Lifting global trade, for ‘Team World’
With a presence in more than 30 countries worldwide and twice as many terminals in our portfolio, we are at the beating heart of global trade. The connections we make daily, hourly, every minute of the day, extend beyond the smooth facilitation of imports and exports – they impact people in profound, positive ways.
Our work brings prosperity and vital goods to the most remote corners of the earth, but in doing so, we provide opportunities that can change lives, globally, locally and also within our own organisation for the individuals who make up our awesome workforce.
People first
In APM Terminals Apapa, as in all our terminals, people come first. Terminal Manager, Steen Knudsen, says the euro equivalent of tens of thousands are allocated annually to employee training and development. On top of which, the terminal offers colleagues the chance to work around the world, gaining knowledge from our global network, further fostering international standards.
“We must be ready for tomorrow’s challenges by ensuring our employees are continuously updated with the required skills and technical expertise to deliver world class services to our customers,” says Steen. “This is one of our five core values; Constant Care, taking care of today, while actively preparing for tomorrow,” he says.
Calculated move
Among the many who have taken advantage of these opportunities are John Olaleye Adeyemo, Berth and Resource Planning Superintendent, Apapa. After training as a chartered accountant John joined the terminal at its inception in 2006 as a Tally Clerk, but his abilities were instantly recognised, and he was transferred to the Planning Department as a Cargo Controller.
His career progression since then could be seen as ‘meteoric’ in some companies – but at APM Terminals, the journey is ongoing. “When we see talent – which is often – we propel them as far as they can go. It is in our interests to encourage our people to be the best they can be – that is how we lift standards for our customers,” says Steen.
For John, that has meant a steep but rewarding learning curve. “I had to challenge myself and dig deep. But with on-the-job training and support I felt ready to shift gears again.” Fast forward 18 years, and John is now Planning Superintendent, overseeing the work of all the Planners in the Operations Command Centre, having taken part in overseas training and qualifications such as International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) segregation.
And the learnings keep on coming. John is currently packing his bags once more – to take a Short Time Assignment at the Port of Salalah, Oman; the second most efficient port in the world, and one of APM Terminals’ join ventures.
A world of opportunity
While John will bring knowledge back to Apapa, his colleague Samuel Oluwabamidele Dada is bringing knowledge from Apapa to the world, because - just as in our terminals - trade and mutual advancement goes both ways.
Samuel, a Certified Reliability and Maintenance Professional, began his career with APM Terminals Apapa in 2009 as a Maintenance Planner, progressing to become Maintenance Controller, Acting Maintenance Planning Manager, and Reliability Manager. He led a team of reliability specialists to drive the asset management team from a reactive maintenance organization mode to a more proactive one through the implementation of various condition-based monitoring techniques such as thermography inspection, ultrasound inspection and oil analysis on critical assets.
Today he sits with the APM Terminals Global Reliability Team in Panama City. As part of the Reliability, Availability and Maintainability team (RAM), Samuel supports all APM Terminals across the continents through review, rationalizing and optimization of equipment preventive maintenance routines, conducting equipment failure analysis , facilitating advanced root cause analysis and conducting RAMS analysis.
Focus on the proactive
It was a visit by the APM Terminals Global Asset Management Leadership team that changed the course of his career when an impressed Global Reliability Manager informed him there was an opening in the Asset Management Center of Excellence in Panama and that he might be a good fit. After consultations with his Line Manager and a competitive interview process, he emerged as one of the successful candidates.
He says: “Adapting to a new culture and environment has been a wonderful experience for me, and working with colleagues from different multicultural backgrounds has been exciting.”
Team World
The training and development opportunities afforded to Samuel are far from unique. As he says: “When I joined APM Terminals, I knew it was a great career move for me. I was ambitious, but my sights back then were on making a success of myself in Nigeria and making Apapa a successful terminal with my colleagues.
“Now, the team I work for is still ‘team Nigeria’, but it is also ‘team Africa, team Latin America, team World’. We’re all contributing to APM Terminals as a whole, and I am very proud to be working on Asset Reliability on a global scale.”
Image caption: (Left) John Olaleye Adeyemo at the Port of Salalah