Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport wants Tema, Takoradi Ports expanded

The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) has called for the urgent development and expansion of the Takoradi and Tema seaports to meet the increasing demand on the facilities because of the current high economic growth.

“The high economic growth rates being registered by the country require that government moves quickly to translate plans for port development or expansion into action because ports are the gateways and indicators of a country’s economy,” Mr Cletus Kuzagbe, President of CILT said.

The two seaports of Tema and Takoradi continue to carry about 90 percent of the country’s seaborne trade, which has increased recently by 15 percent, with the port of Tema in particular bustling with brisk business.

“The sudden increase did not create only cargo congestion due to space limitations but huge daily vehicular traffic in the port environment,” Mr Kuzagbe said.

He said there was also the equal need for sustained investments to resuscitate the sector and help minimise haulage costs of critical industrial resources.

“Rail transport, now a pale shadow of itself, has declined not as a result of absence of market but because of lack of resources to deliver to the expectations of its clientele,” he said.

Mr Kuzagbe, who was speaking at the Institute’s 2011 annual general meeting (AGM), said a strong rail sector was needed to promote the country’s policy of inter-modalism and synergy in the transport sector.

He said plans to build an inland port at Boankra, which had been on the drawing board for many years, would only be realized with a functional railway line.

“The realization of this viable project will remain a mirage without a functional railway line in the Eastern corridor, which links Tema Port to the intended inland port at Boankra,” he said.

Currently rail transport hauls less than two percent of freight and passenger traffic. Yearly traffic carried has declined steadily from a peak of 2.3 million tons of freight and eight million passengers in 1965.

Prominent products hauled included bauxite, manganese, cocoa, timber, cement and shea butter, which were until recently a captive market to Ghana Railway, now almost all but manganese now hauled by road transport to the Takoradi Port.

Ghana Railway is now struggling to haul just about half a million tons of freight, which is basically manganese ore, while the recently resuscitated Accra-Tema/Accra Nsawam line are beginning to improve limited passenger service on the Eastern Corridor.

“Plans by government to rehabilitate the Western Corridor of the railway line is a welcome news and needs to be given the needed prompt action it deserves to forestall further deterioration of the last leg of the rail network in the country,” Mr Kuzagbe said.

The CILT, with an individual membership that has grown from 256 to 412, recording an increase of 156 or 60.9 percent over the period 2009-2011, elected new executives into office at the AGM to take over and steer the affairs of the Ghana branch for the next two years.

Mr Kuzagbe disclosed that the Governing Council, over the past year, acquired an office for its operations, which in addition to administration purposes, will house a library for members and students.

The CILT Ghana Council also established a local branch at Kumasi to serve potential members located in the northern parts of the country.

He said the establishment of the branch was very necessary at a time when the CILT educational programme was being introduced at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

The Institute, in its quest to increase access to its educational programmes and improve membership numbers, has facilitated the accreditation of KNUST and Takoradi Polytechnic by CILT International, UK to run CILT programmes.

The CILT in addition to its observations of the rail sector, also noted that the country’s accident-prone road transport system required serious road safety management to help reduce the unacceptably high spate of fatal accidents.

Recent statistics released by the Motor Transport Traffic Unit (MTTU of the Ghana Police shows that six people die daily and 1,800 die annually from road traffic accidents.

The release identified untowed broken down vehicles on the roads as the major cause.

The CILT commended the current partnership between the Police and Road Safety Management Services Limited (RSMSL), a wholly-owned Ghanaian company, which specialises in road safety management through the use of electronic security and safety solutions to provide around-the-clock surveillance system and effective towing services on the roads.

Source: GNA

1 Comment
  1. Anonymous says

    Great work this institute is doing,keep up the good work.How do I become a member.

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