APM Terminals Apapa, Nigeria’s biggest container terminal, says it has invested over N50 million in employee development programmes since the start of 2021.
According to the company, over 100 employees have benefited from over 18 different training programmes spread across various professional skills, and that more employee development programmes are planned for the latter part of 2021 and 2022.
Steen Knudsen, the terminal manager, said continuous investment into employee development and upskilling is the key to success for APM Terminals Apapa.
“Our employees are one of our five company values. It is important that we continue to invest in developing and upskilling our organisation, to be ready for tomorrow’s challenges. In the past year, we have been investing heavily in improving our assets and facilities, and this journey continues,” Knudsen said.
Continuing, he said: “We have also begun an investment into training and development, as we need to have an organisation, which can truly deliver to the international standards of our stakeholders – customers, the Nigerian economy and community, employees, and our shareholders. The onus is on us all to make good use of the training for our development and continue to impact the business positively.”
APM Terminals Apapa employee development programmes cut across all levels of employees – from the top management to mid-level managers and to junior workers. Majority of development programmes are focused on upskilling of employees in Engineering and Operations functions, as these represent the bulk of employees directly involved in the handling of heavy lifting operational equipment.
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Some of the training and certifications include Liebherr, Leading As Managers at APM, Electrical & Hydraulics training, Asset Management training, Tire Technology and Inspection in collaboration with Michelin, and UE Systems’ Airborne/Structure Borne ISO CAT I certification, among many others.
Victor Idoroyen Williams, the crane foreman, who underwent a Konecranes TC5/TCE5 Program, described it as an eye-opener.
“We got to understand our new equipment better; they are eco-friendly with lower fuel consumption and lesser fuel emissions. It is now easier to troubleshoot; we can easily trace faults, carry out checks to determine faults and their likely solutions. The new equipment works more with Artificial Intelligence; there is a display screen on the equipment where you can speak to it and it responds,” he said.
Lawal Ibrahim, RTG crane electrician, who reflected on the Siemens Industrial Automation and Hydraulics program, said it was a deep and insightful course on the control system of APM Terminals’ RTG cranes, which uses Siemens software.
“We were introduced to recent developments in the software and exposed to other features that the future equipment would likely have. The course compares differences between the old and new equipment. Now, we understand better how the software works and how you can use it in resolving problems in the machine. I am pleased the organisation is giving everyone an opportunity to learn and grow,” he said.
