Published on : 30/05/2022 – 00:07
It is a booming sector in Senegal, the logistics and port professions are becoming more professional. The training sector welcomes more and more young people to meet growing demand. In Dakar, the Training Center for Port and Logistics Professions (CFMPL), created more than 10 years ago, benefits from the support of the Senegalese State, the French Development Agency (AFD) , and private companies.
On a brand new simulator, Adja Mbaye trains learners to drive machines of all types: “ You feel everything you can feel on board a truck… There, it’s laterite, for example. The seat shakes. So you have to learn with the simulator, to have the prerequisites and the right hand, but in the field, it’s the reality. »
Driver of trucks or cranes, technician in handling, organization of international transport, or port operations, the center offers continuous training, others over a few months, or over two years.
This is what Yatma Dieng, 30, chose: “ It consists of learning the trades that make it possible to manage, for example, the loading of a ship. At the port level, it is a sector of the future, because the country is investing in a new port (in Ndayane, editor’s note) on the Petite Côte. It will enable many young people to integrate port trades. »
► To read also: Senegal: start of work on the future deep-water port of Ndayane
In the classroom, Babacar Guèye, trainer, is in the middle of a course on “profit management”, with concrete cases: ” It’s the ship that arrives earlier at noon that tells us everything! He is told “one hour – two hours is three million. Any hour more is three million”. So, you have to go quickly and well, because any mistake is paid for in cash. »
According to the director of the center Awa Ndiaye Sagna, the professional integration rate is around 80%: “ All production and distribution companies today deliver. Me, I have young people everywhere. Logistics is everywhere. It is she who allows us to open up! »
The establishment works with a public-private partnership. Companies in the sector are directly involved: “ Our interlocutors, our customers, are the companies. They are the ones who take young people on internship and who recruit them, who buy continuing education. It is a win-win partnership, because companies thus benefit from competent personnel. »
With port and logistics activities on the rise, today the center does not have the capacity to accommodate all training requests. Expansion projects are underway.