Combined the newly merged German shipping line Hapag Lloyd and Arab sector peer UASC have more than 4,800 sales and customer service personnel represented in 125 countries around the globe.
Now as the shipping lines continue the transitional integration period, a global training program is already underway for all UASC staff joining Hapag-Lloyd.
In all, around 1,700 days of training are planned, and face-to-face trainings have already started in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. By mid-July, some seven weeks after the closing, half of the more than 500 planned training events are expected to have been completed.
The training structure is based on a blended learning concept, which combines web-based training, basic and advanced classroom training, as well as learning support post training.
Top priority in classroom instruction will be given to real-life relevance. “The goal is to get the trainees into exercises as quickly as possible,” emphasized Uwe Karstens, Hapag-Lloyd Director of Global Training. “And that’s why we’ve developed several practical examples for all business fields. In the training-exercise systems, the trainees will be familiarized using examples drawn from normal day-to-day business practice.”
The training concept, which covers topics such as processes, applications and company structure, is being implemented by Hapag-Lloyd employees who understand the shipping business and Hapag-Lloyd’s systems and operations in detail.
A training program has also been drawn up for the management level.
Hapag-Lloyd said the overall training process will be completed within three months, but added this is by no means the end of the learning process. “Nowadays, we expect all employees – new or old – to improve their skills on an ongoing basis,” Karstens said.
By the numbers:
- more than 14,000 hours of planned face-to-face training
- 1,700 days of planned training
- more than 250 trainers
- up to 2,000 trainees
- more than 500 planned training events
