A team of six young apprentices from Peel Ports Group will be challenged to find their sea legs this month as they embark on this year’s Apprentice Ship Cup challenge, spending six days and seven nights learning to sail a tall ship.

They will join apprentices from all over the UK and as far afield as China and will put their sailing and team working skills to the test on board one of six tall ships commissioned by the Merseyside Adventure Sailing Trust (MAST).

During the course of the challenge they will sail the Pelican of London from Dublin on June 14th to Greenock via Whitehaven completing their journey on June 19th.

The apprentices will be encouraged to develop their team working and communication skills while mastering the art of sailing a tall ship. The ships left Liverpool on June 7th and will call at Belfast, Whitehaven and for the first ever this year Dublin and Greenock in Scotland.

Peel Ports Group, which operates the Port of Liverpool and Port of Dublin container terminals, as well as Clydeport in Scotland, is one of this year’s sponsors.

Last year, Peel Ports’ apprentices took home the inaugural Apprentice Ship Cup Award, thanks to the hard work and professionalism of its apprentices, their fundraising efforts and the support expressed by Peel Ports Group throughout the entire challenge – and they hope to take home the top award again this year.

The six apprentices, five from Liverpool and Manchester and one from Scotland, will be joined by Megan Pickering who took part in last year’s event. The 20 year old, who is also a third year mechanical engineering apprentice based at the Manchester Ship Canal, will return this year as a mentor to offer support, advice and motivation for the apprentices.

Fellow apprentices Keiran Sait, Jake Williams and Ben Wilson are also returning after taking part in the inaugural event.

In order to take part, the apprentices have raised £2000 between them via fundraising activities such as car washing and company-wide raffles over the course of the last six months.

Port Director, David Huck, said:

“Our apprentices are hugely important to us and we have an extensive apprenticeship programme in place across all our terminals.

“This experience will be something completely different for them, but they will learn a great deal about team work, which is an integral part of our approach.

“It is important to us that we help each and every one of them develop their career within the industry. We also encourage them to develop themselves as individuals, helping build their confidence and communication skills, which are just as important as the technical skills.

“I wish each of them the best of luck during this year’s event. They all seem very excited and recognise the challenge ahead, but I have every faith that our apprentices will do us proud again this year.”

Peel Ports operates a successful and expanding apprenticeship programme employing more than 40 apprentices across the Group helping develop their skills in a range of mechanical and electrical engineering projects.

Its training programmes are extremely effective, with apprentices going on to positive destinations upon completion with permanent roles within Peel Ports Group.

Jim Graves, MAST chair said:

“This is a fantastic opportunity for young people to build character strengths and develop skills in leadership, communication and self-confidence.

“Last year’s challenge was an outstanding success, thanks not only to the hard work of the apprentices who took part, but the support of companies such as Peel Ports. As a result this year’s event is even bigger and better calling at more destinations.

“Peel Ports has offered extensive support to our work as a charity over the past few years and we value their continued support through the Apprentice Ship Cup.”