Takoradi Port wins International Gold Award

The Takoradi Port has won an international gold award at the fourth international quality convention held in Geneva, Switzerland on July 1. The "Century International Quality Era Award" was in recognition of Takoradi Port's commitment to quality, excellence, leadership, technology, innovation and total quality management.

Mar Nester Galley, Director of the Takoradi Port, said this at a press conference organised by the management of the Port to formally present the gold award to the workers as well as the public. He explained that the award was organised annually by the Business Initiative Directions (BID), an international organisation made up of experts and analysts of corporate image and quality programmes.

Mr. Galley said the selection was based on a survey of 9,500 companies and experts all over the world. The criteria included customer satisfaction, communication strategies, benchmarking information, data processing, leadership, planning, human resources, continuing education, training process, production, financial outcome, business results and total quality management.

Mr. Galley enumerated achievements of the Takoradi Port, saying, it is credited with the fastest ship turn round time of 1.5 days in the West African Sub-Region."This means saving of time and cost for its customers," he said, adding that it was possible for shippers to clear goods within two days, provided the clearing documents were correct.

The Takoradi Port has one of the best security networks in the Sub-Region, Mr. Galley said adding that vessel calls increased from 382 in 1992 to 493 in 2001 while cargoes through the port have also increased from 1.8 million tonnes to 3.4 million tonnes over the same period.

The port has also recorded similar improvement in both labour and ship productivity rates. Mr. Galley noted that the international recognition that the Takoradi Port had gained as a gold winner among other achievements so far were enough evidence to debunk the wrong perception that "Takoradi Port is dying".

The Director said the port would further improve its productivity levels through equipment availability and reduction in the cost of doing business.He entreated the company's workers and partners to streamline their operations to enhance customer satisfaction and quality service.