Containerisation International Awards recognises Aitken Spence for investing in people

Aitken Spence’s port efficiency enhancement and terminal management services arm, Port Management Container Services Ltd., was one of the three short listed finalists for the Investment in People award at the inaugural Containerisation International Awards held in London recently.

The award attracted 90 applications from companies worldwide.

The other two finalists were Port of Salalah in Oman and the Belgium-based multinational Safmarine Lines.

Containerisation International is the magazine of choice in the container business world. The magazine has been a leader in its field since it published its first issue back in 1967 and has established itself as the foremost analytical voice on container shipping and provides invaluable news and statistics to the container markets and related businesses.

The Containerisation International Awards was the first global ceremony held to acknowledge and recognise the leaders, achievers, and innovators in the container shipping industry who have over the past year made an outstanding contribution by being innovative, proactive and pioneering.

More than 200 delegates from the global shipping industry attended the inaugural Containerisation International Awards event held in central London recently.

The company said that it received the prestigious award due to their focus on introducing cost effective programmes and best practices to motivate, train and transfer skills to enable their partners/clients to improve productivity at their terminals and also maintain a motivated work force.

 “This is indeed a remarkable achievement for Port management Container Services who are relative newcomers in the terminal management industry. With the tremendous efforts and hard work put in by the management and the staff of PMCS we have been able to increase productivity levels at the container terminals in South Africa through our tailor-made programmes in increasing efficiency, productivity and quality levels,” said Iqram Cuttilan, Vice President of Aitken Spence Maritime.

PMCS is the first Sri Lankan company to venture overseas in the field of container terminal productivity enhancement. Aitken Spence presently conducts operations in several ports in South Africa and Mozambique.

“Our programmes have been very successful and we have been able to cover all the major container terminals in South Africa. It is the intention of PMCS to expand their activities in the other African Ports too,” added Cuttilan.

Port Management Container Services specialises in conducting efficiency, productivity and quality enhancement programmes in container ports and terminals. It also conducts programmes on training the trainer, mentorship, human resource and change management.

PMCS has been working closely with the Transnet Port Terminals of South Africa, the National Ports Authority of South Africa and Ports Authority of Mozambique

The programmes which PMCS has conducted are in Best Practices in Container Operations, which is aimed at training container terminal personnel in enhancing, efficiency, productivity and quality in container terminals; Best Practices in Marine Operations, which is aimed at increasing efficiency and productivity in navigational related activities in ports; and Best Practices in Terminal Operations and Ship Planning.

It is noteworthy that even though PMCS does not own or manage container terminals, the company’s skills in conducting successful efficiency, productivity and quality enhancement programmes in container ports and terminals has been accepted and recognised by the global containerisation industry.

As a pioneering venture in Sri Lanka’s maritime services industry, the recognition will indeed act as a motivational factor to enhance and promote the activities of the company globally.

Aitken Spence is a ground-breaking player in Sri Lanka’s shipping and maritime services industry with a heritage spanning over one and a half centuries. The company’s maritime arm also represents some of the world’s leading shipping lines and partners a consortium which has been awarded the contract to construct and manage the Colombo Port’s South Terminal.