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Cross-border
economic
development
Project factsheets
Strategic workforce planning (SWP) for the ports of Strasbourg and Kehl
What is the context?
The port areas of the Upper Rhine are going through changes
linked to the Rhine’s position in Europe’s river network, to the
river’s interconnections with other transport infrastructures and
to changes affecting industrial activities as a whole.
Economic issues relating to attractiveness and regional development
are directly impacting them and pose questions about Strasbourg and
Kehl’s ports regarding functions, potentialities and complementarities.
This particularly concerns the businesses and sectors present in these
port areas. The industrial services sector (including logistics – trade
and distribution of goods, but also “urban” logistics) has thus strongly
expanded over the past few years, and tertiary activities have grown
more owing to a less favourable economic climate and lower investment
in industry. Moreover, there has been an overall change in the types and
levels of skills demanded by port industries (the skills levels required
have risen due to qualitative improvements in know-how and production),
as well as an ageing of the labour force, which has highlighted the
need for training.
All in all, over 550 firms, with nearly 13,300
employees, are located in the Strasbourg and Kehl port
area, mainly in the industrial, transport/logistics, energy
and waste management sectors.
How has the cross-border
territorial SWP exercise been
implemented?
In order to better assess the repercussions of these changes on the
professions, activities and human resources requirements in the ports
of Strasbourg and Kehl, and to have long-term visibility in this regard,
an SWP exercise was launched by the Strasbourg Jobs and Training
Centre (Maison de l’Emploi et de la Formation de Strasbourg) and the
Strasbourg Conurbation Development and Town Planning Agency
(ADEUS) in 2012.
Port area on the Rhine and Strasbourg in the background
© Jean Isenmann, ADEUS