APM Terminals’ Senior Vice President and Head of New Terminals in The Hague, Peder Sondergaard stated “Customers are looking for simplified, reliable and cost-effective service to compete in the market. Our terminal design, development and procurement must reflect this.”
The streamlining of repairs and reduced investment required in spare part inventories also represent significant opportunities for cost cutting in an increasingly competitive business environment. “We will discuss practical requirements and establish standards with the functional experts such as terminal operations personnel, Crane & Engineering Services, and design engineers” said APM Terminals Head of Procurement Morten Mortensen; “Then we will take this standard commercially to market and source, negotiate and contract with suppliers.”
APM Terminals is a major purchaser and operator of such expensive and large-scale equipment as Ship-to-Shore (STS) cranes, Rubber-Tire Gantry cranes (RTG)s, stackers, terminal tractors’, reefer racks, terminal vehicles and other related machinery and vehicles, as well as computer and communications equipment. By standardizing the types, sizes and specification of these various assets, terminal savings could be realized in a number of ways.
Not yet in practice to any significant extent within the terminal operating industry, the benefits of equipment standardization for the APM Terminals Global Terminal Network would include the easy transfer of needed assets between facilities as circumstances require, and common standards for benchmarking of optimum yard design, lighting and equipment configurations. Equally important, the potential to reduce the environmental footprint through energy saving equipment is targeted. Adherence to the established standards will be the key factor in the program’s success, particularly as new terminal development projects proceed.
