For the second time since 2015, the State Championships of Young Forwarding Merchants will take place as the first non-craft profession within the framework of AustriaSkills from 9 to 11 November 2017 at the Graz Trade Fair. In the competition, the entire range of services of the forwarding industry will be tested in practical tasks.
Nine young forwarding merchants from among the nation’s best graduates of the apprenticeship of forwarding merchant will compete in the State Championships in Graz. The participants are: Tyrol: Jaemy Heinemann (Schenker & Co AG) Upper Austria: Nadine Altmann (Linz AG) Lower Austria: Sandra Krickl (Kühne + Nagel GesmbH) Styria: Michaela Stephanie Dužić (Kühne + Nagel GesmbH) Salzburg: Maria Wieland (Robert Bosch AG) Vienna: Romana Titz (Rail Cargo Group) Carinthia: Niko Maier (Schenker & Co AG) Salzburg: Simon Quintus (Quehenberger Logistics) Styria: Nadine Bausch (Spedition “Thomas” GmbH) The showdown consists of seven modules and takes a total of 16 hours, divided to three days. The candidates have to demonstrate their skills in specialist areas such as customer acquisition, quote calculation, transport processing, transport calculation, sea freight handling as well as claims and damage handling.
“The evaluation of the services is carried out by a nationwide, independent jury, which is composed of experts from the forwarding industry,” explains Guggi Deiser, responsible and chairwoman of the working group in the Forwarding and Logistics Association of the Austrian Economic Chamber. The prize for the winner will be a trip to Shanghai for two people.
In 2015 the Forwarding and Logistics Association initiated the first State Championships of Young Forwarding Merchants. As a result of this competition, the profession of forwarding merchant also qualified as the first non-craft profession for the international skills competitions and enabled the successful participation of former AustriaSkills winner Sarah Ruckenstuhl: she won a bronze medal at WorldSkills in Abu Dhabi in October 2017 for Austria.
