Operational performance of Ghana’s ports impressive -Transport Minister

The Minister of Transport, Fifi Kwetey has described the operational performance of Ghana’s ports from January to June, 2016 as very impressive compared to the same period last year.

Taking his turn at the meet the press series in Accra, the Transport Minister revealed that container traffic between January and June last year, was 409, 120 while this year saw an increase up to 454, 858.

In terms of cargo traffic by tons, he said last year recorded a total cargo traffic of 8.3million between January and June but went up to 9.5million in 2016.

Vessel turnaround time which is the number of hours vessel take at the Tema Port, reduced from 106.8 to 98.

That of Takoradi Port also reduced from 62.7 to 46.13.

Transit traffic also increased to 458, 578 for the period of January to June this year from 359, 543 last year for the same period.

The Minister of Transport, Fifi Kwetey attributed this to the confidence investors have in the port as a result of the efficiency of the port.

“You could see the brisk activity that is going on, efficiency levels are going up and that actually shows that much more business is going to continue and that is why there is so much confidence by various investors which is seeing the huge investment that we are seeing as far as the port activity is concerned,” he stated.

He was optimistic that the level of developments at both the Tema and Takoradi ports will make Ghana’s ports the leading port in the West African sub-region.