Govt committed to improving port efficiency - Minister of Transport

The Minister of Transport, Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has emphasised government’s commitment to introduce reforms that will bring efficiency at the country’s ports.

Some of the reforms, he said included the introduction of a tracking system by the Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority (GPHA) and the Ghana Community Network Services (GCNet) to check the movement of goods at the ports.

He said the government was working to improve the logistics and also on how to get a lot more automation and reduce human interventions.

The minister said this at the maiden Ghana Shippers Awards on June 30 in Accra.

As part of the reforms, he said the government was also working on a policy initiative which was aimed at improving efficiency and reducing the cost of doing business through the country’s ports.

 “We all admit there are lots of complaints concerning movement of goods from the country’s ports, but the government is introducing systems to curb such challenges,” he stated.

The government recently brought together experts from United Arab Emirates and Singapore to discuss how the country's ports could be reformed to improve efficiency.

The conference, which was dubbed the 'Port Efficiency Conference,' afforded Ghanaian port officials the opportunity to learn from best practices.

Mr Ofori Asiamah said the government would take advantage of the expertise that were shared at this conference to introduce more reforms to make the country’s ports more effective.

Ghana Shippers Awards

The Ghana Shippers Awards was organised to recognise achievements in the shipping industry.

It provided the platform to recognise individuals and companies that have played significant roles in the growth and development of the industry, while also recognising the key functions within the industry that promote growth and sustainability.

Over 40 personalities and organisations across road transportation, ocean carriers, air transportation, freight forwarding, shipping agents, express services, courier agencies, government agencies, insurance and financial institutions were awarded.

A Board Member of the awards committee, Mr Michael Luguje, said the awards aimed at rewarding those that had played a defining role in moving the maritime industry forward.

He said the transportation sector was a strong factor in terms of economic and regional balance development, as well as having a great influence on national integration to the world economic market.

“Ports constitute an important economic activity in coastal areas. The higher the throughput of goods and passenger’s year-on-year, the more infrastructures, provisions and associated services are required,” he said.

He expressed appreciation to organisers of the awards especially Graphic Business for its contribution towards the success of the programme.

Award winners

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GCNet, Dr Nortey Omaboe, was adjudged the CEO of the year, with the CEO of McDan, Mr Macdonald Vasnani, winning the Entrepreneur of the Year award.

The Most Promising CEO of the year award went to the CEO of Ringworld International Services, Mr Kofi Amoah-Abban, with the Editor of the New Maritime and Transport Digest, Mr Ken Monarh, winning the Maritime Reporter of the Year.

Maersk Line won the Shipping Line of the Year, with Nestle Ghana, Total Petroleum Ghana Limited and Barry Callebaut Ghana Limited winning the Shipper of the year, Importer of the Year, and Exporter of the Year award respectively.

West Blue Consulting (WBC) won the Anas Aremeyaw Anas Transparency Award, while Turkish Airline also walked away with the Air Cargo Carrier of the year award.