February 2015 saw the start of the second High Tide Cadet Programme with 2 students attending from each of the following schools: Ryehills School, Outwood Academy (Bydales), Redcar Academy, Sacred Heart School and Kirkleatham Hall School.

The first session took place during the day and the students and staff members were picked up from school and taken to PD Ports to be given a Health & Safety Induction and to be furnished with their own PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and High Tide hoodie.

The students were divided in to 2 groups for the morning, with one group staying in the meeting room at PD Ports to carry out a shipping exercise and the other group taking part in a tour of the river on the pilot boat, the groups then reversed roles so that both groups were given the same opportunities. Thankfully the waters were reasonably calm and the students managed to see how vast the port is, unfortunately there were no sightings of seals by either group.

The students had an excellent time and were taken back to school at lunchtime.

The second session took place the following week, 9 February 2015. The students were collected from school at around 2pm and taken to Casper Shipping, which is very close to the Riverside Stadium. Here they learnt about the roles of Shipping Agents, Ship Owners, and were given a task to work through. Here they had to try to manage to have cargo delivered on time for the cheapest cost and were given several scenarios to work through in order to achieve this. Whilst at Casper Shipping, the students had the opportunity to look around one of the Tug Boats that is moored at the quayside there. The Captain was very helpful, answering numerous questions that the students asked and giving them a thorough tour of the engine room, berths, the galley and deck.

The third session was at the Harbour Office. The students listened to one of the pilots explain his role within the port and were shown around the control room, where boats were being spoken to and told when they were allowed to enter the port and depart it. We saw 1 ship coming in to the port and 2 leaving. The students took part in an exercise where they had to work out how to long it would take for a container ship to get from the Suez Canal to Gibraltar to receive supplies for the ship’s crew to sustain them for the remainder of their journey.