Manama: Sustainable port development continues to be a core focus area for APM Terminals Bahrain to drive the future growth of its Khalifa bin Salman Port (KBSP).
An invaluable part of Bahrain’s infrastructure and growth, KBSP is operated by APM Terminals for over a decade. The port has over 800 people working across a wide range of maritime and logistics operations and has 64 per cent Bahrainisation.
In line with their global philosophy, APM Terminals Bahrain has been investing in maritime infrastructure and social-technical skills of its employees to meet future demands of the transportation and logistics sector.
Working towards making KBSP operations more efficient, the company operates with the 70/20/10 principle – which includes on-the-job experience, trainings which strengthen interaction between managers and colleagues.
Taking this approach, APM Terminals Bahrain has introduced a Short-term Assignments (STA) initiative for its employees so that they have an opportunity to work across their global network of 74 operating ports and terminal facilities and over 117 Inland Services operations across 58 countries.
As part of this, 10 employees, mostly Bahrainis, have been deputed at other APMT operated international ports such as the Moin Port – Costa Rica, MedPort Tangier – Morocco and Poti Sea Port – Georgia. They will help set-up, train and share best practices for new APM Terminal port operations, gain cross-cultural understanding and contribute towards building the global network.
Training opportunities have also been put in place to help employees gain a broader scope of knowledge and skills while enabling them to deliver a consistently high standard of port related services to their customers. These include an operating system for standardisation of daily operations and compliance with global practices.
“KBSP plays an important role for Bahrain as the Kingdom’s only commercial port and connection to world trade, working as an engine of economic development. With port operations evolving in line with market developments and innovating to integrate technology, it’s important for us to continue investing in training our people to ensure that our operations continue to function with increasing efficiency and safety,” said Susan Hunter, APM Terminals Bahrain CEO/Managing Director.
“To maintain this high level of diverse performance, processes are in place to identify and deliver further job specific training to our employees where necessary. Moreover, we also encourage our staff to contribute to business growth through challenging existing processes, getting involved in opportunities for improvement and by sharing their views both formally and informally.”