APM Terminals Apapa Sets New Nigerian Productivity Record

Foremost terminal operator,  APM Terminals Apapa has set a new productivity milestone for container terminals operations in Nigeria.

Official notice from the organization issued by its spokesperson, Bolaji Akinola,  indicates that the feat was achieved precisely on June 29, 2015, in which it recorded an unprecedented productivity level.

The company while handling Safmarine’s vessel, a 62,557 DWT, 4,500 TEU MV Safmarine Chambal, APM it effectively handled 868 container movements during an 11 hour, 30 minute operation.

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”, commented Andrew Dawes, APM Terminals Apapa’s Managing Director.

“We believe this sets a new benchmark for container terminals in Nigeria,” he added.

“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”, commented Jan Thorhauge, Managing Director of Maersk Line, Nigeria.

“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,” he added.

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.