The Tema-Mpakadan rail project is one of several investments in the transport sector that holds huge
President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF) Eddy Akrong has intimated that ongoing works in the rail sector will be a huge boost to the freight forwarding business, as they will ease transactions at the port and save both time and cost.
“Another exciting thing for us [freight forwarders] is the boost in the railway sector, especially the Tema-to-Mpakadan project as well as the Boankra Inland Port—which is now featuring prominently.
“That will be a full utilisation of our intermodal transport system because the Volta Lake will be an inland waterway that will serve a purpose for what we do. If the railway line comes into play, then it will stand us in good stead,” Mr. Akrong told Business24 in an interview.
Compared with a cargo truck that is able to move just one laden container at a time, the coach of a train can move about a thousand.
Mr. Akrong said a functional rail system could facilitate the transport of large volumes of cargo and significantly improve the ease of doing business at the port.
“Imagine that we had warehouses set up at Akosombo where bulk containers are unstuffed for the train badges to cart the goods to the northern part of the country. Aside from improving the ease of doing business and cost at our ports, it will also put some big ease on our roads.”
There are two big-ticket rail projects pertaining to the maritime logistics business that are currently ongoing in the country.
The Tema-Mpakadan rail line is part of the 1,000km Ghana-Burkina Faso Railway Interconnectivity Project which will link Ghana to Burkina Faso.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two countries in January 2017 in Ouagadougou to kickstart the project.
There is also the US$330 million Boankra Integrated Logistics Terminal (BILT), originally christened Boankra Inland Port, which is an ultra-modern integrated logistics terminal consisting of a container service yard (CSY), container freight station (CFS), reefer, warehouses, and a truck parking area.
Mr. Akrong shared the view of other industry experts that with the Boankra project, “business will boom in the Ashanti Region and surrounding areas”.
