– Becomes best-equipped port terminal in Nigeria.

Daniel Terungwa

APM terminals, Apapa, has acquired seven new forklifts to aid customs examination and improve on movement of heavy materials at the terminal.

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Nigeria’s leading container terminal operator, Apapa, Mr Steen Knudsen, made this known in a statement issued recently in Lagos.

Knudsen noted that the new equipment, which include six 5tonns and one 16tonns forklifts, would enhance efficient performance of tasks at the customs examination bay and other units without having to share forklifts with other teams.

APM terminals had in 2020, announced an investment of $80 million for 2020-2021 fiscal year.

The amount brought the total investment by the company since 2006 to $438 million (N168 billion), widely seen as the highest investment by any terminal
operator in Nigeria.

The COO said that as part of the company’s fleet renewal and expansion programme, it had acquired additional cargo handling equipment, including seven reach stackers, two empty handlers, two mobile harbour cranes MHCs) and four rubber tyred gantry cranes (RTGs).

He said with the new acquisitions, the company now had 27 RTGs, 13 MHCs), several reach stackers, forklifts, empty handlers and specialised terminal trucks in operation, thus making it the best-equipped port terminal in Nigeria.

Mr Knudsen added that the terminal had also rolled out a talent development programme which included functional training for all employees.

“Our engineering maintenance team are undergoing industrial automation and control training for better optimisation of the latest RTG fleet and other equipment.

“The functional training is in phases and it cuts across all departments. APM Terminals Apapa also recently embarked on massive digitisation of its operations and services through the deployment of 4G LTE wireless network and construction of a new operation command centre to enhance service delivery,” he said.