Benonita Bismarck, CEO, GSA
Ghana’s maritime trade outlook for this year looks positive, according to the Ghana Shippers Authority (GSA), which predicts a growth in cargo throughput by at least 10 percent.
Benonita Bismarck, CEO of GSA, told the media in Accra that “after a dip in trade volume in 2014, Ghana has been experiencing a steady grown to date. If this trend is anything to go by, and without any major economic disruptions, the year 2018 would experience another good growth in trade volume, especially for exports.”
She said Ghana sustained her maritime trade performance in 2017 with an impressive increase in trade volume compared to 2016, adding that the country’s seaborne trade volume increased by 15.9 percent in 2017 over 2016.
“This could be attributed to improved confidence in the economy. The trend of Ghana’s seaborne trade for the past 10 years has been positive. From a cargo throughput of 15.1 million metric tons in 2008, the volumes have increased to 21.5 metric tons in 2017. Until now, the highest cargo throughput for Ghana was 20.2 million metric tons, which was registered in 2012. However, 2017 recorded the highest volume of exports, so far of 6.2 million metric tons.”
She revealed that 68 percent of Ghana’s maritime trade volume was made up of imports while 32 percent was exports.
Total imports for 2017 was 14.2 million metric tons representing an increase of 17.5 percent over 2016.
This comprised 5.7 million metric tons of liner cargo, 1.85 million metric tons of break bulk, 3.1 million metric tons of dry bulk cargo and 3.4 million metric tons of liquid bulk imports.
A major performer was the liquid bulk imports category with commodities like crude oil and liquefied petroleum gas recording substantial increases.
Total export trade for 2017 was 6.14 million metric tons representing a 10.9 percent increase over 2016.
This was made up of 1.50 million metric tons of liner items, 472,392 metric tons of break bulk items, 4.14 million metric tons of dry bulk and 25,921 metric tons of liquid bulk (excluding crude oil exports).
A major performer was the dry bulk exports category with manganese and bauxite recording substantial increases.
In 2017, GSA, working with Cocoa Marketing Company, succeeded in obtaining some competitive freight rates for the shipment of Ghana’s cocoa.
Ghana would, however, have to increase its yield this season so as to realise the full benefits of the negotiated freight rates for cocoa exports.
By Samuel Boadi