APM Terminals Apapa has set a new productivity milestone for container terminals in Nigeria.
Whilst handling the 4,500TEU Safmarine Chambal on 29th June 2015, APM Terminals Apapa handled an unprecedented 868 container moves during an operation that lasted for 11 and half hours.
Gross crane productivity was 19 container moves per crane per hour, resulting in berth productivity of 75.63 moves per hour.
“This is the first time APM Terminals has crossed the important benchmark of 75 berth moves per hour, and we believe we are the first container terminal in Nigeria to have done so. We believe this sets a new benchmark for container terminals in Nigeria,” says APM Terminals Apapa’s Managing Director, Andrew Dawes.
Also speaking on the new productivity record, Managing Director of Maersk Nigeria Limited and Head of the Central West Africa Cluster, Jan Thorhauge said, “Consistent high terminal berth productivity is a critical cost driver for all shipping lines, and translates directly into significant bunker cost savings for the industry, and thereby to lower overall supply chain costs for the Nigerian importers.”
He explained that achieving the levels of productivity delivered by APM Terminals on the MV Safmarine Chambai with a Mobile Harbour Crane operation is quite remarkable. “We are delighted and offer our congratulations to the operational team at APM Terminals.”
With a container throughput of 699,000 TEU in 2014, APM Terminals Apapa is the leading container terminal in Nigeria by market share. Since 2006, APM Terminals has invested $350 million in expansion and upgrades to infrastructure more than doubling capacity whilst eliminating vessel waiting times, improving productivity, and removing bottlenecks thereby reducing supply chain cost for Nigeria’s business community.
As the only container terminal in Nigeria with rail services, APM Terminals Apapa now operates three weekly rail services to the inland cities of Kaduna and Kano, 730km and 960km from Lagos respectively thereby providing a key corridor to Nigeria’s inland cities and helping reduce the traffic bottleneck around the Lagos ports.
By Pita Ochai
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