It started a few years ago with a project called “Follow the Container.”
The original brainchild of Freightliner Trucks sales rep David “Fish” Mihuta and Robert Dowd of Port City Logistics, the exercise was designed to expose high school seniors to career opportunities within the local logistics industry.
Before long, Georgia Ports Authority and Savannah Technical College had joined forces with Port City and Freightliner to sponsor the half-day field trips, which began with the unloading of a container from a steamship onto a truck bed at GPA’s Garden City Terminal docks.
From there, students followed the container as it passed through customs and security, through the gate and over the road to a designated warehouse/distribution center, where they watched as it was docked, unloaded and “cross-docked” — palletized, repackaged and reloaded for shipping to the customer.
Along the way, brief presentations gave students an overview of the myriad career possibilities available in logistics and how to match their talents and interests with educational curriculum that will make them more marketable when they enter the work force.
Building on the success of those field trips, the Maritime Logistics Education Taskforce was born. Together with the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System, they matched their first group of 12 high-school students with area logistics providers for paid, after-school internships.
Through the program, each student worked after school in a paid internship five days a week, four hours per day, for a 10-week period, amassing a total of 200 hours of experience.
On Friday, the first Maritime Logistics Internship Program wrapped up with a luncheon and closing ceremony at Woodville-Tompkins Technical and Career High School.
“I can’t begin to say how proud I am of these students, this group,” said Savannah-Chatham County Schools Superintendent Thomas Lockamy.
“So many people came together to make this happen, but this program’s first effort is successful because Fish had the drive and the passion to pull everyone in to embrace the vision.
“You have given them the future,” he said to Mihuta, adding that the school system wants to double the size of the program next year.
Mihuta thanked the school system, the teachers and principals and the business partners “who took this on as their own project.”
Kody Kirkland from Jenkins High School spent his internship with the Savannah office of United Arab Shipping Co.
“I expected to be sitting behind a desk, typing on a computer,” the quiet-spoken young man said. “That was fine with me. I tend to be shy and have trouble talking to people.”
That was then.
After 10 weeks as a customer service representative, he has learned not only to talk to clients with confidence, but to also help pinpoint and resolve their issues.
“The first week was tough, but by the third week I was doing OK,” he said, adding that this was his first job.
“The knowledge and the people skills I’ve developed I wouldn’t trade for the world,” he said.
Malachi Smith agreed.
“All our school life we’re taught that our education will prepare us for the working world,” the Jenkins High student said. “But what I learned was that there is more to work than the book knowledge. At JCB, I learned how to be a good employee, how to get along with my supervisors and co-workers.
“I learned that knowledge alone won’t help you if you don’t have good communications skills.”
Kirkland’s and Smith’s employers have asked them to stay on and work through the summer.
It’s that “soft skills” training that can make the difference for an employer, said Martha Sullivan, whose company Sullivan Staffing pitched in to help the students with writing resumes, practicing interview skills and filling out applications.
“Understanding how to conduct yourself in the workplace is so important,” she said. “This group of students gets it. For them, the sky’s the limit.”
THE INTERNS
• Wynter Benyard, Johnson High, Coastal Logistics Group
• Kjuantavis Coffee, Woodville-Tompkins, Matson Logistics
• Jessica Edmonds, Woodville-Tompkins, John S. James Co.
• Tyron Free, Groves High, JIT Warehousing & Logistics
• Ashanti Howard, Johnson High, HWC Logistics
• Kody Kirkland, Jenkins High, United Arab Shipping Co.
• James Leonard, Woodville-Tompkins, Port City Logistics
• Tevin Maxwell, Johnson High, HWC Logistics
• Clarence Mitchell, Groves High, Matson Logistics
• Peter Rivera, Jenkins High, DAMCO
• Pyresha Singleton, Groves High, Alliance Customs Clearance
• Malachi Smith, Jenkins High, JCB Inc.
ABOUT MLET
The Maritime Logistics Education Taskforce was formed in partnership with the Propeller Club-Port of Savannah, Savannah Traffic Club, Savannah Maritime Association, the Independent Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association of Savannah, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, the Navy League Savannah Council and the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools.
Its mission is to reach, educate and grow the current and future workforce of the logistics and maritime industry in Savannah and surrounding coastal areas.