Some people have lost their lives on Volta Lake and other waters while crossing to the other side for business, school, funerals, or social gatherings.
Accident on lakes or sea has become one of the major worries of Ghanaians, especially, persons living in and around the coastal areas.
To help address this problem that mostly rears its head up during the rainy season, a Marine Engineer who has a speciality in naval architecture, George Obeng, has come up with some ideas and designs.
In an interaction with Ernestina Serwaa Asante on GhanaWeb TV's BizTech programme, he said the use of fibre canoes was the best option to save lives and properties.
He stated that the well-known wooden passenger canoes used on lakes and seas initially had a long log with a very large diameter but in recent times due to deforestation, the type of wood needed for the construction of the canoes has been scarce.
This, he said, has led to the plunging of the few ones, hence, making it risky for Ghanaians' perusal.
George Obeng said, "Now, they do a lot of plunging so that also has effects on the structure of the current canoes that we are having so we went there to assess the situation and we realized that no, there must be a change in the materials that they use and we realize that fiber can do that work."
The introduction of the fibre canoes; highlighting the mono haul and catamaran, the graduate assistant at the Regional Maritime University was the best to fit on the Volta lake.
"The design aspect, we realized that it has been there since ages and engineering principles has never been incorporated in the canoes that we use here. It has a very hollow curve so we decided to come out with the best design that will fit our river so we came out with the mono haul and catamaran canoe," he said on BizTech.
The catamaran canoe has two hauls that will help passengers feel more comfortable onboard whiles travelling.
He noted that whiles he is the brain behind most of the architectural designs, his team members do the production to bring whatever designs he has to fruition.
Touching on the life of a seaman, George Obeng noted that it was a bittersweet one.
Whiles overcoming your fears and some challenges on sea for 6 months and above, the money, he said was appreciable.
Depending on the country, a mariner can receive his/her salary in dollars, Euros, or Pounds, among other foreign currencies.
Other travel allowances also make the job fun, he stated.
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