Maersk announces $1bn port expansion

Port operator APM Terminals, a unit of shipping and oil conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk, said on Thursday it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Ghana to expand its Tema Port.

APM Terminals said the agreement included a "private investment" in excess of $1 billion by Meridian Port Services of which APM Terminals controls 35 percent.

"Both in the short- and long-term view we see Ghana as a country with great potential," Peder Søndergaard head of Africa and Middle East activities in APM Terminals told Reuters.

Meridian Port Services (MPS) is a joint venture between APM Terminals, Bolloré Africa Logistics and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.

MPS handles approximately 80 percent of all containers in Tema Port which has a container volume of 670,000 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) unit in 2013.

The expansion plans include the development of four deep water berths and an access channel able to accommodate larger vessels now entering the West African. A six-lane highway will also be constructed between the port at Tema and Accra.

70 percent of Ghana's national trade and traffic currently goes through Tema Port.

The expansion will increase the port’s annual container throughput capacity to 3.5 million TEU.

APM Terminal is the largest port and terminal operator in Africa. Globally The Hague-based company is operating 64 container terminals.