Ports play a vital role in the global economy, operating as nodes for international trade and economic development. Ghana has an extensive coastline on the Gulf of Guinea and is a strategic centre of import and export for multiple landlocked neighbours to the north. As such, the country’s port infrastructure forms a significant part of its own and the broader region’s trade and commerce.
Underscoring the importance of efficient ports with transparent and effective Customs and operational mechanisms, the government has prioritised hard and soft infrastructure investment at Ghana’s ports of entry to boost firms’ competitiveness and meet higher shipping demand. This has resulted in increased resources at ports and ultimately, improved facilitation of trade. This is especially notable following the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in January 2021. Intra-African trade is set to receive a significant boost from the agreement, with maritime accounting for 22% of intra-African freight transport as of February 2022.
Soft Infrastructure
Aside from being key to the country’s broader economy, Ghana’s ports are a key source of government revenue, which largely originates from levies, fees and taxes charged on goods passing through facilities. Previously, multiple systems and procedures to collect these made trade-related bureaucracy lengthy and complex, posing a barrier to efficiency in Ghana’s ports. To address this, while boosting revenue and traceability in commerce, in June 2020 the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Ghana Link Network Services created the Integrated Customs Management Systems (ICUMS) to serve as a single-window e-Customs system for Ghana’s trade practices, replacing the previous Ghana Customs Management System. By reducing red tape and costs for stakeholders, improving government revenue and allowing greater transparency in cargo shipments through tracking, the upgrade has been a step forward for the bureaucratic infrastructure in Ghana’s ports.
One of the advantages of the ICUMS is that many stakeholders participate in the platform, including shippers, government bodies, freight forwarders and Customs officials. Initial indications show that despite initial challenges onboarding operators to the platform, consignments are being cleared in a matter of hours, benefitting both cargo shipment operators and the port’s own operations. “The ICUMS is a game changer in the way we do business at the ports,” Raymond Amaglo, director of operations for Ghana Link Network Services, told local media in March 2023. “It has significantly reduced the time and cost of doing business, while also ensuring the integrity and security of goods and our borders.”
The ICUMS is being developed in parallel to efforts by the GRA to speed up clearing processes at the country’s ports. In September 2022 the authority began working towards a 24-hour clearance timeframe for all goods, in line with the World Customs Organisation’s third iteration of the Time Release Study (TRS) Guide. The TRS is a standardised way to measure the average time taken between the arrival and release of goods at ports of entry, as well as to identify bottlenecks in the system. The benefits of adhering with TRS guidelines include greater efficiency of government agencies, reduced transaction costs for traders and more efficient use of port resources to accelerate international movements of cargo, thereby bolstering port capacity. This could reduce delays, enhance transparency, and foster a more efficient and competitive trade environment.
Facility Expansion
In conjunction with efficiency improvements to Customs procedures at Ghana’s ports, the expansion and streamlining of port infrastructure is also vital to the country’s broader trade ambitions, especially following the implementation of the AfCFTA. The agreement is expected to boost intra-African trade by 109% and Africa’s exports to the rest of the world by 32% between 2021 and 2035.
The largest single port of entry for goods in Ghana is the Port of Tema, 30 km from Accra, covering 3.9m sq metres and handling an average of 1511 vessels per year. It is also the largest such facility in West and Central Africa. The port has undergone substantial expansion to meet increased maritime freight demand in recent years. In 2010 the 97,000-sq-metre Golden Jubilee Terminal (GJT) was constructed to commemorate Ghana’s 50th anniversary of independence. This terminal is an inland clearance depot and handles a wide range of cargo, including bulk, general and containerised cargo. The terminal is equipped with container handling equipment, warehousing facilities and a logistics system. The GJT’s construction has significantly contributed to the capacity and efficiency of the Port of Tema, partly due to its around-the-clock operational capacity.
The Port of Tema’s Meridian Port, also known as Terminal 3, is among the most advanced and efficient container terminals in the West Africa region. In 2022 the operator, Meridian Port Services (MPS), signed a $53m agreement to move forward with phase two of the port’s expansion to boost the capacity of Terminal 3 by providing 15 extra gantry cranes. According to MPS, this was done in anticipation of accepting the world’s largest container ships in the context of greater predicted traffic in light of the AfCFTA.
Greenfield Development
While the Port of Tema and the Port of Takoradi in the west handle 86% of the country’s traded goods, there are further efforts to develop a third commercial port in Ghana’s eastern town of Keta, near the border with Togo and its capital, Lomé. The port could double Ghana’s cargo capacity, ease congestion at the ports of Tema and Takoradi, and provide an extra node of import and export in the country’s far east, which currently is not served by a large commercial port. Despite being announced in 2019, the project’s $600m first phase, known as Port Nucleus, had not yet begun as of late 2023. However, in the long term, a port strategically located to the country’s east could prove beneficial for this area’s overall development, in terms of both connections to neighbouring countries and the country’s overall trade capacity.
Inland Ports
Within the Port of Tema complex, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) Transit Terminal handles goods for Ghana’s landlocked neighbours: Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. To further facilitate the transport of goods to and from these countries, Ghana’s government is developing inland ports to optimise cargo forwarding and reduce transport costs for all parties involved. Three such ports are in Boankra, Mpakadan and Debre. The Boankra Inland Port, near Kumasi in the country’s Western Region, is a joint development between the Ghana Shippers’ Authority, the GPHA, and private sector players. The facility was created as a free port with unimodal and intermodal capabilities. In addition to facilitating trade with Ghana’s neighbours, the port is expected to increase the export of key products such as cocoa, and wood-based goods from producers across the country. In eastern Ghana, two inland ports were developed in Mpakadan and Debre, both on Lake Volta. The project – officially known as the Trans-Volta Logistics Project – launched in 2020 and is expected to be fully operational by 2025, with an estimated total cost of $200m. It is expected to expedite the movement of cargo from the Port of Tema to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso via Lake Volta. As with the Boankra Inland Port, the potential benefits of Mpakadan and Debre exceed faster and more efficient logistics operations between Ghana’s maritime ports and neighbouring countries. It is hoped that the project will boost the industrialisation of northern Ghana and improve regional economic integration.
Bolstering port cargo capacity is of vital importance in the context of the AfCTFA’s projected increase in trade. The UN forecasts that between 2021 and 2030 the deal could lead to an increase in total cargo transported by vessels from 58m to 132m tonnes and that Africa’s maritime fleet could increase by 180-200% for bulk and container cargo, depending on the extent of infrastructure development across the continent, over the period. In addition, the UN estimates that Ghana is one of nine countries that could experience a substantial increase in cargo traffic through its ports by 2030. As a result, streamlining bureaucratic processes at ports by boosting capacity is vital for fostering efficient trade. Meanwhile, enhancing physical port infrastructure is equally crucial to accommodate growing volumes. A strategic combination of streamlined administrative procedures and robust physical facilities is imperative to fulfil the government’s ambition to be one of the key trade centres of the West African region and solidify Ghana’s place in the global supply chain.
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