Officials of COCOBOD at the event
Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has purchased three 45-tonne reach stackers (SMU 4535) to enhance its operations at the ports.
A reachstacker is a vehicle used to handle intermodal cargo containers in small terminals or medium-sized ports.
It can be used to quickly transport a container at short distances and place them in various rows, depending on its access.
Speaking at the handing over ceremony, Deputy Chief Executive of COCOBOD in-charge of Operations, Nana Oduro Owusu, expressed gratitude to Pasico Ghana for its role in the acquisition of the reachstackers.
According to him, the acquisition of the machines is very critical to the operations of the Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC) at the various ports, considering the enormous challenges associated with cocoa shipment.
“Reachstacker is very important to our port operations. Annually such service is valued at around USD 1.7 million, now this money will come to the Board since we will be rendering the services ourselves,” he stressed.
Nana Oduro Owusu also charged operators of the machines to carry out routine servicing to increase their lifespan.
Kwaku Okoh, Managing Director of Pasico Ghana Limited, facilitators of the acquisition, expressed gratitude to COCOBOD for the confidence reposed in them to supply various cargo handling equipment to boost efficiency at the ports.
Dr Kwame Mensah Aborampah, acting Managing Director of Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC), a subsidiary of COCOBOD, which will directly benefit from the Reachstackers, expressed his gratitude to COCOBOD.
The reachstackers, which are valued at 1.4 million Euros, will be positioned at the Tema, Kumasi and Takoradi takeover centres to improve efficiency at the ports.