Dutch Ambassador to Ghana Hans Docter has said Ghana’s quest to become the shipping hub of the West African sub-region can only be realised if its seaports are well-developed into first-class ports.

“Ghana’s seaports hold good prospects for the development of the country, and efforts should be made to expand them to handle huge volumes of cargoes,” said Mr. Docter. “The Tema and Takoradi Ports have been stretched to their limits and need modernisation.”

The Ambassador was speaking to journalists at Tema Port on the visit of a Dutch trade mission to Ghana on board the HNLMS Rotterdam, the Dutch Royal Navy Ship. The mission was to officially launch the Port Development Partnership (PDP) Africa-Netherlands Knowledge Sharing Programme in the country.

The focus of the partnership is to contribute to the development of West Africa’s ports, which are of great importance in developing the local private sector and economy of the entire sub-region.

The ports of West Africa are also important to trading partners in Africa, Europe and other regions.

As part of the project, a five-year educational programme was offered to Mrs. Joyce Bawa-Mogtari, Deputy Minister of Transport, and Mr. R. Anamoo, Director of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.

The programme includes scholarships for degree programmes in Coastal Engineering and Port Development, with Master’s classes and company internships both in Ghana and the Netherlands.

“The partnership is the bridge between African ports, transport industries, and Dutch companies in the ports and logistics sector. The Dutch experience in building prosperous ports is now in practice by the partnership,” said Mr. Docter.

“It is a unique collaboration between 16 Dutch companies and knowledge institutes with expertise in three critical areas of management, infrastructure and development, and transport and logistics.”

A board-member of the Netherlands African Business Council, Victor Langenberg, who spoke on behalf of the 30-strong business delegation, said ports are crucial to economic development.

“We know how important partnerships are for the realisation of healthy, safe and cost-efficient ports. We have had opportunity for discussions with the government and also had one-on-one meetings with some private sector companies as well as some businessmen in the port industry,” he said.

“We want to do business with local partners in Ghana, because the two countries have a long history and the country is stable for investors to do business,” he added.

Ms. Mogtari, during a symposium on port development, said modernisation of the country’s major sea ports remains a priority to government.

She said the vision of government is to develop the ports to become the sub-region’s hub of sea transport.

Mr. Gerj-Jan Nieuwenhuizen, Chair of the Port Development Partnership, explained that the partnership between the two countries aims to achieve sustainable and long-term development of Africa’s main ports, and is dedicated to optimising the environmental, economic and public benefit of ports -- including connected deltas, cities and hinterlands.

“We are honoured to collaborate with Ghana on these topics,” he said.

“The partnership clearly sees sustainability not as an obligation but as an economic driver. This requires providing a total package of expertise in advanced technology, the environment, stakeholder and customer concerns, as well as governmental relations.”