APM Terminals Mumbai celebrates productivity record on Wan Hai vessel

In keeping with its status as the country’s leading container handling terminal, JN Port’s APM Terminals Mumbai (GTI) recently handled a record parcel size of 6,243 TEUs in 30 hours 51 minutes from the vessel m.v. Wan Hai 509. The total number of 4,878 moves entailed a berth productivity of 158 moves per hour and gross crane rate of 33.09.

To commemorate this world class benchmark in operations, a function was orga-nised at GTI on September 7 to felicitate Wan Hai, the operational teams that facilitated this national record as well as JN Port for its support. It was graced by Mr L. Radhakrishnan, Chairman of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Mr N. N. Kumar, Deputy Chairman, senior JNPT officials, Mr Edward Ang, Owner’s Representative of Wan Hai Lines, Mr Arvind Bhatnagar, Executive Director-Western Region, CONCOR, and key APM Terminals Mumbai officials, including Mr P. K. Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer, Mr Rajieve Krishnan, Chief Operating Officer and Capt. Praveen Agnihotri, Deputy Chief Commercial Officer.

Among the highlights of the event was the cutting of a cake by the GTI workforce to celebrate this success and the presentation of a specially designed T-shirt to Mr Radhakrishnan.

In his address, Mr Radhakrishnan congratulated the terminal’s workforce, made up of people from the nearby region, for this stupendous success. This will further consolidate the Port’s standing, he stressed, in the process giving the employees and their children more opportunities for success, better education, as well as benefits to the region in the form of improved facilities, increased price for land, etc. He hoped that the success would rub off on the Port's other terminals as well.

The Chairman was hopeful of commencing the critical project to dredge the Port’s channels by October-November, which would facilitate the calling of more such vessels with large parcel-sizes. The initial phase of dredging would increase draught to 14 m. A long-term plan envisages draught up to 17 m, he disclosed.

One of the important facilitators of this record, JNPT’s Marine Department, was being modernised, he said. To save on the steep energy costs, JNPT was trying to ensure captive power within the Port through generation of non-conventional energy and by buying non-conventional energy from outside sources, Mr Radhakrishnan revealed.

Mr P. K. Agarwal attributed the record to the synchronised team effort of all stakeholders, including, importantly, the terminal’s workforce. More such records will follow, he said.

Mr Edward Ang complimented the workers for the achievement, which was achieved surmounting challenges such as monsoon rains, strong winds, etc. "You have created history," he emphasised, adding that records were meant to be broken.

Mr Praveen Agnihotri, in his vote of thanks, expressed confidence that GTI would soon better this record. He asserted that India has the potential to be the second-biggest box handling country after China.

Source : Exim News Service - NAVI MUMBAI, Sept. 8