APM Terminals has in partnership with Maersk Line increased service efficiency at the nation’s seaport through the use of a fixed berthing window.
According to customers benefiting from the window, the initiative, which has become one of the key and high-impactful levers, has remarkably resulted in operational efficiency and improvements over the past quarter on the West African network.
Fixed Berthing Window was first launched in mid-2021 at APM Terminals Apapa and then introduced at West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) in Onne, Meridian Port Services (MPS) in Tema, and APM Terminals Nouakchott later in 2021/22.
Customers also said that fixed berthing windows have been made possible due to a strong collaboration between teams, creative network solutions, and focused execution.
It has also enabled a reduction of deployed capacity by 15 percent, while slightly increasing carrying capacity, thus allowing Twenty Equivalent Units saved capacity, improved productivity, and reduction in vessel waiting time.
Joe Sunxiuwu of Huawei said, “Fixed berthing window is a big innovation and improvement. From that, the international leading time from China was reduced by more than one month. The time saving can drive project delivery completion as earlier as possible and bring a lot of profits for Huawei customers, like MTN, Airtel, etc.”
Read also: Extortion at ports: Truck owner calls for marching orders to security agencies
Sunxiuwu said it has resulted in more and more shipments from Huawei and Huawei customers requesting Maersk service.
“We hope Maersk can bring more and better solution service for Huawei to help Huawei customers save cost,” Sunxiuwu added.
BusinessDay understands that other customers, such as NINGBO EAS WELL and HISENSE on behalf of FOUANI said there are noticeable service improvements due to the use of a fixed berthing window.
On his part, APM Terminals said that in these extraordinary times, capacity is priceless and asset turn improvement is critical for the success of the company strategy.
The company further said it has been receiving positive feedback from customers and will later in the year, allow other terminals on the company’s network to also get on Fixed Berthing Windows – to achieve even greater efficiencies and enhanced collaboration.
The berthing window is a major step towards bringing structure to the berthing schedule, cutting waiting time to zero, assisting shipping lines to maintain a regular fixed arrival time, and allowing the terminal operator to deliver better services to Nigerian importers and exporters.
