Captain Ebenezer Afedzi, Director of Port who announced this during a press soiree in Takoradi, said due to the expansion of the port and the construction of a container terminal, the figure might go up to 8.5 million metric tonnes by the end of December this year, representing 2.5 metric tonnes increase.

He said import cargo recorded 38 percent increase with export cargo recording 39 percent, while trans-shipment recorded 21 percent and transit-container cargo registered 180 percent.

[contextly_sidebar id=”qeoaQ3sWLg7OLUHNsPV3xBn5ZLYYp9Y6″]Capt. Afedzi said container cargo was however not doing very well, and that vessel call recorded only one percent.

He was happy that the port did not record any major incident in the year under review.

Capt. Afedzi said under the port’s expansion programme, it had partnered Ibistek Crowley, a Ghanaian Private company to build a 370 million cedi multipurpose Terminal container with 16 depth litre, thereby making the Takoradi port the only one in west Africa with such a facility.

He said they were also in partnership with Prime Meridian company to construct a 200 metre floating dock next year, which would be able to accommodate vessels with length between 20- 80 metres long

Capt. Afedzi announced that a Belgian company has also been engaged to build a conveyer loading system at the terminal, which he noted would reduce loading time from the current 10 days to about two and half days.

He said the year under review, the port partnered Ibistek to construct an off-dock container terminal with a capacity of 7,500TU to improve the handling of containers at the port.

The Director of Port Said his outfit also partnered Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), to construct a 13.5million litres capacity of marine diesel oil so that vessels that berthed at the port could refill their tanks.

This he noted would stop vessels from doing illegal pumping on the high sea.

He said General Electric has commissioned an oil field fabrication equipment in Takoradi for oil companies operating on the oilfields, noting that vessels could easily come to the facility for repairs especially for underwater repair problems.

Capt. Afedzi said the Takoradi port, which was established in 1928, was alive and on its feet, and promised to closely work with the media to enhance the work and development of the port.

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Source: GNA

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The Association has now suggested a piloting of the process at the Takoradi Port before full implementation begins in 2018.

[contextly_sidebar id=”T2A2Lhp0sVFuWvDKgqvRHcXkblIKotGv”]The Executive Secretary of Association, Sampson Asaaki Awingobit, explained to Citi News that this course of action would allow them to address possible shortfalls.

He also noted that this would also prevent the Tema Port from encountering any critical hitches as a result of the programme.

“Already, the interdiction of customs officers, numbering about 180, is also affecting clearance process in the ports and “work that used to take 48 hours is not taking about one week or more,” he said.

“The September paperless should begin on a pilot basis. We can use the Takoradi port as a case study and correct the teething problems before we can go on full flow in 2018. We cannot use the Tema Port to joke because we all know a large volume of cargo imported into this country is cleared through Tema port.”

There is some skepticism on the part of the workers at the port, according to Mr. Awingobit, because they “are now going to learn and I am told that they are bringing custom officers from Dubai to come and support our customs officers to implement this first thing.”

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, in May 2017 first urged all service agencies at the country’s ports to switch to a paperless system by September 2017 because the current system had too much human interaction and was at the mercy of corruption.

Addressing importers, customs officers, and other stakeholders at the Flagstaff House on August 2, Dr. Bawumia warned that terminals which are not ready for automation by the deadline would be left behind, and people who do not comply will be sanctioned.

“We will not accept any excuses,” he stated.

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By: Elvis Washington/Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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This was made known by the Public Relations and Marketing Manager of the Takoradi Port Peter Amoo Bediako at a public lecture held on the revitalization of the railways in Takoradi, organized by the Sekondi Takoradi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Mr. Amoo Bediako indicated at the forum that “traffic has increased by over 39 percent as compared to what was realized in the 2015/2016 financial year…revenue accrued from import and export duties at the port also tremendously increased by 30% and 47% respectively with traffic also increasing by over 39%.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”xnKRfAGkJkY2LHRmj2wVKzYkkqJT84H7″]This according to him has enhanced the competitiveness of the port and boost local economy expansion.

“Now vessels that were going to other countries because of our low draft will find it more convenient to call at Takoradi,” he added

To meet the ever-growing demands of the port users, a major expansion and investment programme was undertaken to transform its capacity, facilities, and operations.

The original master plan recommended segregation of cargo and improved container handling facilities. However, the discovery of oil prompted a new master plan to accommodate facilities to service offshore support operations, development of bulk and container terminals, the positioning of a floating dock for vessel repairs with depths ranging from 10 to 16 metres.

Phases one and two of the project included the extension of the breakwater, provision of a bulk terminal/jetty to handle bulk commodities and dredging of the access channels. The berths will also be dredged to a depth of 16.0 metres.

Mr. Amoo-Bediako further added that “in terms of dredging, the deepest part of the old port was 11 meters with the key just about 10 meters which meant that capacity to handle bigger vessels and bring in more revenues was greatly limited. With the expansion, we are talking about an increase of minus 16 which means bigger volumes and bigger vessels can be handled”.

He concluded that 200 meters of the entire 800 meters of the bulk jerky at the Port have been completed “and by July this year, another 210 meters would be completed”.

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By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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