Port of Felixstowe hosts Fourth ‘Sea Port Role Play Day’

Wärtsilä has today opened a Service Centre in Murmansk, Russia to serve the rapidly growing number of vessels in northern waters. The Service Centre demonstrates Wärtsilä's commitment to expand in line with the increasing marine activity in the Barents Sea region. To emphasise the importance of co-operation, Wärtsilä's CEO and President, Ole Johansson and the Governor of the Murmansk Oblast region of Russia, Dmitry Vladimirovich Dmitrienko, The Port of Felixstowe, and Suffolk Education Business Partnership, in conjunction with the Haven Gateway Partnership, held a 'Sea Port Role Play Day' on 14th October 2009, at Greshams Sports and Social Club, Suffolk. This was the fourth year that the event, codenamed  ‘Haven Container Ports Exercise’, had been held, and it attracted over 50 students from local schools.

The aim of the Exercise is to make Suffolk students aware of the growing employment opportunities within the Haven Gateway, and more specifically at the Port of Felixstowe. 
Students played out an imaginary scenario in which several vessels are damaged in the Harwich Haven, and they took on the role of the eight sectors involved in the emergency response – the Port of Felixstowe’s Police, Fire and Ambulance Services; the Port of Felixstowe’s Corporate Affairs Department; the Port of Felixstowe’s Marine and Operations Divisions; Suffolk County Council; Suffolk Coastal District Council; the RNLI; Johnson Stevens Agencies Limited; the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Harwich Haven Authority.
David Gledhill, Chief Executive Officer of Hutchison Ports (UK) Limited, which owns the Port of Felixstowe, said:

” At a time when we read a lot about the difficulties facing school leavers, we hope to inspire students to gain the best skills and qualifications available to put them in good stead for their futures. We hope that the ‘Haven Container Ports Exercise’ served to give young people in the Suffolk area a taste of the type of exciting careers and opportunities open to them in the maritime and logistics sector”.

Throughout the day, students were required to make important decisions and to respond to ever-changing conditions that are affected by external factors beyond their control. The safety of passengers, customer service and logistical issues all had to be taken into consideration, whilst at the same time ensuring that resources were managed as effectively as possible. As well as problem-solving and decision-making, the students learned important crisis management, teamworking and communication skills by participating in the Exercise.

(Source: Port news)