ABSTRACT
Early ship and cargo handling activities were relatively simple. US/Canada International Long-shore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the UK National Dock Labour Scheme (NDLS), with a view to providing a stable and more organised labour force and ensuring safer and improved working conditions. Similar union and government schemes have taken place across most countries and port regions. This was seen by several labour representatives as a threat to job stability and national port unions responded by forming the International Dockworkers Council (IDC) or joining existing International Transport Workers Federation (ITWF). Port education has also been integrated into national schemes of further education by transport and logistics departments in mainstream universities and academic institutions across Europe and Asia. However, the influence that new academic offerings have had on the training of port labour and the influence that a changing port industry exerts on such training seem to have led to contradictory results.
