T'di Port expansion will reduce shipping cost – Shippers

THE Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) –the umbrella body of shippers in the country – has welcomed moves by the government to expand the Takoradi Port in response to the rising volumes of number of vessel and cargo traffic.

The authority is hoping that the expansion works, if completed successfully, will help ease traffic congestions, fast track loading and offloading activities at the port and consequently lessen the cost of shipping which has been linked to congestion and pressure on limited port facilities.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GSA, Dr Kofi Mbiah said in an interview that “shippers are happy to hear that the government has secured funds to expand the port.  We are keenly interested in seeing the expansion take place,” he added.

Concerns from shippers and port authorities over limited facilities at the Takoradi Port despite increasing volumes of business there prompted the government to allocate part of the US$3 billion loan contracted from China last year to the GPHA to, among other things, deepen the draft, extend the port’s seawall to about 1,000 metres and separate containerised cargo from bulk cargo operations.

The move is expected to lessen pressure on the port while upgrade its facilities to the levels of an international port capable of handling all kinds of trade including oil exports.

Although the Takoradi Port was constructed in the late 1920s mainly as a shipment destination for cocoa beans abroad, continuous pressure on the Tema Port has caused it to undertake other maritime activities either than cocoa shipment.

 Data from the Ghana Ports and Highway Authority (GHPA) also indicate that trading activities at the port have been rising over the past few years. Container traffic to the port rose from about 47,828 in 2009 to 56,598 in 2011 with cargo vessel traffic also moving from 956 vessels in 2009 to 1,798 in 2011 on the back of oil production at the Jubilee Field and the general rise in shipment to and from the country.

“The port is really congested,” Dr Mbiah said explaining that cargo vessels and containers at the port had often swelled into the land and coastline leading to unusual delays in clearing and shipment of goods.

“We the commercial shippers are always competing with oil vessels for space,” the CEO added.

The result, he said has been a rise in the cost of shipping given that “the more days a hired commercial container or vessel stays at the port, the more cost the shipper in question incurs.”

Thus, shippers in the country are hoping that the successful completion of the expansion works will help ease these frustrations and lower the cost of shipping to the benefit of the industry and the country as a whole, Dr Mbiah said.