TWO local students who won the opportunity to start a career in engineering following a competition run by The Port of Tilbury and Gateway Academy, are now ready to take up apprenticeships at the port.

In 2019 the port teamed up with Tilbury's Gateway academy to run a competition that opened up the prospects of a career in engineering to young students.

Following a rigorous review process by the team at the port and presentations by the students, Dylan Rannigan and Charlie Johnston came through as the winners.

Now with the support of the port, both Dylan and Charlie have successfully completed a Level 3 Engineering National Diploma at South Essex College and are ready to start their new apprenticeships in the port.

The port's commercial director Peter Ward says: "A career in engineering is an excellent and rewarding role for many people and at the Port of Tilbury we cannot function efficiently without our team of expert engineers.

"This competition has really shown us that we have some really great talent in our local communities and young people who are keen to learn and work hard. My congratulations to Dylan and Charlie for their hard work at college and we look forward to having them as part of the Port of Tilbury team."

Dylan said: "When you have the goal of a job to work towards it makes you focus more and gives you a purpose. This really helped while I was at college. The Port of Tilbury is offering me a job and is also investing in my learning so I can become the best at what I do."

And Charlie added: "The competition opened doors and put me on a learning journey straight from school. This really helped me decide what I wanted to do and now I have guaranteed job with The Port of Tilbury with so many career options. I am excited to get started."

CEO of the Gateway Learning Community, which runs the Ascademy, is Kevin Sadler and he said: "The partnership between the GLC and the Port of Tilbury is part of a wider strategy to transform learning opportunities across Tilbury and Chadwell helping our young people to 'reach for the sky'. One tangible outcome of this is the support that the Port has given to targeted young people at the Gateway Academy who were identified in Year 9 as potential engineers of the future.

"These young people have been supported financially and through mentoring and coaching to achieve this. Dylan and Charlie have completed their further education and are now on the cusp of securing highly prized engineering apprenticeships.

"It's a magnificent achievement and testament to the collaboration between two major Tilbury organisations."