Page 48 - Swansea Skills Report 2024

48
Transport & Logistics
1: Robot grocery delivery service to expand in Northamptonshire - BBC News
Lightcast™
. 2023
Swansea Bay Metro | TfW
Transport has been highlighted as a key area of
decarbonisation, this is a broad area with
commercial, public sector and private usage of
transport all to be considered.
SWWITCH
The South Wales Metro project will be an
integrated network of bus, rail, and active travel
(walking and cycling) that will improve connectivity
and make sustainable travel easier across South
Wales.
The project will require a range of skills, including
but not limited to:
• Rail infrastructure & maintenance: engineering
& construction.
• Train manufacturing & maintenance: train
manufacturing & mechanical engineering.
Rail projects can be supported by the Global Centre of Rail
Excellence within NPT.
• Bus transportation: trial of hydrogen and
electric busses could be widely adopted, if
proved successful, other sectors will potentially
adopt this technology for their decarbonisation
path.
• EV Charging points for domestic and Taxi
Bus drivers and public transport operators are some
of the most difficult to recruit roles in the county
with bus driver roles being advertised up to 5 times
before they are filled. In addition, mechanical
engineering upskilling will be required in line with
newer technologies and engineers of all types are in
short supply in all sectors
Distribution
SWWITCH does not cover in any depth the
decarbonisation of commercial distribution, local
industry will be targeted to decarbonise therefore
the entire supply system will need to be considered
with transportation of raw materials into premises
and onward distribution.
Van / Delivery / HGV drivers are the most saturated
job adverts in this sector currently within Swansea.
Job ads tend to be posted on average 3 times
before the positions are filled.
There are currently circa 1,500 people employed in
these types of roles. Considerations for these roles
include:
• Upskilling to new vehicle technology
• Displacement through automation. (trails of
drone logistics have proved successful and are
now being expanded 1)
Job postings skill requirements for Transport roles
Swansea
Vehicle maintenance skills are currently lacking in
job profiles, with switches to EV and hydrogen this
could potentially get worse
Warehousing is a high priority within job adverts.
Although these skills are needed now, the risk is
that within a short period of time these roles will be
displaced with smart warehousing systems.
Companies such as Amazon and Nestle are already
a long way towards fully autonomous logistical
systems.
Digital Distribution Warehouse of the Future unveiled (nestle.co.uk)
Where displacement happens within distribution
and logistics a clear plan for upskilling and reskilling
needs to be in place.
There will certainly be opportunity for displaced
roles within the public transport sector.
Figure 1:
Shipping Maritime / Import Export
This is not an area usually considered within the
transport industry, however Freeports offshore
energy and C02 exports will make this significant.
Marine and waterways operatives are currently
very difficult to recruit with job postings
advertised up to 8 times before positions are
filled.
Figure 1 below highlights the current skills that
recruiters in this sector are looking for in
comparison to job seeker profiles.
Frequency in
Job Postings
Frequency in
Workforce Profiles