The first phase of the expansion project at the Takoradi Port, which involves the extension of the existing main breakwater, provision of facilities to handle bulk commodities and dredging of the access channels, is progressing steadily.

Capt. James Owusu-Koranteng, acting Director the of Port, in an interview, indicated that the berths would be dredged to about 16 meters depth with the breakwater extended to 1.75 kilometres northwards.

He added that upon completion, manganese, bauxite, clinker, limestone and other bulk cargo operations would be transferred to the new jetty.

“This will free the existing manganese terminal for the increased oil services activities in the port,” he added.

He revealed that the sawn timber shed at the Port would be demolished to make way for space to support port operations, adding, “We are also negotiating with the Ghana Railway Company to convert the Sekondi Railway Station into a container Terminal.”

This, according to him, was intended to free the Port to get more space to handle bigger vessels, cargo traffic, ease congestion and improve ship turn round time for the oil supply vessels in particular.

He explained that a consortium of two consultancy firms, Sell horn Engineering and Hamburg Port Consulting, signed the contract agreement with the Takoradi Port in February last year to undertake the port master plan and supervise the development of the new facilities.

“In view of this, a loan facility of Euro 197 million has been secured from KBC Bank NV of Belgium. Van De Nulron, a Belgian contractor, is to undertake both design and construction works” he added.

In addition, Capt. Owusu-Koranteng noted that the Government of Ghana had benefitted from a Chinese loan of $176 million to support the project, adding that it would be used to construct access roads and provide other utility services under phase one project.

The Acting Director of Takoradi Port noted that the Port recorded a total of 1,664 vessels last year as against 1,798 in 2011.

He said total traffic rose by 32 per cent from 4,948,553 metric tons in 2011 to 5,310,697 metric ton in 2012 and that imports recorded in 2012 were 2,314,856 metric tons as against 2,088,533 metric tons in 2011.

He added that transit traffic on the other hand recorded negative growth of -81.3 per cent from 31,883 metric tons in 2011 to 5,958 metric tons in 2012.

Meanwhile, transhipment traffic through the port increased almost 77 per cent from 18,226 metric tonnes in 2011 to 32,253 in 2012.