Secretary General of IMO, Kitack Lim visits GPHA

The Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization, Kitack Lim has paid a visit to the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, as part of his 3-day visit to Ghana.

Kitack Lim, who has served as Secretary General of the IMO since 2016, said he has always wished to visit the Port of Tema.

He remarked that, he is impressed with the dynamic activities ongoing at the Port and expressed pleasure in the direction Tema Port is taking.

“While I approached the Port I saw very dynamic activities in the Port of Tema. I sense a strong from the people of Ghana, the motivation and commitment and so I believe the Port of Tema is one of the active industrial areas here in Ghana,” he remarked.

He was received by both Directors of Takoradi and Tema Ports, Capt. Ebenezer Afadzi and Sandra Opoku, respectively.

Capt. Ebenezer Afadzi, Director of Takoradi Port, briefed the Secretary General on strides Ghana’s Ports are taking to make Ghana a trade and logistics hub in the sub region, paramount of which are the Port expansion projects.

The Secretary General expressed some concerns with regards to operations at the Port terminals.

The Director of Takoradi Port explained that GPHA as well as its private operator partners have shared responsibilities so far as Port operation is concerned.

“As we speak we run container operations and they also run some; it is not 100% container operations to the concessionaire, we also do a part. But before they came on board we were doing it ourselves and in the Port of Takoradi, we do everything ourselves.”

The Secretary General of IMO was pleased to hear that GPHA has a good number of its staff attending the World Maritime University, in Malmo, Sweden and shared a photograph with the Alumni.

A traditional wall artifact was presented to Kitack Lim for overseeing the productive global maritime industry.