APM Terminals reiterates its strong commitment to Nigeria and focus on safety

Continuously improving service offering for local customers and further investments in infrastructure are among the company’s top priorities in Nigeria, says the company’s newly appointed Africa and Europe Regional Managing Director. In parallel with that comes continuous focus on safety of operations, which is one of the three pillars of APM Terminals’ strategy.

 APM Terminals is strongly rooted in Africa’s most populous country, operating two container terminals:  APM Terminals Apapa and West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) in Onne, as well as an inland container terminal, APM Terminals Kano. The three facilities jointly employ over 1,100 people and engage over 1,300 contractors, and the two sea terminals serve as key gateways for cargo moving in and out of Nigeria, being of crucial importance to Nigerian customers, both exporters and importers. On the occasion of Global Safety Day, observed annually across APM Terminals and all business of A.P. Moller – Maersk, both terminals reiterate their continuous focus on safety of operations as a non-negotiable factor that is deeply rooted in company’s culture.

 Visiting Nigeria on that occasion, newly appointed Regional Managing Director, Africa and Europe at APM Terminals, Igor van den Essen, comments: “As we discuss safety while we observe Global Safety Day, we continuously highlight how deeply it impacts our operations and our entire company. Being in an asset-heavy industry and due to the nature of our operations, we consider safety to be non-negotiable to us, our people and our partners across the port logistics ecosystem and it is also one of the three pillars of our strategy “Safer, Better, Bigger”.

Enabling future growth

With Nigeria’s ambition to grow its exports and imports further, development of port infrastructure remains crucial for creating new opportunities for local businesses, connecting them with their markets around the world. “We will continue to invest further in improving our operational performance, especially our productivity and efficiency”, says Klaus Laursen, APM Terminals Nigeria Country Manager.

For instance, with the aim of reducing process time of Terminal Delivery Orders (TDO) and truck waiting times, APM Terminals Apapa has recently rolled out two new digital initiatives: Dynamic TDO and Delivery services. The first one brings a much faster process of generating TDO with multiple containers on the bill of lading (BL). The second one, Dynamic Delivery, allows a faster process of loading customers’ containers in the yard.

In March this year, APM Terminals Apapa also inaugurated a new digitalised office building that will improve container handling operations and processing in the terminal, particularly in enabling electronic invoicing, electronic receipts and online payment processes that allow customers to fast-track their documentation. This is part of the terminal’s $438 million investment in developing infrastructure, acquiring equipment and improving processes at the terminal.

WACT is successfully executing on the Onne Terminal Upgrade Project – a $112 million investment, which enables sustainable success in executing its strategy - with the ultimate goal of providing world class service delivery at the terminal. With this project, the terminal increases yard capacity, improves vessel operations and fast tracks the cargo delivery. This way the facility keeps up with the market demand and provides exceptional customer experience.

The team at WACT are also actively working on continuous reduction of vessel idle time on arrival. For example, a significant improvement has been made in port hours saved for the vessels from arrival to departure, saving 3.6 thousand hours year to date.

“Our aim is to further develop our Nigerian terminals and by doing so also contribute to the local economy. We will continue to improve everyday by investing in our people and infrastructure in order to have a smarter and digitalised business that serves the need of our customers and the country at large”, adds Klaus Laursen.