Oil vessel impounded at Tema Port

An oil supply vessel has been impounded at the Tema Port after government officials discovered it was containing gasoline products which had allegedly been declared as a sludge.

According to a report by the Daily Graphic, the Tema Command of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) impounded MV Famous 1 on suspicion that the gasoline products were being smuggled out of Ghana in a tax evasion attempt.

“A sludge product normally contains about 50 per cent or more of water and as such may be exempted from tax.

“Officials of the vessel, Kpabulga Energy Limited (KEL), in a letter signed by its Director of Operations, Mr Abdul Rafat Mohammed, on November 23, 2020, had made an application to the Director of Tema Port seeking for clearance to discharge some 200 cubic litres of sludge, a waste product made up of a mixture of oil, water and other substances, at the port.

“A highly-placed source at the Customs Division, who confirmed the interception to the Daily Graphic, said the management was waiting for an official report from the Tema Sector Commander on the incident,” the state-owned news portal reports.

The Daily Graphic reported further that the vessel arrived at the port on November 22, 2020, from Lome and berthed on November 23 at about 5:45 pm.

The report explained that the vessel had been discharging gasoline products into some Bulk Road Vehicles (BRV), popularly referred to as tanker trucks, when Customs officials swooped on them and halted the operations.