Takoradi Port Wins Gold Award

The Port of Takoradi has been selected to receive this year's Century International Quality Era Award in the GOLD category during the 4th International Quality Convention in Geneva, Switzerland, on July 1, 2002.

The award is in recognition of the Port's disposition to customer satisfaction, education and training, business results and total quality management.

The award ceremony is organised annually by Business Initiative Directions (BID), which is made up of a group of organisations, and prestigious professionals to honour and expose outstanding companies, distinguished business leaders, quality experts, personalities in the realm of culture and deserving members of the diplomatic corps.

The selection of Takoradi Port for the GOLD award was done by voting through on-line micro polls, the e-mail and the internet with media houses, advertising agencies, consultancy companies, trade fairs, exhibitions, chambers of commerce and embassies throughout the world.

The achievements of the Port, for which it is being honoured, are summed up in the words of Mr. Kwame Macafui, Western Regional Branch Manager of Maersk Sealand Ghana Limited, when addressing the shipping community of Sekondi-Takoradi as a representative of the Ship Owners and Agents Association of Ghana in February 2002.

He said: "... For the past three years there has been great improvement in the operations of Takoradi Port.

The ship turnround time, which used to be several days, is now less than a day.

Nowadays, not many ships are seen in the port because before one wakes up from bed a ship had discharged, loaded and sailed.

Due to the improved performance of the port, especially the fast clearance period, some shippers even come from Tema and Accra to clear their goods from Takoradi.

Some of our customers in Burkina Faso do not even come to Takoradi. They only transfer money and their cargo is cleared, put on trucks and they meet the cargo at the border..."

The current average ship turnround time of 1.5 days makes Takoradi Port the fastest in the West African sub-region. This means good savings to customers in terms of time and cost.

Depending on the correctness of one's covering documents it is possible to clear imported vehicles and goods in just a day or two.

This keeps the port constantly free from congestion. Safety and security of cargo in Takoradi Port is unmatched in the sub?-region.

Since 1992 vessel calls has increased consistently from 382 to the current 493 with its attendant growth in cargo throughput from 1.8 million tonnes to 3.4 million tonnes today.

About 45% of the cargo throughput are imports like clinker, limestone, food items, fertilizer, paper reels, steel, chemicals, plant and equipment, vehicles, clothing, spare parts and building materials.

Exports also include cocoa beans, cocoa products, sawn timber, wood products, sheanut, manganese, bauxite and non?-traditional agricultural products.

Container traffic has grown from 8,142 boxes to 43,126 boxes over the last 10 years. Both labour and ship productivity rates have also improved significantly.

In 1992 one gang of 17 workers in Takoradi Port could handle about 19 tonnes of cargo in one hour.

Today, that same number of worker s, through improved equipment position, more efficient handling methods and additional skills acquisition, are able to handle 53 tonnes.

Similarly, 104 tonnes of cargo can be discharged from or loaded into a vessel within one hour compared to 32 tonnes 10 years ago.

By virtue of the customer friendliness of Takoradi Port and the numerous attractions in the Western and Central regions of Ghana, the port is gradually being turned into the preferred destination for cruise vessels in West Africa.

In 1999 about 800 tourists from Europe and America passed through the port. Last year the number increased to 1,750.

By the end of the first quarter of 2002 about 500 tourists had passed through Takoradi Port.