Europa: Boosting Support For Customers Through Apprenticeships

This month, as many organisations spotlight apprenticeships, one of the UK’s largest independent logistics providers, Europa Worldwide Group, is celebrating major milestones and achievements.

Europa believes that the development of its people is a fundamental part of sustaining success and offers apprenticeships for both established employees and new recruits.

National Apprenticeship Week runs from 10-16 February and brings together businesses and apprentices to shine a light on the positive impact that apprenticeships make to individuals, businesses, and the wider economy.

Apprenticeships not only support those in the early stages of their careers but also provide valuable vocational training, allowing individuals to learn on the job without the need for a career break. Europa believes its staff, at whatever stage in their career, should be supported with a quality training programme that allows them to deliver the highest standards.

For example, to help support the expansion of its customer service teams, Europa used the apprenticeship programme to support the development of all our customer service supervisors.

In 2022 Europa’s European road freight division, Europa Road created 11 dedicated customer service teams (across the UK), to support its local network of branches. Since then, it has tripled the number of Customer Service Supervisors, with the team now consisting of 80 operators and 18 supervisors, who focus on delivering the highest quality customer experience in the market. –

Its first cohort of Supervisors have now concluded a 12-month-long apprenticeship programme incorporating monthly ‘away day’ modules, off-the-job training, and projects to help expose learners to wider business practices, as well as regular coaching sessions.

All are now in the process of going through their end-point assessment for Team Leader Level 3. Customer Service Supervisors Dave Marks in Birmingham, Donna Cardy from Dartford and Sarah Jones in Manchester were the first to go through the process and have all passed the programme with flying colours. 

With its pioneering approach to developing talent Europa previously created a Warehouse to Wheels initiative, inviting ambitious employees to become qualified Class 2 LGV drivers.

In addition, Europa has its first-ever Software Development Apprentice Leyla Asaf who joined its Dartford headquarters straight from college two years ago. As a vital member of Europa’s 100-strong Software Development and IT team, Leyla plays a key role in supporting the sales teams by optimizing the use of the in-house Leonardo system and efficiently managing any issues that arise.

Celebrating apprenticeships Lelya comments “Apprenticeships open a variety of opportunities for your career, but they also help with personal growth, which I would say is a massive factor. Having the opportunity to learn and work at the same time is help me progress further within the team.”

Europa employs over 1,300 staff globally and over the past 10 years has trebled its workforce. This growth has brought with it the need for staff development and an innovative approach to training and development.

Europa’s Learning & Development Manager Alison Flannery adds “Our top priority is to equip everyone in the business with the skills and development opportunities needed for success. Through apprenticeships, we support our teams at every career stage, helping them unlock their full potential and nurture their passion for logistics.”

Europa is also dedicated to inspiring the next generation of logistics talent through its support of the industry initiative, Generation Logistics.

Further Information

Europa Worldwide Group is an ambitious independent logistics operator with three divisions, Europa Road, Europa Air & Sea, and Europa Warehouse, and has been featured in The Sunday Times Top Track 250 for three years.

Europa’s Road Freight division is now the UK market-leader in European Road Freight, having invested over £5 million in its innovative market-leading product, Europa Flow. The product, which has successfully provided a frictionless flow of goods between the EU and UK post-Brexit, is now available on goods being transported between the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Europa Road was also the first road cargo company to offer a Money Back Guarantee on all European road freight operations post Brexit.

Its 3PL division, Europa Warehouse, has over one million square feet of state-of-the art automated and manual fulfilment facilities in Corby, Birmingham and Dartford. Having been awarded both HMRC wet and dry bond authorisation, and British Retail Consortium certification, it is strategically located to optimise supply chains throughout the UK and Ireland. In 2023 and 2024, Europa Warehouse demonstrated its excellence across the “Golden Logistics Triangle' at the Northampton Logistics Awards being recognised as Big Logistics Company of the Year, achieved an accolade for Health, Safety & Wellbeing and its Director won the Logistics Person of the Year in 2024.

Europa Air & Sea has grown rapidly over the past two years, significantly increasing its branch network in the UK and opening strategically located branches in Hong Kong, Dubai, Shanghai, Shenzhen and India to service its international customer base. With a worldwide agent network and a proprietary software solution, LeoWeb, Europa provides customers with complete visibility, tracking and order management facilities.

The group employs over 1,300 people with 16 sites across the UK and Ireland, plus Europa’s own teams in Belgium, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, China, India and the UAE. The global operator has an annual turnover of £300m+.