Mersin (Turkey): human capital as a key asset

Developing the skills and motivation of employees continuously, whilst ensuring readiness for the jobs of the future: in Turquey, for Cihat Lokmanoğlu, these are two clear and essential requirements. The Mersin Chamber of Shipping of the port city is embarking on a range of actions and cooperation initiatives with various educational institutions. An AIVP interview with Mr. Cihat Lokmanoğlu, President of the Mersin Chamber of Shipping, focused on commitment n°5 of the AIVP Agenda 2030 “Investing in human capital" The MERSIN CHAMBER OF SHIPPING has been an AIVP member since 2020. Training and motivating AIVP – Education and training are explicitly mentioned as being part of your roles: whether in terms of “Training and motivating our staff” or “Contributing to the national economy by supporting the need for education in the maritime industry”. How do you see that dual mission and social role? Mr. Cihat Lokmanoğlu, President, Mersin Chamber of Shipping – Our Chamber believes that human capital plays a significant role in success. Therefore, in order to enhance the skills, capabilities and knowledge of our staff, we give special importance to training programs which directly affect our institutional performance as well. These programs help also ensuring “continuous improvement process” which is one of the building blocks of our quality policy. Moreover, various team building activities - organized along with the trainings or separately - increase the motivation and engagement of our staff, and contribute to the development of our corporate culture. In this sense, our staff recently participated in 16 hours basic sailing training program. Mersin is a city that has very high maritime potential together with educational institutions dedicated to maritime education; ports and companies specialized in foreign trade and maritime transport. In order to provide the qualified human resources that our sector needs, Mersin Chamber of Shipping continuously supports high schools and universities giving maritime education in Mersin. On the other hand, to develop the skills, therefore to contribute to the competitiveness of our members, we are coordinating vocational training programs and seminars (such as STCW, ship agency trainings, logistics and foreign language trainings, IMDG Code, fumigation, draft survey trainings, etc.) for their staff. Anticipating AIVP – Training is about meeting current needs, but also anticipating the skills and jobs that will be needed in the future. How do you identify future developments and requirements, particularly when it comes to defining the content of your training…