Daily Independent (Lagos)
Andrew Airahuobhor
2 July 2009
Apapa — For APM Terminals Apapa Limited, operator of the Container Terminal in Apapa, Lagos it was a landmark safety record.
The company's operation recently recorded 200 days no-lost time injury among its among its over 800 employees amounting to over 4,800 hours without a lost time.
This breaks its old record of 2, 880 hours set at the end of the first quarter of this year. The safety record is a reflection of the success of an innovative, incentive-based safety program initiated by APM Terminals over three years ago when it took over operations of the Apapa Container Terminal.
Earlier, when the no lost-time injury was 100 days, employees were given cakes to commemorate the event. For the current achievement, the reward for not having lost-time injuries was a branded wrist-watch for every employee at the terminal.
"The safety of our personnel will always be paramount in our operational considerations", said Managing Director of APM Terminals Martin Dirks.
He added that, "the importance of our company goal of eliminating workplace accidents and instituting terminal working procedures' "Best Practices" to assure safety throughout the terminal cannot be overemphasised".
The main components of the safety programme include the involvement of all employees in the awareness and correction of problems and rewards for success.
Accordingly, when employees in any division see something amiss, whether it's a loose screw or an employee not wearing reflective jackets, they report it to the a senior officer.
According to the media adviser of the company, Bolaji Akinola, when such occurs, the situation is immediately addressed by correcting the problem or by individual counseling.
He said APM Terminals has adopted a "Safety for Life" program to aggressively and continuously improve safety practices throughout its Global Terminal Network. Safety education, training, drills and rigorous measurement are designed to bring focus, awareness and positive results to this effort.
Meanwhile, a new operation record has been set at the terminal. APM Terminals' personnel at Apapa performed 2,249 moves in 47.3 hours working the 2,890 TEU MAERSK PEMBROKE, setting a new terminal record of 47.26 Moves per Hour (MPH).
The MAERSK PEMBROKE was the 14th consecutive vessel to have been worked at the Nigerian facility with productivity exceeding 30 MPHs, and the third vessel over the past two weeks in which productivity has surpassed 40 MPHs.
"Less than one year ago a vessel this size would have taken six days to complete" noted APM Terminals Apapa Operations Director, Doug Smith.
New training programs in addition to yard improvements and the deployment of new equipment have all contributed to the turnaround in Nigeria's busiest container terminal.
With 29 Hectares of fully operational yard space, a total berth length of 1005m and 4 berths, Apapa Container Terminal is a multi-user facility.
Efficiency and productivity enhancements have resulted in a surge of non-geared vessels calling the facility, and have reduced vessel and container backlogs. This is an important cost savings for shipping lines.
During the first quarter of the year despite operating with only three berths, with the fourth undergoing dredging, the terminal was able to clear the anchorage queue, which had risen to as many as 20 vessels.
Enhanced performance standards and execution have enabled APM Terminals to handle the same volume with three berths as had been achieved with four berths the same period the previous year.
Additional new equipment has been added including 34 new trucks and four Rubber Tire Gantry cranes (RTGs) to be integrated into the Apapa Terminal Operations to further enhance productivity and capacity.
APM Terminal's throughput grew from 409,751 TEUs in 2007 to 542,379 TEUs in 2008.
APM Terminals has invested over $100 million in improvements since assuming control of the facility three years ago, and capacity has tripled to 600,000 TEUS.
Following privatization of the port in 2006, APM Terminals Apapa Ltd. assumed operational control of the facility and began investing in equipment, facility upgrades and training of localpersonnel.
The mordernised Apapa Container Terminal, which currently employs over 800 Nigerians, was formally commissioned a year ago on June 19th, 2008 by President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua.
The addition of four Panamax STS cranes in May of last year brought the total number of cranes at the terminal to six, not including two mobile harbor cranes.
A total of eight new RTGs will be in service by the end of this year. Currently underway are $61 million in civil works improvements such as yard resurfacing and quay strengthening to further boost efficiency and capacity, and will increase the yard area by 35%.
APM Terminals, which has a very strong presence in West Africa including a second Nigerian facility at the Port of Onne, in the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone and terminals in Douala, Cameroon, Tema, Ghana, and Abidjan, in the Ivory Coast is seeking to expand operations in the emerging African market, and has expressed interest in a proposed 1 million TEU capacity terminal development project at the Nigerian Port of Lekki in the Lagos Free Trade Zone.
"Nigeria is clearly a large market that will need more port facilities in the future, especially when the Nigerian economy is going to grow substantially", noted Martin Dirks, Managing Director of APM Terminals in Apapa.
APM Terminals recently announced its participation in the Pointe Noire port development project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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