Port Authority organizes evacuation simulation exercise on new Karpower Barge

The Fire and Safety Department of the Port Authority in collaboration with Karpowership Ghana Company Ltd, managers of the power ship and Barge that are supplying electricity in commercial quantity to Ghana has held a fire and evacuation simulation exercise on board the new 450MW Karpowership that arrived in Ghana in August, 2017.

So far there are about 120 workers both Ghanaians and foreigners working on both the new 450MW Karpowership and the 250MW Karpower barge.

The organizers of the simulation exercise believe such practice affords them the opportunity to effectively respond to any emergency and unforeseen eventualities.

"An oiler had a problem and they sounded an alarm, of a fire outbreak so the moment the fire alarm was sounded they called our fire station and within some few minutes they came to their rescue. Within a short time the fire brigade were here with their structure to aid the fire team on board to do the first search to find where the victim was,” the Fire and Safety Manager of Tema Port, Jimmy Nab-Daisy described the scenario created.

He said though some challenges were encountered in the course of the exercise, the main purpose of the exercise was to test the power ship’s emergency response procedure level under a different scenario and its interface with the Port’s emergency response unit which they have successfully achieved.

The Fire Manager said the exercise has also allowed the port’s emergency team the platform to test and familiarize themselves with the firefighting installations and appliances on board the new Karpowership as well as its conformity to that of the port.

"This is the first of its kind, a test that has been done, and we deem it successful because the crew on board and my team were able to organize themselves well and this was done", he added.

Some of the staff of the Powership said the simulation exercise has boosted their confidence in the ports safety mechanisms and now feel safer.

"Thank you so much to GPHA. I feel so safe here with this team also. And thank you to all the guys for their cooperation", a staff of the Karpowership expressed his sentiment.

The new Karpowership arrived in Ghana on Thursday 24th August, 2017 as Ghana’s second Karpowership with a 450-megawatt capacity. The new powership called Osman Khan will replace the other current 225 megawatts barge which was delivered in November 2015 after it reaches its full production capacity.