APM Terminals Apapa named “Best Terminal Operator of the Year” at Nigerian Maritime Excellence Awards in Apapa, Nigeria.
APM Terminals Apapa, which assumed operational control of the facility in 2006, is now the busiest container terminal in West Africa, with an estimated throughput of 720,000 TEUs this year, up from 650,000 TEUs in 2011.
“This recognition by Nigeria’s maritime journalists is a great honor for our operation and for the nearly 1,000 Nigerians working at APM Terminals Apapa who have worked so hard to achieve this great success” stated APM Terminals Apapa Managing Director Dallas Hampton.
Established in 1988, the purpose of the Maritime Reporters’ Association of Nigeria (MARAN) “is to objectively report activities in the shipping sector in totality and also the activities of all ministries, departments and agencies of government involved in the country’s import and export business”.
With the investment of $200 million USD in new equipment and upgrades at Apapa since 2006, APM Terminals Apapa has eliminated vessel waiting times of up to 40 days common in 2006 - as yard expansions and other improvements have been implemented, raising productivity from 6 moves per hour to the current average of 24 moves per hour.
APM Terminals CEO Kim Fejfer noted during a terminal visit last May that the Apapa operational standards have reached parity with European facility operations.
APM Terminals Apapa has announced plans for a further $130 million expenditure over the next three years, including the purchase of eight new mobile harbor cranes and 13 Rubber-Tire Gantry Cranes (RTGs), which will increase annual throughput capacity to one million TEUs.
The terminal is the largest mobile crane-operated facility in West Africa with nine, and one of the only facilities in the region able to accommodate the new 4,500 TEU capacity West Africa-Max (Wafmax) vessels now entering into West African service.