Improving throughput at Nigeria’s largest port

Medlog is a global logistics and supply operator with decades of experience in integrated logistics, offering flexible multi-modal transport solutions and internal storage services to customers across all industrial sectors.

Headquartered in Switzerland, the company is a member of the Mediterranean Shipping Company group. It has been operating in Nigeria since 2014, expanding from offering clearing and outsourced forwarding services into a fully-fledged logistics service provider offering clearing by sea/air, barging, and trucking.

In 2020, Medlog Logistics Services Nigeria purchased three Kalmar reachstackers – the first new machines purchased by the company. These reachstackers were bought to replace a combination of used and owned machines from other manufacturers that were proving unreliable.

Medlog Logistics Services Nigeria subsequently placed an order for seven DRU450-62S5 reachstackers and three DCU80-45ES7 empty container handlers. These machines will be used in the company’s container terminal located in Lagos, the largest port in Nigeria and one of the most important on the African continent.

Local sales support the key

Despite other valuable offers, Medlog Logistics Services Nigeria decided to order the machines from Kalmar based on a combination of its reputation for reliability, the relatively short delivery time it was able to offer, and the after sales support available locally from Kalmar dealer KWA, which has been working with Medlog since 2019.

KWA (Kalmar’s exclusive partner in Nigeria since the 1990s) is dealing with the service aspect of the contract, taking responsibility for commissioning the machines as well as all warranty-related issues and assuring the delivery and availability of spare parts – one of the main operational challenges faced by Medlog in Nigeria.

These machines will be used in the company’s container terminal located in Lagos, the largest port in Nigeria and one of the most important on the African continent.

This dealer partnership has already proved invaluable. The reachstackers purchased in 2020 were found to have an issue with their axles and KWA worked closely with Medlog Logistics Services Nigeria to put alternative methods of transportation in place to reduce delivery times and minimise disruption.

This support – combined with Kalmar covering the customer’s equipment rental costs while the machines were being upgraded – means KWA has won the trust of the customer and ensured that Kalmar remained its preferred supplier.