Stevedoring company AHTAPOT Denizcilik handles a variety of scrap for the proprietors of the port using the latest in material handling technology as well as young women to operate the machines. Rehandling capacity is greater than before, and the work climate is continuously improving.
Zübeyde Pamuk operates these machines. The large, green material handler is her favorite machine. It is a SENNEBOGEN 880 EQ with an enormous operating range. A range of 35 m and the equipment kinematics allow her to transport scrap to ships such as the Julia Oldendorff. Today, it is bauxite, but with the right grapples, Zübeyde and her colleagues handle coal, plaster, grains, wood chips or cement clinker. With the machine, she reaches a handling capacity of 1,500 t per hour, reports Erkan Do?an, managing director of Ahtapot. That is more than many men have accomplished.
When asked whether or not that made women better operators, Do?an counters that she is not necessarily better, she just works differently. She
operates the machine in a more conservative way and is also interested in maintenance and servicing. If servicing takes too long, she wants to know why. “That’s something the men don’t do, and we think it’s good that the women identify so strongly with their machines”, lauded Do?an. The bottom line is that Zübeyde and her female colleagues can do a man’s job without difficulty, something that, not too long ago, was not commonplace in many regions of the world.
“We need women in these jobs for a lot of reasons. We have grown a lot since our founding in 1999 and now have 1,500 employees. We can’t fall into stereotypes, rather we need well qualified and motivated employees of both genders,” added Do?an.
Zübeyde feels most at home up in the machine. “In the beginning, it was like at Universal Studios – the size of the machine seemed unreal. I’ve
never operated such a large material handler before.” Since then, the giant machine has become a normal part of life and she would rather have no
other job. Inside the pleasantly air-conditioned comfort cab, she has both a comfortable work space and an important job in port handling.
“We also receive first-rate support from FORSEN, the SENNEBOGEN
sales and service partner in Istanbul, whose employees stand behind the
machine, its design, and our company. That is the best guarantee of good
service.”
After eight hours of work, Zübeyde climbs down from her machine. She
performs a quick check to make sure everything is in order, since she’ll be
handing the machine over to one of her colleagues on the next shift, Hüzün,
Pinar, Bengü or Sena. But she is looking forward to tomorrow, since she enjoys
working at the Port of Mersin.