Work experience week sails by in a flash!

This week Shoreham Port welcomed Kieran Turnbull for a week of work experience. Kieran joined the Port’s in-house engineering team to gain some first-hand experience of working life at a busy commercial port. Kieran lives in Southwick and is currently in year 10 at Shoreham College.

Kieran, who has an interest in engineering, was excited to meet the team and learn about the various maintenance tasks carried out to keep the Port running efficiently. Kieran spent the first half of the week learning about how the lock gates work, the different facilities available at the Port and the coastal structures in place. During the second half of the week Kieran was given the opportunity to take a trip out on, and even drive, one of the Port’s pilot boats!

Kieran commented on his week “I’ve had a fantastic week at Shoreham Port, it has flown by! It has been great meeting and working with members of the engineering team. I feel I have learnt so much in just a few days. I have always been fascinated with the Port and it is great to finally find out how things work behind the scenes. Driving the pilot boat was definitely one of my highlights of the week and I’m relieved to say that luckily I don’t seem to suffer from sea sickness! I hope to come back for a few more days during the Easter holidays.”

Tony Parker, the Port’s Director of Engineering added “We always enjoy being able to help bright and enthusiastic students like Kieran gain experience and understanding of the workplace and if Kieran would like to return to the Port for a further period later, we would certainly try our best to accommodate him.”

Shoreham Port accommodates a number of work experience students each year and fully supports schemes which help young people make the transition from education into the work place. In recent years, the Port has recruited apprentices to work within the engineering team; the most recent being Piran Armes, who joined last autumn. Since joining, Piran has developed his skills in a number of areas whilst specialising in AMS, the Port’s Asset Management System.