CEVA top Apprentice Daniel Blay, IOC President Lord Falkland and D2N2 Chair Peter Richardson.

IOC Chairman, Carl Lomas said the organisation was delighted to recognise Daniel’s achievements as:

Apprentices will be the future of our vocational workforce.

We recognise the Express delivery, courier sector is exploding with e-retail, a new trailblazer qualification has been recognised by BIS and a whole suite of new trailblazer qualifications is in build to form a stairway of careers in express delivery.

Peter Richardson, Chairman of the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, said:

Transport and logistics is one of D2N2’s key sectors, driven by our strategic position at the heart of the UK’s transport networks.

Improving skills in this very technical sector and encouraging new people to join it are high on our agenda, and I’m delighted to see people of Daniel’s calibre coming into the industry, doing well and being recognised for that.

Professor Margaret Bruce, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Derby.

University of Derby is at the heart of Express logistics geographic and proud of its employer engaged approach to its apprenticeships and Workbased programmes, which enable talented young people to 'earn as they learn'.  So that, they are well equipped to contribute to the business.  A great way to address the skills gap. Well done Daniel Blay, CEVA.

Daniel, based in the East Midlands hot-spot of logistics, completed his apprenticeship in 12 months, working in the technology sector on cost analysis.

He achieved further top recognition with a National Courier Award win in 2015 and from Telford College (TCAT) as best apprentice in year. Daniel is also set to be in the CEVA global award nominations for business innovation.

Steve Fellows, Vice President, Human Resources for CEVA in the UK, Ireland and Nordics, said:

Daniel brings a remarkably strong IT skill set given his age and level of experience.

The maturity and awareness that he has shown in developing a delivery solution which enables an optimized delivery window has been impressive too. We’re really pleased for Daniel.

The recognition is very well deserved and it also provides us with confidence that our Apprenticeship Scheme is attracting high calibre of young talent to our business.

The success of the scheme is in no small part down to the support of local management of the company who have been extremely receptive and open to the opportunity.

Daniel is one of over 80 apprentices to have completed the scheme with a further 100 currently enlisted on the scheme. The apprentices have been deployed all across the CEVA business in the UK from its freight management operation at Felixstowe to its Finance function in Ashby.

Carol Murray, Daniel's assessor at TCAT explained about how the positive impact on the apprenticeship.

Daniel grew in confidence throughout his apprenticeship,

At first Daniel seemed to be a shy and quiet young man but his ability to learn and develop was quickly apparent. Daniel has now become a valued member of the CEVA Logistics Team and is highly respected.

Daniel’s achievements were also recognised in TCAT’s Celebration of Work ceremony where he won our warehousing and storage apprentice of the year award for his outstanding contributions.

Ray Pickering, Daniel’s apprentice mentor at CEVA said:

Daniel was instrumental to the contract win for CEVA, he worked on the inbound logistics and planning, process to achieve a best fit client solution.

He brought strong IT knowledge and placed it into our systems delivery for the client, he then developed a delivery strategy to achieve the tightest delivery window for the client. All this in the environment of an apprentice new to our sector.

Justin Moore, CitySprint, Employer chair for trailblazer express delivery,

Daniel is a showcase example of vocation success in our sector, we need individuals at all levels to support the growth of workload in Express delivery, the trailblazer qualifications will show a pathway that will outline full career progression and a strong, sustainable future. I congratulate Daniel in his hon membership of the Institute of Couriers.

Lisa Smailes, from Pearson, the qualification’s awarding body, said:

Daniel was a very worthy winner of the Apprentice of the Year Award who has achieved so much in a short period of time.

There are so many exciting opportunities for Apprentices in the logistics sector and we are pleased to support employers, training providers and learners going forward with the introduction of the new Apprenticeship Trailblazer Standards. It will be great to see more learners like Daniel embark on their career within logistics.

Andrew Hartley is Director at System Training, one of the leading training providers for the transport and logistics industry are working on the new Express Delivery Driver apprenticeship Standard.

Andrew said:

It is very pleasing to see Daniel win this hon membership of IOC. The need for more people taking a vocational apprenticeship in the industry has never been greater.

We are working very closely with the industry to develop and deliver the new Express Delivery Driver apprenticeship which will provide a very attractive route into the industry and will enable people such as Daniel to embark on a rewarding career in the sector.