There have been serious drop inflows of traffic at the various ports in the country as a result of lack of imports, DGN Online can report.
The Tema Port appears obviously empty without any major activity such as movement of cargoes which is common activity there.
Per a letter authored by General Manager of Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) sighted by DGN Online, the general reduction in traffic flow started in June/July 2022, and continued through to the end of the first quarter of this year without any sign of improvement.
This compelled the Authority to hold an emergency stakeholder engagement on March 30, 2023 to ascertain the reason behind the significant drop in importation.
The stakeholders’ engagement is being led by the Director General of GPHA Michael Luguje.
Already, records available to DGN Online indicate that there was 15 to 17 percent drop in cargo volumes in first nine months of 2022.
Though the Director General of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) expressed hope to increase traffic flow in the country’s ports this year during interaction with a section of journalists from Tema during a Press Soiree organized by GPHA to express its appreciation to the media but the situation appears to be worsening.
Sandra Opoku, Director of Tema Port, said while the numbers for transit cargo were still hitting the upper ceiling during the period, all the others experienced a dip.
Mrs Opoku said GPHA expects 2023 to come along with good fortune now that the cedi was stabilizing as many of the importers were adopting the wait and see attitude, leading to the drop in the volumes.
She stated that one of the things GPHA found in their operations was that Ghana had a very low export drive, even though the Ghana Export Promotion Authority was doing very well to reverse the trend.
Meanwhile, importers have blamed the reduction in traffic to the removal of the benchmark value and instability of the cedi to major currencies, especially the dollar.
Find attached copy of the letter
By Vincent Kubi