is working on a model that encompasses best practices by working with independent industry experts and institutions to deliver and develop its academic courses, R&D and consultancy assignments. This will ensure that best technology, information and data that are needed by the industry to be competitive will be delivered. The Shippers’ Academy has resources to educate the industry and policy bodies in relation to regional/global commercial activities.

The future

The short courses, workshops and seminars run by the academy gives an opportunity for candidates to upgrade ongoing developments, knowledge and engage in continuous education which is a modern feature in global commerce and logistics. Both China and the US have many such institutions that build capacity by allowing the workforce to continuously upgrade knowledge and skills through such institutions.

The aim of the Academy is to give alternate employment opportunity and to be an institution that can support career guidance to students whilst supporting corporates to be more productive. Sri Lanka’s vision of f being a regional hub will need more talent from the field of global commerce and logistics and the academy hopes to be in the forefront of this need in the coming years.