Blog: ‘Bringing “Safer, Better, Bigger” to life’ – by CEO, Keith Svendsen

Last year we announced the new strategy for APM Terminals, which we called – in line with our focus areas – “Safer, Better, Bigger”. We also articulated our ambition to be the World’s Best Terminal Company. This year we went a few steps further and communicated how we want to accomplish this: by caring, engaging and empowering our people; by creating a better value and great experience for our customers; and by leading the decarbonisation and ESG agenda in our industry.

So how do we bring our strategy to life? Let’s looks at some examples.

Continuing our focus on safety remains key and apart from fostering a culture where all our people take ownership of our safety, we keep working on specific solutions in that respect. A notable initiative is the Wind Resilience Tool launched in APM Terminals MedPort Tangier, where wind is a significant factor – an advanced software which reduces wind gust damage to zero. This solution uses artificial intelligence to accurately predict weather events and help terminals prepare as efficiently as possible. In 2021, the software reduced container toppling incidents at the terminal to zero. Most importantly, the tool was developed locally by our frontline experts in Tangier!

We are also making solid progress in our continuous effort to be Better and our Way of Working philosophy has helped us achieve some great results, benefitting our customers. Our Kaizen initiatives have resulted in significant gains, especially when it comes to eliminating waste in time our customers’ vessels stay in our terminals. For example, in APM Terminals Liberia process improvements to improve idle times have reduced vessel arrival cycles from 1h42mins to 55mins and departure cycle from 4h39mins to 50mins, along with numerous other associated environmental, safety and supply chain benefits. Similarly, our team at APM Terminals Pipavav worked together with shipping line customer ONE in a joint Kaizen workshop, where the outcome has been an average 40% reduction in vessel idle time. Many of these initiatives and the people behind them have been recognised as our Way of Working Heroes.

We are growing APM Terminals, focusing on our third strategic pillar, where we aim to be “Bigger” by growing where it makes sense for our business and our customers. Just recently our Suez Canal Container Terminal in Egypt signed an expansion agreement with Suez Canal Economic Zone Authority. As part of a USD 500 million investment deal, SCCT will add an extra 955-metre berth and an additional 510,000 m2 container yard to the already existing 2,400 meter berth and 1.2 million m2 yard. Another milestone was the official launch of Cote d’Ivoire Terminal in November, our JV terminal in Ivory Coast, making a big difference for logistics and trade in the country and region. APM Terminals also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Aqaba Development Cooperation for a 15-year extension of our partnership in the Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT). We also jointly unveiled the future vision for the Aqaba port, which includes ambitious decarbonization plans, terminal expansion and creation of a training centre of excellence for the logistics and maritime industry, contributing to the community. Finally, over the summer we announced that we have won a bid to develop and operate a container and general cargo terminal in Suape in Brazil, a great example of how we can purposefully grow our business while we create opportunities for our customers and for whole communities.

Having been in the CEO role for a few months now, I am thrilled to see how our teams around the world contribute to value creation and making our strategy tangible and relatable.