Suez Canal blockade: Harbour master at Tema Port predicts minimal impact on Ghana-bound cargoes

The Harbour Master at the Port of Tema, Captain Francis Kwesi Micah, has predicted that cargoes bound for Ghana on the direct service route from the Far East would not be affected by the grounding of the giant containership Ever Given which caused a major blockade in the Suez Canal for 6 days.

“Vessels from Japan, Korea, Singapore, China, Indonesia, Australia would not be affected. They will come directly via Singapore as their last stop and round Cape of Storms before they come to West Africa,” he explained.

Speaking on the Eye on Port program, he also revealed cargoes bound for the west coast of Africa on direct delivery from Europe and the Americas would also not be affected by delays associated with the Suez Canal.

“Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Le Havre, will also not use the Suez Canal.”

Capt. Micah however indicated that “vessels that would require transshipment at the main transshipment hubs at the southern part of Europe such as Algeciras in Southern Spain, Tangier, Casablanca in Morocco, where big shipping lines like Maersk, MSC and Hapag-Llyod do a lot of shipments may be affected.”

He added, “If we have connections from the Middle East that hitherto had to do the transshipment in Southern Europe, it will mean the vessels already slated to come, will not wait, but the volumes that they come with will be affected.”

The Harbour Master at the Port of Tema, lamented that some of the produce coming in from the Suez Canal may constitute very essential items that are important to the operation of factories and industries worldwide.

He said the global supply chain will be widely affected especially in the oil and gas sector considering that the middle east is a major exporter of crude oil.

Capt. Micah also said major supplies in the COVID-19 fight may delay as a result of the blockade that happened in the Suez Canal.

The containership, Ever Given has since Monday, 29th March 2021, been freed and traffic is set to resume in both directions through the canal.

According to the BBC, hundreds of ships are waiting to pass through the Suez Canal.