APM Terminals, a leading container terminal operator in Nigeria, has launched a Berthing Window service to reduce the waiting time of ships and help consignees take prompt delivery of their consignments at the port.
The first Berthing Window for the WAF/MWX service (operated by Hapag Lloyd, CMA-CGM & Arkas) was launched last week Tuesday, with the arrival of the 4,360 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) LAPIS vessel owned by CMA-CGM at the Lagos Port Complex, Apapa.
Richard Smith, chief commercial officer of APM Terminals Apapa, who was represented at the launch by Temilade Ogunniyi, commercial manager, said the service would enable the allocation of a fixed time for vessels to berth, discharge, load and sail.
He said the new Berthing Window is a milestone at APM Terminals Apapa targeted at enhancing service delivery and customer experience.
“The berthing window is a major step towards bringing structure to the berth schedule, cutting waiting time to zero, assisting shipping lines to maintain a regular fixed arrival time, and allowing us to deliver better services to Nigerian importers and exporters,” Smith said.
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Olufunmilayo Olotu, manager of the Lagos Port Complex, Apapa, commended APM Terminals Apapa for the new initiative, which she said would boost service delivery and eliminate ship waiting time at the port.
“This means schedules will be sent ahead and there will be no waiting time. We are placing a premium on professionalism and international best practices. Shipping is all about time and time is money. We want to reduce the number of ships that are kept waiting at anchorage. For every minute that a vessel is kept waiting, there are economic implications. Therefore, our duty is to ensure that we reduce the waiting time to the barest minimum, and we are collaborating with APM Terminals to ensure that customers are satisfied,” Olotu said.
Abimbola Kolade, senior manager, Operation at Hapag-Lloyd, commended APM Terminals for launching the Berthing Window.
“This development would bring sanity to vessel schedules. We will be able to tell our customers that our vessels would be at the port at a certain date and the cargo would get loaded. With this, we can assure them that their cargo would be delivered to the final destination at a certain time,” he said.
He said this would reduce cost for customers especially for export where customers would be informed of when the containers will be loaded on the vessel at Apapa, and when the vessel would get to the destination.
APM Terminals is the largest container terminal in West Africa. With an investment of about USD438 million (approximately N180 billion), the terminal has continued to introduce new innovations to help both shipping lines and landside customers achieve improved supply chain efficiency, flexibility and dependability, in a cost-effective manner.
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