Noticing that there was an oversupply of forklifts, of which some poorly managed and underutilised by stevedore companies, JP worked with 10 main stevedore companies to pool all forklifts used in the general cargo area into a common pool resource. The project resulted in an attrition of forklifts from 198 units back in 2019 to 134 today. Joey Chua, deputy manager of Operations, shared that she remembered how there was a lack of optimisation of equipment in the port as each stevedore companies was owning a few units resulting in unnecessary labour and resources required to manage their own respectively equipment. She added that the standards of equipment were also poorly managed and there were limitations on JP’s efforts to implement proper processes.
With a central common pool of forklifts managed by JP, the number of forklifts was reduced and this in turn created an improvement and increase in utilisation of the remaining forklifts. In addition, the overall cost for each deployment of forklift operations was also reduced. There was also a significant space reduction since each forklift was taking up an average of 18sqm of parking space. The reduction in number of forklifts freed up 32% of land previously used, translating to S$120,000 of space revenue opportunity per annum for the port. Today, JP has a team of 8 ground officers to manage and upkeep all 134 forklifts. These ground officers ensure that all forklifts are properly checked before handing over to operators for usage. They also manage the inventory and maintenance so that every forklift is consistent in their standards.
To enhance workplace safety, cameras and reverse sensors were installed to all forklifts so that they were standardised to meet operation’s needs. JP also launched the Equipment Pooling Management System (EPMS), digitalising most of the manual processes. The EPMS allows stevedoring companies to book equipment and supports our ground officer in allocation, deployment and handling process of the equipment. Just as how JP has worked closely with stevedoring companies to hire, upskill and manage stevedore workers, we will spare no efforts to improve and manage equipment properly to provide higher standard of safety for our workers and better services for our customers.
