Nigeria's largest container terminal, APM Terminals, Apapa, has been honoured by the Shipping Correspondents Association of Nigeria (SCAN) with a special recognition award for blazing the trail in setting new standards for the welfare of dockworkers in Nigeria.

The award was presented to APM Terminals as part of the maiden SCAN Dockworkers' Day celebration held in Apapa, Lagos.

"APM Terminals is being honoured for successively setting a benchmark in salary, insurance, capacity building and general welfare of dockworkers far ahead of other terminal operators in the country, and for pioneering the training of female crane operators in a predominantly male-dominated sphere, thereby increasing their skills and employability," the association said.

The President-General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, who presented the award on behalf of SCAN, commended APM Terminals for blazing the trail in granting palliatives to its employees and for creating a conducive working environment at the port.

Also speaking at the event, the Chairman, Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), Princess Vicky Haastrup, said over the past 17 years, terminal operators have raised the salaries of dockworkers by more than 2,000 percent.

Haastrup said before cargo handling operations were concessioned to private terminal operators in 2006, dockworkers were dehumanised, underpaid and did not have conditions of service.

The Terminal Manager of APM Terminals, Apapa, Steen Knudsen, who was represented at the event by the Commercial Manager, Temilade Ogunniyi, and the Employee Relations Manager, Benedict Nwangwu, commended SCAN for recognising the efforts of the leading terminal operator in lifting the standards of port operation in Nigeria, and in enhancing the welfare of its employees.