Apprenticeships as a driver of skills and social mobility in ports

As the celebrations for National Apprenticeship Week and Scottish Apprenticeship Week continue, our Skills, Careers and Diversity Lead, Angela Ward, reflects on the level of engagement and asks whether the industry is doing enough. 

The level of activity during National Apprenticeship Week from the sector was encouraging to see. Posts on social media platforms showed ports celebrating apprentices, hosting events, and opening their apprentice vacancies for applications.

The PSS Early Careers Headline Data Report 2025 also shows us that member ports are actively investing in apprenticeships across operational, marine, engineering, and business functions, spanning levels two to seven and working with a wide range of training providers. That breadth demonstrates a commitment to apprenticeships as a tool to attract new talent into the sector. 

But it also highlights a harder truth. Activity and data reflect only a small proportion of ports, and even within that sample, participation is uneven. When we consider port operative apprenticeships, they are not yet embedded at the scale required if the sector is to meet growing operational demands. We hear that ports can have difficulty recruiting into these roles, and when they become difficult to fill, it is not simply an HR issue. It is an operational risk. 

These roles should be easily accessible to those with limited prior experience, making them one of the most effective entry points for attracting new talent while directly addressing immediate workforce shortages. However, recruiting reactively into these roles is becoming harder and competing for the same limited pool of experienced people is not a sustainable strategy. If supply is constrained, the answer is straightforward. The sector must grow its own talent.

“…more than a quarter of apprentices say they would not be in their current industry without an apprenticeship, rising to nearly a third for those from lower-income backgrounds”.

Apprenticeships provide a structured route to do exactly that. They also do something more powerful. National data from the Association of Apprentices’ (AoA) Big Apprentice Survey Report 2026 shows that more than a quarter of apprentices say they would not be in their current industry without an apprenticeship, rising to nearly a third for those from lower-income backgrounds. Apprenticeships are instrumental in supporting social mobility and enabling economic opportunity. 

If ports want to widen participation and secure long-term talent, apprenticeships cannot sit on the margins of workforce planning. They are one of the few mechanisms that simultaneously address skills shortages and access. 

Critically, building this pipeline also requires engagement across the full education journey, helping more people understand what a career in ports can offer long before they enter the labour market. 

“Adopting an apprenticeship-first mindset would change planning conversations”.

The sector is also facing a demographic shift. Experienced employees in operational and technical roles will retire over the coming years, taking with them decades of tacit knowledge. If that expertise is not transferred deliberately, it will be lost. Apprenticeships create a basis for structured mentoring and skills transfer, protecting standards while developing new capability. 

Adopting an apprenticeship-first mindset would change planning conversations. Instead of asking whether an apprenticeship fits a current vacancy, employers should consider the people they will need in one, two, five, or ten years. If a role cannot be filled by an apprentice today, is it genuinely because of essential experience requirements, or because the role has never been structured to support training and progression? Challenging these assumptions is crucial to building a sustainable, skilled workforce.

This is why apprenticeships need to move from being viewed as an optional initiative to being treated as a core element of workforce strategy. 

Alongside early careers activity, apprenticeships must become part of everyday workforce planning. When a vacancy is identified, the first question should be whether the role could be structured as an apprenticeship. Not every role will be suitable, but too often apprenticeships are discounted due to outdated assumptions. Apprentices are not limited to school leavers; they may have prior work experience, transferable skills, or relevant qualifications. They can be career starters or career changers. 

Our early careers report also shows that apprenticeships are being used across a wide range of business areas, not just traditional entry-level roles. The model works and what is needed now is scale, consistency, and progression. By investing in apprenticeships in this way, ports can also strengthen retention and workforce stability, as employees who are invested in and given opportunities to develop are more likely to build long-term careers within the sector. 

The AoA report also shows that career advancement is now the most valued outcome for apprentices. Strong line management and clear expectations significantly increase the likelihood of pay rises and promotion. Apprenticeships cannot simply be about entry. They must form part of visible career pathways. This is how the sector will also develop the capability needed for roles that do not yet exist. 

Mentoring must sit at the centre of this approach. In safety-critical environments, informal handovers are not enough. Experienced operatives and technical specialists need time and recognition to transfer their expertise properly. It is fundamental to maintaining operational integrity and developing the next generation of skilled operatives, technical specialists, and leaders. 

Funding should also be viewed through this strategic lens. Where employers are paying into the levy system, allowing levy funding to go unused while struggling to recruit is a missed opportunity the sector cannot afford. Those employers who do not pay the levy can still access significant government funding, meaning apprenticeships remain a viable and cost-effective route for developing the workforce. 

The limited nature of the current early careers data highlights an important point. If only a proportion of ports are routinely measuring and sharing early careers information, and broader workforce data is also not consistently captured or shared, the sector does not yet have a full picture of its current or future workforce. This cannot be managed without measurement. Building a resilient workforce requires not only investment in apprenticeships, but also a clearer, collective understanding of scale, participation, and progression across the sector. 

Technology, automation, and sustainability will continue to reshape port operations. Yet even the most autonomous systems require skilled people who understand both the technology and the operational environment. The need for well-trained operatives and technical specialists will not disappear; it will evolve. 

Apprenticeships are not just a solution for today’s gaps or to replace those who retire. They are how the sector will equip its workforce with the new skills required as port operations continue to change. They are one of the most powerful strategic levers available to secure the next generation of port operatives, technical specialists, and leaders, widening access and strengthening resilience.  

If we are serious about safety, competitiveness, and long-term sustainability, apprenticeships should become the norm. 

The sector must embed apprenticeships strategically and build the pipeline deliberately, or we all continue competing for a shrinking talent pool.