Training is a core element of all Maersk businesses, at a minimum helping to ensure that people and operations are safe and efficient. But the impact is much greater than that: as Maersk educates and trains people all over the world, the new skills and jobs improve lives and help lift up local communities.
There are no ship-to-shore cranes in Costa Rica. And that means there are no experts to teach people how to operate them, either. A modern container terminal is a completely new industry in Costa Rica. So, for APM Terminals Moin, the company’s new USD 1 billion terminal project, one of the first tasks is to turn promising job applicants into trainers.
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Just outside the Moin terminal site, Aislan Cardoso is doing just that. He is a Training Manager at APM Terminals and is putting dozens of trainees through the paces inside a crane simulator, which provides realistic simulation of ship-to-shore crane and rubber tire gantry crane operation. The most qualified of them will be selected for further “trainer training”. Cardoso says he has no doubt about what this opportunity means for the candidates.
“In this region of the country, people have a tendency to jump from one job to another, chasing a paycheck. There are not many big companies in the area and none of the tourism they have on the Pacific cost. People do not have many opportunities for long-term work like this with salary and benefits,” says Cardoso.
And so it is for others all over the world who are undergoing training of one kind or another in Maersk, learning skills that in many cases will change their lives and perhaps even their communities.
One global standard for training
The purpose of training starts from a far more functional place. For APM Terminals, it is simple: training and education are critical for safe and efficient operations in all 72 of its port terminals and 140 inland facilities around the world. And making sure the training and the methods in every APM Terminals facility reflect the same high standard is the purpose behind a new initiative entitled the Impact Programme.
“We’ve taken the best practices and programmes that we’ve developed in our individual terminals and training centres over the years and combined them to create a top quality, safe and cost efficient set of global training standards that will support our Reach 2020 strategy from a training and development perspective,” says Peter Jakobsen, Global Head of Talent Management at APM Terminals.
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“The training, jobs and economic activity that the terminal will stimulate will help to lift this part of the country.”
LISBETH THOMAS, HEAD OF HUMAN RESOURCES AT APM TERMINALS MOIN
LISBETH THOMAS, HEAD OF HUMAN RESOURCES AT APM TERMINALS MOIN
Initially, the Impact Programme will be rolled out in APM Terminals Bahrain at the end of September. It will implement global training standards for such things as teaching methodology, and assessment criteria, not to mention for updating or creating new training programmes.
“The majority of our facilities have the same needs and requirements when it comes to training – the Impact Programme will ensure that we are consistent in our training methods across all our facilities and operations,” says Carlos Teixeira, Global Operations Training & Development Manager at APM Terminals.
Local investment, local impact
As Costa Rica’s largest-ever private infrastructure project, the terminal project in Moin is the biggest employment opportunity the underdeveloped Limon region of the country has seen for decades. While approximately 700 people will benefit directly from the training and jobs created by APM Terminals Moin once it is fully operational in 2018, expectations are that the indirect benefits will also be significant.
“The training, jobs and economic activity that the terminal will stimulate will help to lift this part of the country. I also think that it will have another impact,” says Lisbeth Thomas, Head of Human Resources at APM Terminals Moin.
“The children and young people in these communities, where jobs are rare, will see their parents and their neighbours learn new skills as they help to build and subsequently work at this state-of-the art terminal. I think that will be inspiring for them.”
Reference: maersk.com
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