APM Terminals together with AIP Foundation, a road safety nonprofit, is rolling out a new training program in Vietnam to help make the port community of Cai Mep in southern Vietnam safe. More than 45 truck drivers and other CMIT employees, along with executives from the APM Terminals’ operated Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT), joined 500 students, teachers, and parents at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School, which neighbors the port, to address road safety issues in their community. The truck drivers work for CMIT, a subsidiary of the Netherlands-based port operator APM Terminals. The event is the inaugural activity for Lifting Safety, a proactive road safety program developed by AIP Foundation and APM Terminals. It will provide nearly 1,000 helmets and road safety education classes to children at Tran Quoc Toan and Toc Tien primary schools.

A study commissioned by APM Terminals and conducted by AIP Foundation in October 2016 found that even though most students in the region commuted to school by motorcycle, only 35% of students at Tran Quoc Toan Primary School and 19% of students at Toc Tien Primary School wore helmets, despite road dangers such as mixed vehicle use roads and lack of separate motorcycle lanes.

The Lifting Safety program aims to identify and mitigate road safety risks in the community near the APM Terminals-operated port through a combination of targeted education, awareness, and community engagement programs. Both the national- and provincial-level traffic safety committees have worked closely with APM Terminals and AIP Foundation in developing and implementing the program. Over the next year, Lifting Safety will implement truck driver trainings, a mass media awareness campaign, and community-based activities in and around the CMIT port in Vietnam.

View more photos from the event here.

Watch a video overview of the event here.

Read the full press release here.