Increasing productivity to meet customer demand is critical for container terminals. Our customers are building bigger and bigger ships and it is imperative that we are able to increase our delivered productivity as ships grow in size and sophistication.Close to 80% of the new container vessel capacity coming in the next couple of years are super post-panamax vessels. Shipping lines need these big vessels to compete but clearly cannot afford these to remain in port for days. APM Terminals has a range of initiatives to improve processes as well as applying new and innovative solutions and technology to lift productivity.

These initiatives require significant investment but it makes good financial sense: Improving productivity gets you free capacity, improves your product and satisfies customers. If we can improve productivity by 50% in a one million TEU capacity terminal we create a game- changer in the industry for our customers through better economics, reliability and capacity availability.

Productivity will be the battleground for terminal operators and those who are able to meet our customers’ requirements will be the winners.

Global transformation

In 2012, APM Terminals was the first company in the port industry to launch a strategic program designed to constantly improve productivity levels for shipping lines.

The program was designed by engineers and our terminal directors in cooperation with our labor partners to use a more scientific approach using real time data, metrics and sophisticated analytics. High productivity terminals in Japan were visited. Japan’ sports consistently rank as the highest berth productivity container terminals in the world. APM Terminals leaders also visited Toyota’s manufacturing plant to see firsthand how lean six sigma, quality, productivity and employee dedication are achieved.

The APM Terminals Global Transformation program uses a process of diagnostics, implementation and

execution and seeks to achieve significant operational improvements in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.

Key focus areas are:

•Increase and stabilize berth productivity

•Eliminate waste

•Identify cost efficiencies

•Reduce waiting times

Performance data

2012

8% improvement in crane-lift per hour productivity

compared with previous year = quicker turnaround for

our customers

2013

Target: 15% improvement from 2011 baseline

Result: Efficient modern terminal facilities

APM Terminals: the Industry leader in terminal productivity

A recently released JOC Group study based upon five years of data collected from 600 terminals at 400 ports and 17 global shipping lines representing 70% of the global liner fleet and over 100,000 port calls, has rankedAPM Terminals Yokohama first globally, and in Asia in productivity for 2012 in moves per hour (MPH) with a vessel in port. Altogether, 12 separate facilities within the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network we reranked among the best in one or more categories within the study.

APM Terminals Mumbai, ranked 6th globally overall and in Asia, and 1st among terminals working vessels of less than 8,000 TEU capacity. APM Terminals Rotterdam ranked 14th globally and 1st in the Europe/Middle East/Africa geographic category designated by the study.

The Port of Salalah, operated by APM Terminals, tied for 6th in the region and also ranked 6th among global transshipment ports. APM Terminals Port Elizabeth at the Port of New York and New Jersey ranked 2nd in the Americas region for the year.

Source: APM Terminals