MV Adobia inaugurated at Tema

The operations of the vessel would thus help fill the void created by the inability of vessels owned by multinational shipping companies to mop-up small tonnes of cargo along the coast.

The inauguration of the vessel, which will be operated by a wholly-owned Ghanaian company, was chaired by former President Jerry John Rawlings.

The facility from UniBank is one of the biggest to be solely funded by an indigenous bank.

The Head of Business Development and Sales at UniBank, Mr Richard Osei Anane, told the Daily Graphic in Accra the deal was a testament to the bank’s preparedness to take up bigger transactions all by itself.

“It shows that we have the funds and are ready to use to support good businesses, especially the indigenous ones, to grow,” he said.

UniBank has accumulated funds in excess of GH¢60 million after successfully meeting the Bank of Ghana’s GHC60 million recapitalisation limit for indigenous banks in December last year.

Mr Anane said the deal “tells you we are ever ready to support all kinds of viable businesses, especially ventures that will invariably impact positively on the economy and we are actually happy to be the financiers.”

The Chief Executive Officer of UniBank, Mr Felix Nyarko-Pong, said the bank was “proud” to be part of the purchase of the vessel and further called on the management of Africa Independence Coastal Services to continue to work harder to enable it achieve more laurels.

“I must stress that our negotiations with the MD of AICSL and his team was not easy but at the end of the day, the collaboration eventually yielded positive results,” he noted.

The MD of AICSL also commended the board and management of UniBank for believing in his company’s business ideas and further agreeing to fund the purchase of the vessel.

The vessel, MV Adobia, is 100 metres long and has the capacity to cart 650 containers at a go.

Story by Maxwell Adombila Akalaare