The voice of business in the Tees region | 37
Creating a wave - Nikki Sayer
is the first female chair of ICS’s
regional branch.
A career
to float
your boat
WORDS: COLIN YOUNG
PICTURES: DOUG MOODY
B
y her own admission, Nikki Sayer’s
20-plus-year love affair with the
shipping industry started by accident
as a YTS trainee at British Steel.
Fed up after a stint in accounts, the
moment she stepped into the unknown,
male-dominated world of ships she was
hooked.
“It was full-on and I love full-on,” she said.
“The phones going constantly, speaking to
people all over the world. I loved it from day
one and I just knew it was for me.”
It was a male-dominated workplace then
and it remains so today. But Nikki, the first
female chair of the North-East branch of the
Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, remains
determined to try to change all that.
She has travelled the globe and returned
to her beloved Tees to help create a
pathway to a career which is ignored by
thousands of Teesside teenagers every year.
In partnership with Stockton Riverside
College, the Institute of Chartered
Shipbrokers has created the first dedicated
shipping school outside London on the
banks of the Tees, bringing together the
region’s employers, industry experts and
educators to demystify the shipping sector
and put it on the career map.
Nikki said the school aims to tackle
current and future skill gaps and develop a
future skilled workforce whose careers may
start in the Tees Valley but can take them
across the globe.
She said: “When you go to school here,
you look out and see the ships waiting to
come in, but you don’t learn anything about
them. Unless your family is
in shipping, you grow up in
blissful ignorance, and yet
it’s here.
“Ninety-five per cent of
The North East School of Shipping
everything that comes into
banner hanging at Middlesbrough
this country is by ship. Yet
FC before the recent ICS dinner.
no one puts the connection
between all the trucks and
the rail carrying goods from shipping.
Casper is one of 105 North-East members
Trainers, shoes, bags, gloves, you name it.
of the institute and she is pushing for new
“When we show kids the map of all the
recruits, just as Howard Dodds, Nikki’s first
ships at sea, they can’t believe how many
boss at British Steel, pushed her into the
vessels are out there, all requiring attention
industry’s only professional exams all those
and tracking.
years ago.
“We need to tell them, ‘We are here, a
The institute also delivers its TutorShip
massive industry, in the heart of the region,
educational programme directly from its
loads of jobs, qualifications, opportunities to
London head office and through 15 teaching
travel the world or work here.
centres worldwide. Every year, thousands
“It’s difficult finding school leavers who
of students sit Professional Qualifying
want to join the shipping industry because
Examinations and can then apply for
they don’t understand it. It’s a hidden
membership.
industry and I want to give people a choice
Nikki added: “It’s tough and a
and a chance to join us.
commitment but it is the best thing I ever
“We want a pool of qualified talent.
did. It got me jobs, helped me travel the
Unless you go to Teesport, you don’t know
world, and hopefully will make a difference
it’s there. The Tees is 85 miles long and the
here.
seventh-largest river in the country and
“That’s the good thing about the shipping
the North-East is the only region outside
school. If you can show you are even aware
London which exports more than it imports,
of the industry, you are guaranteed an
so we have a little golden nugget here and
interview and you will get snapped up.
need to keep spreading the message.”
“I have always loved the job, but I can
Nikki’s day job is with the UK’s leading
see the benefit of anybody – man or woman
independent port agency company, Casper
– getting involved. I am certainly proud I’ve
Shipping, formed in 1872 and based less
got this far because this is not an industry
than a mile downriver from the Riverside
for shy and retiring types.”
Stadium.