Germany port scout project

The Hafen-Scout project was launched and financed by the Hafenmuseum Hamburg (Hamburg Port Museum), the State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development, and Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA).

As Hafen-Scouts (Port Scouts), the pupils learn about the journeys made by these goods, how the port works and what jobs are offered by the Hamburg logistics hub.

Torsten Engelhardt, head of HHLA Corporate Communications, said: “As part of our sustainability strategy, we support educational initiatives with a connection to ports and logistics. The Hafen-Scout project fits perfectly to this strategy. We want to enable primary school pupils to experience just how much the port is an important economic factor, an engine for job creation and a location for modern industrial operations.”

Martin Kelpe, Trainer at the Hamburg State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development, added: “The state institute supports this project by giving advice to the cooperation partners and by training the teachers that participate in the Hafen-Scout trips with their pupils, not least because, as Hafen Scouts, fourth-year pupils gain an excellent insight into the historical and modern-day ongoings at the Port of Hamburg.”

As port scouts, the pupils’ journey of exploration begins in the port museum, where they are taken on a tour of the Port of Hamburg as it was in the past and as it is today.

The highlight of the journey of discovery through the museum is a container modified by HHLA. It showcases the diverse range and volume of goods that are transported around the world in these standardised boxes. Inside the box, pupils learn that in fact they come into contact with products that are brought to Germany by container every day.

Following the visit to the museum, the pupils visit the automated HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder (CTA), where they can experience first-hand what it means to handle large numbers of containers at the port.

The Hafen-Scout project is aimed at primary school children in Hamburg. The content of the learning trip forms part of the syllabus for the participating classes. They work intensively with the material in the classroom before and after the visit and the teachers who sign up their classes for the trip complete a port introduction course beforehand.

Interested fourth-year teachers can find out more about Hafen-Scout tours by emailing the responsible department (Beratungsfeld Sachunterricht) at the State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development: Martin.Kelpe@li-hamburg.de. Schools can register for Hafen-Scout trips from spring 2016.

By Anne-Marie Causer