APM Terminals Moín wins international award for innovative remote control monitoring project

- Remote tire pressure monitoring reduces risks for operators.
- Initiative created in Costa Rica may be applied by other terminals worldwide that have the required technology.

APM Terminals Moín received the Global Safety Award Winner 2024 from Maersk APMM for the project Remote tire pressure monitoring of the tires or “rims” of the gantry cranes known as “RTG cranes”.

Thanks to this initiative, APM Terminals Moín was recognized among 22 terminals in Africa, Europe, America and the Middle East, which projects the work being done in Costa Rica with innovative ideas that could be applied in other ports around the world that have RTG systems.

“The idea came from a kaizen, or productivity improvement method, we conducted on premature tire wear. During our research, we discovered that our RTGs (rubber-tyred gantry cranes) were equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system that had not been given the attention it deserved. This allows us to eliminate the risks to people and any associated risks because now the monitoring can be done from a computer and the physical inspection can be done in a controlled area with no operations around it,” explained José Rueda, general manager of APM Terminals Moín.

This system, designed by APM Terminals in Moín, makes it possible to monitor tire pressure in real time for the cranes, create safer environments for collaborators, reduce the time required for this work, and use these improvements to replicate in other terminals around the world.

“By using this system, we reduce the annual hours technicians spend in the terminal yard from 174 hours per year to 39 in tire wear inspection and from 348 hours per year to only 9 in precision tire checks, and we also contribute to the environment by avoiding premature tire wear. Previously, technicians had to manually check both tire wear and tire pressure; now, the laborious task of measuring tire pressure has been eliminated and this increases people's safety”, Vidal Monge Umaña, Project Automation Specialist at APM Terminals Moín.

As for tire wear, the maintenance interval is changed from once a month to once every three months, and it is moved from an uncontrolled operating area to a specific controlled maintenance area, and the risk exposure of operators in front of the machine is eliminated.

“Safety is our license to operate, at APM Terminals Moín we foster a culture of safety and always seek continuous improvement to create safer work environments. Safety is our priority,” said Katherine López, Occupational Health and Environment Manager at APM Terminals Moín.

About the award. Maersk APMM's “Global Safety Award Winner 2024” is a global award for safety issues within the 46 terminals that make up the APM Terminals group, awarded each year.

Maersk congratulated the winners of this year's 2024 award and celebrated the initiatives that make the terminals safer and safer.