Blog: ‘What does it mean to be a world-class terminal operator?’ – by COO, Keith Svendsen

What does it mean to be the world class terminal operator?

To begin with, being world class means providing a world class experience for our Customers whether they come by ship or use our gates. It means having a safe and engaging workplace for all people, so they can do their part in providing seamless access to efficient infrastructure, which enables supply chains and global trade available for everyone. At APM Terminals, we aim to make a positive impact in the communities where we operate. We are a people’s business, where diversity of thought, skills and experiences of our over 20,000 associates bring to work every day is what makes a positive difference. Today we operate in 75 ports and terminals in more than 40 countries. Here we aspire to be an employer of choice and a proud contributor to the local economies we serve. To do that, people need to be able to trust us and that trust creates a special bond, enabling us to operate terminals which always are critical infrastructure in their respective countries. That trust also comes with the commitment that we will continue to ensure that our terminals remain competitive and contribute positively to the economies of the countries and communities we serve.

Making an impact now

But this bond goes beyond our business and our people and extends to the whole planet. We can all see and feel the impact of climate change, and while shipping’s contribution to Co2 emissions is significantly higher than that of ports, we have an important role to play by decarbonising our terminals, adopting new technology and advocating research and development within our industry to find solutions helping us deliver on the commitments we have made as part of A.P. Moller - Maersk. One of our facilities, APM Terminals Gothenburg, is an encouraging example of how we can make change already now. In 2019, we launched the Gothenburg Green Gateway with the aim of switching to completely carbon-neutral container handling without an increase in cost for our customers. Several other terminals have done the same. This is not only a response to the demand from Customers, but a clear signal and ambition from our side that port operations can, and need to be, more sustainable.

Every brain in the game

We believe a lot more we can be achieved - both for our customers and our communities – and being a people’s business we will help our associates to develop their talents and skills. If we get, as I like to say, “every brain in the game”, we will continue to improve our impact in everything we do. In APM Terminals we have a proven system for achieving it. We call it the APM Terminals Ways of Working, which drives us through a never-ending cycle of change and improvement, fuelled by exceptional and engaged people, who continue to develop better ways to serve our customers. This is increasingly powered by technology, allowing us to offer our Customers a more digital, predictable and enhanced experience, while at the same time making our operations safer, greener and more competitive.