27th May, 2013
Leading global terminal operator, APM Terminals, is increasing the container stacking area at its Apapa container terminal, Lagos, Nigeria by an additional 300,000 square metres. The company is also set to take delivery of the first batch of five Rubber-Tyred-Gantry (RTG) cranes it ordered from Kone Cranes as part of terminal yard redevelopment and expansion the largest container terminal in West Africa.
The project, which is the Phase Three of the modernization and upgrading of the facility, includes terminal yard redevelopment and expansion, new staff amenities and customer service building, acquisition of container handling equipment, implementation of new terminal operating systems and a new Customs container inspection facility.
Managing Director of APM Terminals Apapa, Mr. Dallas Hampton, who disclosed this in his office in Lagos, said the new RTGs will be delivered by the end of August 2013.
“That is when the terminal will achieve the first impact of the ongoing development for increased capacity. The second batch of the remaining five RTGs will be delivered in November 2013”, Hampton said.
The APM Terminals Apapa boss said that development of about 300,000 square meters of the North Yard of APM Terminals Apapa is in full swing.
“This area is being converted from Reach Stacker operations to RTG operations thus increasing the Yard capacity and efficiency. As this is being done in a functioning live Terminal, the area is divided into eight phases which are progressively taken over for construction and then handed over back to Operations after development. The first Area 1A was handed over on 16 Apr 2013 and the Contractor is presently working on Area 1C”, he said.
According to Hampton, yard works will continue till August 2014 and will also include enhanced lighting and a rail siding.
He said work is simultaneously being carried out on the construction of a three storey building which will house the new Staff Canteen, Locker Rooms, Break Rooms, Customs Office and Customer Service Centre.
“This building will modernize and centralize all the staff facilities which are presently scattered in older locations. The new building is expected to be ready by April 2014. An interesting feature of this building will be a new waste water treatment plant which will handle all effluents.
“Three new Liebherr Mobile Harbor Cranes (MHCs) have already been delivered in May 2012 as part of this Project. Two more MHCs will be procured in 2015. Various other equipment like Tractor Trailers, Empty Handlers, Fuel Station, FLTs, Spreaders are being procured and are under various stages of procurement/delivery”, he said.
The APM Terminals Apapa expansion project, which is the third and final phase of the modernization and upgrading of the terminal, was flagged off in February by Chief Executive Officer of the AP Moller-Maersk Group, Mr. Nils Andersen.
APM Terminals and its consortium partners recently announced plans to develop a new greenfield mega-port project and Free Trade Zone at Badagry, Lagos State to cope with increased cargo volume in the medium term.
At full build-out, the deep-water full-service port will be one of the largest in Africa with 7 km of quay and 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) of dedicated yard, and will include state-of the art facilities for container, bulk, liquid bulk, Ro/Ro and general cargo as well as oil and gas operations support and a barge terminal. Plans for the adjoining Badagry Free Trade Zone will include a power plant, oil refinery, industrial park and warehousing and Inland Container Deport functions. The first phase of the project is scheduled to open in 2016.